Competitive inhibition of phosphoglucose isomerase of apple leaves by sorbitol 6-phosphate

Apple leaf cytosolic phosphoglucose isomerase (PGI, EC 5.3.1.9) was purified to an apparent homogeneity with a specific activity of 2456 units/mg protein, and chloroplastic PGI was partially purified to a specific activity of 72 units/mg protein to characterize their biochemical properties. These two isoforms showed differential responses to heat treatment; incubation at 50 °C for 10 min resulted in a complete loss of the chloroplastic PGI activity, whereas the cytosolic PGI only lost 50% of its activity. Apple cytosolic PGI is a dimeric enzyme with a molecular mass of 66 kDa for each monomer. The activity of both isoforms was strongly inhibited by erythrose 4-phosphate (E4P) with a Ki of 1.2 and 3.0 μM for the cytosolic PGI and chloroplastic PGI, respectively. Sorbitol 6-phosphate (Sor6P), an intermediate in sorbitol biosynthesis, was found to be a competitive inhibitor for both cytosolic and chloroplastic PGIs with a Ki of 61 and 40 μM, respectively. PGIs from both spinach and tomato leaves were also inhibited by Sor6P in a similar manner. The possible physiological significance of this finding is discussed.