Nucleotide binding by the epidermal growth factor receptor protein-tyrosine kinase - Trinitrophenyl-ATP as a spectroscopic probe

The nucleotide binding properties of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor protein tyrosine kinase were investigated with the fluorescent nucleotide analog 2'(3')-O-(2,4,6-trinitrophenyl)adenosine 5'-triphosphate (TNP-ATP). TNP-ATP was found to be an active substrate for the autophosphorylation reaction of the recombinant EGF receptor protein tyrosine kinase domain (TKD). Whereas the V-max for the TNP-ATP-dependent autophosphorylation reaction was approximately 200-fold lower than that of ATP, the K-m for this reaction was similar to that observed with ATP. The nucleotide analog was also shown to be an inhibitor of the ATP-dependent autophosphorylation and substrate phosphorylation reactions of the TKD. Spectroscopic studies demonstrated both a high affinity binding of TNP-ATP to the recombinant TKD and a markedly enhanced fluorescence of the bound nucleotide analog. The fluorescence of enzyme-bound TNP-ATP was attenuated in the presence of ATP, which enabled determination of the dissociation constants for both ATP and the Mn2+ complex of ATP. A truncated form of the EGF receptor TKD lacking the C-terminal autophosphorylation domain exhibited an enhanced affinity for TNP-ATP, which indicated that the autophosphorylation domain occupied the peptide substrate binding site of the TKD and modulated the binding of the nucleotide substrates.