The interaction of dinitrosyl-diglutathionyl-iron complex (DNDGIC), a natural carrier of nitric oxide, with representative members of the human glutathione transferase (GST) superfamily, i.e. GSTA1-1, GSTM2-2, GSTP1-1, and GSTT2-2, has been investigated by means of pre-steady and steady state kinetics, fluorometry, electron paramagnetic resonance, and radiometric experiments. This complex binds with extraordinary affinity to the active site of all these dimeric enzymes; GSTA1-1 shows the strongest interaction (K-D congruent to 10(-10) M), whereas GSTM2-2 and GSTP1-1 display similar and slightly lower affinities (K-D congruent to 10(-9) M). Binding of the complex to GSTA1-1 triggers structural intersubunit communication, which lowers the affinity for DNDGIC in the vacant subunit and also causes a drastic loss of enzyme activity. Negative cooperativity is also found in GSTM2-2 and GSTP1-1, but it does not affect the catalytic competence of the second subunit. Stopped-flow and fluorescence data fit well to a common minimal binding mechanism, which includes an initial interaction with GSH and a slower bimolecular interaction of DNDGIC with one high and one low affinity binding site. Interestingly, the Theta class GSTT2-2, close to the ancestral precursor of GSTs, shows very slow binding kinetics and hundred times lowered affinity (K-D congruent to 10(-7) M), whereas the bacterial GSTB1-1 is not inhibited by DNDGIC. Molecular modeling and EPR data reveal structural details that may explain the observed kinetic data. The optimized interaction with this NO carrier, developed in the more recently evolved GSTs, may be related to the acquired capacity to utilize NO as a signal messenger.
