Anion-induced increases in the affinity of colcemid binding to tubulin

Abstract

Colcemid binds tubulin rapidly and reversibly in contrast to colchicine which binds tubulin relatively slowly and essentially irreversibly. At 37° C the association rate constant for colcemid binding is 1.88 × 10⁶ M^-1 h^-1, about 10 times higher than that for colchicine; this is reflected in the activation energies for binding which are 51.4 kJ/mol for colcemid and 84.8 kJ/mol for colchicine. Scatchard analysis indicates two binding sites on tubulin having different affinities for colcemid. The high-affinity site (K_a= 0.7 × 10⁵ M^-1 at 37° C) is sensitive to temperature and binds both colchicine and colcemid and hence they are mutually competitive inhibitors. The low-affinity site (K_b= 1.2 × 10⁴ M^-1) is rather insensitive to temperature and binds only colcemid. Like colchicine, 0.6 mol of colcemid are bound/mol of tubulin dimer (at the high-affinity site) and the reaction is entropy driven (163 J K^-1 mol^-1). Similar to colchicine, colcemid binding to tubulin is stimulated by certain anions (viz. sulfate and tartrate) but by a different mechanism. Colcemid binding affinity at the lower-affinity site of tubulin is increased in the presence of ammonium sulfate. Interestingly, the lower-affinity site on tubulin for colcemid, even when converted to higher affinity in presence of ammonium sulfate, is not recognized by colchicine. We conclude that tubulin possesses two binding sites, one of which specifically recognized the groups present on the B-ring of colchicine molecule and is effected by the ammonium sulfate, whereas the higher-affinity site, which could accommodate both colchicine and colcemid, possibly recognized the A and C ring of colchicine.