Abstract
L-alanine dehydrogenase from Bacillus subtilis exhibits allosteric kinetic properties in the presence of $ZN^{2+}$. $ZN^{2+}$ induces the binding of substrate (L-alanine) to be cooperative at pH 8.0. The effect of pH variation between pH 7.0 and pH 10.0 on the inhibition by $ZN^{2+}$ correlates with the pH effect on the $K_m$ values for L-alanine within these pH range indicating that $ZN^{2+}$ and substrate compete for the same site. No such cooperativity is induced by $ZN^{2+}$ when the reaction is carried out at pH 10. At this higher pH, $ZN^{2+}$ binds with the enzyme with lower affinity and noncompetitive with respect to L-alanine. Inhibition of L-alanine dehydrogenase by $ZN^{2+}$ depends on the ionic strength. Increase in KCI concentration reduced the inhibition, but allosteric property in $ZN^{2+}$ binding is conserved. A model for the regulatory mechanism of L-alanine dehydrogenase as a noncooperative substrate-cooperative cofactor allosteric enzyme, which is compatible in both concerted and the sequential allosteric mechanism, is proposed.