Effects of Methanol on the Catalytic Properties of Porcine Pancreatic Lipase

The effect of aqueous methanol on the catalytic properties of porcine pancreatic lipase has been investigated. The k$_{CAT}$, values for the hydrolysis of N$^{alpha}$-benzyloxycarbonyl-L­lysine p-nitrophenyl ester at 0$^{circ}$C increased in a linear manner with increasing methanol concentration. However, the K$_{M}$ values were not influenced at methanol concentrations lower than $30\%$ and then began to increase at higher concentrations in an exponential fashion. Based on product analysis, the increase in k$_{CAT}$, with increasing methanol concentration can be accounted for by nucleophilic competition of methanol for the acyl enzyme intermediate, indicating that the rate-limiting step of the porcine pancreatic lipase-catalyzed reaction is deacylation under current experimental conditions. The exponential increase in K$_{M}$ at methanol concentrations higher than $30\%$ is attributed to the hydrophobic partitioning effect on substrate binding. There was no loss of lipase activity over a 4 h period in $60\%$ methanol concentration at pH$^{circ}$ 5.5 and 0$^{circ}$C. By monitoring the intrinsic fluorescence and absorbance, no evidence for structural changes by methanol was observed.