Kinetic Mechanism of Nucleotide Binding to Escherichia coli Transcription Termination Factor Rho: Stopped-flow Kinetic Studies Using ATP and Fluorescent ATP Analogues

Escherichia coli transcription termination factor Rho catalyzes the unwinding of RNA/DNA duplex in reactions that are coupled to ATP binding and hydrolysis. Fluorescence stopped-flow methods using ATP and the fluorescent 2'(3')-O-( N-methylanthraniloyl) derivatives (mant-derivatives) of ATP and ADP were used to probe the kinetics of nucleotide binding to and dissociation from the Rho-RNA complex. Presteady state nucleotide binding kinetics provides evidence for the presence of negative cooperativity in nucleotide binding among the multiple nucleotide binding sites on Rho hexamer. The binding of the first nucleotide to the Rho-RNA complex occurs at a bimolecular rate of 3.6${\times}$10$\^$6/ M$\^$-1/ sec$\^$-1/ whereas the second nucleotide binds at a slower rate of 4.7${\times}$10$\^$5/ M$\^$-1/ sec$\^$-1/ at 18$^{\circ}C$, RNA complexed with Rho affects the kinetics of nucleotide interaction with the active sites through conformational changes to the Rho hexamer, allowing the incoming nucleotide to be more accessible to the sites. Adenine nucleotide binding and dissociation is more favorable when RNA is bound to Rho, whereas ATP binding and dissociation step in the absence of RNA occurs significantly slower, at a rate ∼70- and ∼40-fold slower than those observed with the Rho-RNA complex, respectively.