Comparative study of the effects of high hydrostatic pressure per se and high argon pressure on urate oxidase ligand stabilization.

The stability of the tetrameric enzyme urate oxidase in complex with excess of 8-azaxanthine was investigated either under high hydrostatic pressure per se or under a high pressure of argon. The active site is located at the interface of two subunits, and the catalytic activity is directly related to the integrity of the tetramer. This study demonstrates that applying pressure to a protein-ligand complex drives the thermodynamic equilibrium towards ligand saturation of the complex, revealing a new binding site. A transient dimeric intermediate that occurs during the pressure-induced dissociation process was characterized under argon pressure and excited substates of the enzyme that occur during the catalytic cycle can be trapped by pressure. Comparison of the different structures under pressure infers an allosteric role of the internal hydrophobic cavity in which argon is bound, since this cavity provides the necessary flexibility for the active site to function.