Carboxyarabinitol Bisphosphate Research Articles

Rubisco production in maize mesophyll cells through ectopic expression of subunits and chaperones.

C4 plants, such as maize, strictly compartmentalize Rubisco to bundle sheath chloroplasts. The molecular basis for the restriction of Rubisco from the more abundant mesophyll chloroplasts is not fully understood. Mesophyll chloroplasts transcribe the Rubisco large subunit gene and, when normally quiescent transcription of the nuclear Rubisco small subunit gene family is overcome by ectopic expression, mesophyll chloroplasts still do not accumulate measurable Rubisco. Here we show that a combination of five ubiquitin promoter-driven nuclear transgenes expressed in maize leads to mesophyll accumulation of assembled Rubisco. These encode the Rubisco large and small subunits, Rubisco assembly factors 1 and 2, and the assembly factor Bundle sheath defective 2. In these plants, Rubisco large subunit accumulates in mesophyll cells, and appears to be assembled into a holoenzyme capable of binding the substrate analog CABP (carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate). Isotope discrimination assays suggest, however, that mesophyll Rubisco is not participating in carbon assimilation in these plants, most probably due to a lack of the substrate ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate and/or Rubisco activase. Overall, this work defines a minimal set of Rubisco assembly factors in planta and may help lead to methods of regulating the C4 pathway.

NanoESI Mass Spectrometry of Rubisco and Rubisco Activase Structures and Their Interactions with Nucleotides and Sugar Phosphates

Ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) is the protein that is responsible for the fixation of carbon dioxide in photosynthesis. Inhibitory sugar phosphate molecules, which can include its substrate ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP), can bind to Rubisco catalytic sites and inhibit catalysis. These are removed by interaction with Rubisco activase (RA) via an ATP hydrolytic reaction. Here we show the first nanoESI mass spectra of the hexadecameric Rubisco and of RA from a higher plant (tobacco). The spectra of recombinant, purified RA revealed polydispersity in its oligomeric forms (up to hexamer) and that ADP was bound. ADP was removed by dialysis against a high ionic strength solution and nucleotide binding experiments showed that ADP bound more tightly to RA than AMP-PNP (a non-hydrolysable ATP analog). There was evidence that there may be two nucleotide binding sites per RA monomer. The oligomerization capacity of mutant and wild-type tobacco RA up to hexamers is analogous to the subunit stoichiometry for other AAA+ enzymes. This suggests assembly of RA into hexamers is likely the most active conformation for removing inhibitory sugar phosphate molecules from Rubisco to enable its catalytic competency. Stoichiometric binding of RuBP or carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate (CABP) to each of the eight catalytic sites of Rubisco was observed.

Binding of a transition state analog to newly synthesized Rubisco.

Radioactive amino acids, when added to isolated pea chloroplasts or chloroplast extracts engaged in protein synthesis, are incorporated into Rubisco large subunits that co-migrate with native Rubisco during nondenaturing electrophoresis. We have added the transition state analog 2'-carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate (CABP) to chloroplast extracts after in organello or in vitro incorporation of radioactive amino acids into Rubisco large subunits. Upon addition of CABP the radioactive bands co-migrating with native Rubisco undergo a readily detected shift in electrophoretic mobility just as the native enzyme, thus demonstrating the ability of the newly assembled molecules to interact with this transition state analog.

PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE STRUCTURE AND ACTIVITY OF RIBULOSE BISPHOSPHATE CARBOXYLASE FROM TWO PHOTOSYNTHETIC DINOFLAGELLATES1

ABSTRACT Ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase / oxygenase (Rubisco) from the dinoflagellates Symbiodinium sp. Freudenthal and Amphidinium carterae Hulburt rapidly loses activity following cell lysis. Evidence presented indicates that this is not due to proteolysis. Using the tight binding inhibitor [14C] carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate as a marker, the Rubisco large subunit (LSu) from Symbiodinium sp. was purified. The subunit molecular weight was 56 kDa, while non‐denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis indicated that the purified protein had a molecular weight significantly less than that expected of the intact hexadecameric protein. No trace of the small subunit was apparent. The initial loss of carboxylase activity following cell lysis may be due to instability of the quaternary structure of the enzyme. Antibodies prepared to the purified LSU cross‐reacted with LSus from other dinoflagellates but not with the LSus of higher plants, diatoms, and other chromophytic algae. This suggests that the LSu of at least some dinoflagellates is antigenically different from that of other eukaryotes.

The X-ray structure of Synechococcus ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase-activated quaternary complex at 2.2-A resolution.

The structure of the hexadecameric ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase from Synechococcus PCC6301 has been solved to 2.2-A resolution. Crystallization was in the presence of CO2, Mg2+, and 2'-carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate to form a stable enzyme quaternary complex that mimics one of the intermediate states of the carboxylation reaction. The structure was solved by molecular replacement using the coordinates of spinach carboxylase. The deviations in C alpha positions of the L- and S-subunits are only 0.3 and 2.0 A, respectively, and localized at specific regions of the two polypeptides. One region that shows significant divergence of the peptide backbone is loop 6 of the beta barrel in the L-subunit. Two other elements, the C terminus, and a highly conserved loop of the N-terminal domain of a second L-subunit, interact with loop 6 in the quaternary complex. These three regions, plus two other flexible segments, completely enfold the bisphosphate inhibitor. Significant alteration in their spatial relationship must occur to allow substrates or products access to and from the active site. The active site residues, activating cofactors, and inhibitor are well resolved in the electron density map. The disposition of these groups around the essential metal provides some indication of their role at different stages of the catalytic cycle.

Cooperative Binding of Carboxyarabinitol Bisphosphate to the Regulatory Sites of Ribulose Bisphosphate Carboxylase/Oxygenase from Spinach

Ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase (RuBisCO) binds carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate (CABP) on its regulatory sites [Yokota, A. (1991) J. Biochem. 110, 246-252]. The characteristics of the equilibrium binding of CABP to the sites were examined by the gel-filtration method. Since RuBisCO binds CABP on the substrate sites with a dissociation constant of less than 10 pM, CABP bound exclusively to the substrate sites at less than 5 microM. Plotting the number of CABP bound to the sites other than the substrate sites against the concentration of CABP gave a typical "bumpy" curve; the binding number in the intermediate plateau at 20 to 40 microM CABP was 3.7 to 4.4 mol per mol of RuBisCO and that at the saturating concentration of CABP was 7.6 to 7.8 mol per mol of RuBisCO. The Hill plot of their relationship gave a line which bent strongly at 20 to 40 microM CABP. The best fitting of the data to the equations derived from the binding model constructed according to the reported model [Teipel, J. & Koshland, D.E., Jr. (1969) Biochemistry 8, 4656-4663] showed that the binding of CABP to the regulatory sites proceeded with positive cooperativity both before and after the plateau. The dissociation constant decreased from 31 to 14 microM by the factor of 1/1.3 in the former group and 490 to 0.7 microM by the factor of 1/8.9 in the latter with increasing binding number of CABP.

Ribulose Bisphosphate-Induced, Slow Conformational Changes of Spinach Ribulose Bisphosphate Carboxylase Cause the Two Types of Inflections in the Course of Its Carboxylase Reaction1

The cause of the inflection in the course of the carboxylase reaction and the changes in the functioning form of spinach ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase (RuBisCO) during the reaction were elucidated by relating the activity to the protein conformation of RuBisCO using a fluorescence probe, 2-p-toluidinylnaphthalene sulfonate. The activity of RuBisCO in the linear phase was 50 to 60% of that in the initial burst at 0.5 to 1.0 mM ribulose bisphosphate (RuBP) and 65 to 80% at 2 to 5 mM RuBP. The amount and the progress of the decrease in the activity during the reaction had a close relationship to a change in the protein conformation of RuBisCO. The enzyme, the substrate binding sites of which were masked beforehand with carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate, still showed a change of its protein conformation upon addition of RuBP, suggesting that RuBisCO has two (substrate and regulatory) RuBP-binding sites per RuBisCO promoter. RuBisCO required over 2 mM RuBP for binding on the regulatory sites. Both sites also bound 6-phosphogluconate. When both sites were masked with 6-phosphogluconate beforehand, the course of the subsequent carboxylase reaction was linear with time. From these results, I propose that the inflection in the course of the reaction of spinach RuBisCO is a hysteretic response of the enzyme to RuBP bound to both substrate and regulatory sites.

Photometric method for routine determination of kcat and carbamylation of rubisco

Ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase (rubisco) is the first enzyme in photosynthetic CO2 assimilation. It is also the single largest sink for nitrogen in plants. Several parameters of rubisco activity are often measured including initial activity upon extraction, degree of carbamylation, catalytic constant of the enzyme (kcat), and the total amount of enzyme present in a leaf. We report here improvements of the photometric assay of rubisco in which rubisco activity is coupled to NADH oxidation which is continuously monitored in a photometer. The initial lag usually found in this assay was eliminated by assaying rubisco activity at pH 8.0 instead of 8.2, using a large amount of phosphoglycerate kinase, and adding monovalent cations to the assay buffer. We found that when using the photometric assay, the ratio of activity found initially upon extraction divided by the activity after incubating with CO2 and Mg(2+) reflects the degree of carbamylation as determined by (14)carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate/(12)carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate competition. We developed methods for measuring the catalytic constant of rubisco as well as the total amount of enzyme present using the photometric assay and carboxyarabinitol 1,5-bisphosphate. We believe that the photometric assay for activity will prove more useful than the (14)CO2 assay in many studies.

Proteolysis and transition-state-analogue binding of mutant forms of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Trypsin digestion reduces the sizes of both the large and small subunits of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco; EC 4.1.1.39) from the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Incubation of either CO2/Mg(2+) -activated or nonactivated enzyme with the transition-state analogue carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate protects a trypsin-sensitive site of the large subunit, but not of the small subunit. Incubation of the nonactivated enzyme with ribulosebisphosphate (RuBP) provided the same degree of protection. Thus, the very tight binding that is a characteristic of the transitionstate analogue is apparently not required for the protection of the trypsin-sensitive site of the large subunit. Mutant enzymes that have reduced CO2/O2 specificities failed to bind carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate tightly. However, their large-subunit trypsin-sensitive sites could still be protected. The K m values for RuBP were not significantly changed for the mutant enzymes, but the V max values for carboxylation were reduced substantially. These results indicate that the failure of the mutant enzymes to bind the transition-state analogue tightly is primarily the consequence of an impairment in the second irreversible binding step. Thus, in all of the mutant enzymes, defects appear to exist in stabilizing the transition state of the carboxylation step, which is precisely the step proposed to influence the CO2/O2 specificity of Rubisco.

Ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase activity in halophilic Archaebacteria

Among the several strains of halobacteria grown heterotrophically, ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase activity was detected in those which accumulate poly (β-hydroxybutyrate), viz. Haloferax mediterranei, Haloferax volcanii and Halobacterium marismortui. In H. mediterranei, the activity was present in cell extracts prepared after growth on a variety of carbohydrates. The ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase activity in H. mediterranei was inhibited by carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate, and the enzyme cross-reacted with antibodies raised against the spinach enzyme. CO2 fixation by cell extract was stimulated by the addition of ATP and NADH. Preliminary data suggested that hydrogen could be a possible reductant.

Rubisco Activity in Guard Cells Compared with the Solute Requirement for Stomatal Opening

We investigated whether the reductive pentose phosphate path in guard cells of Pisum sativum had the capacity to contribute significantly to the production of osmotica during stomatal opening in the light. Amounts of ribulose 1,5-bisphophate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) were determined by the [(14)C]carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate assay. A guard cell contained about 1.2 and a mesophyll cell about 324 picograms of the enzyme; the ratio was 1:270. The specific activities of Rubisco in guard cells and in mesophyll cells were equal; there was no indication of a specific inhibitor of Rubisco in guard cells. Rubisco activity was 115 femtomol per guard-cell protoplast and hour. This value was different from zero with a probability of 0.99. After exposure of guard-cell protoplasts to (14)CO(2) for 2 seconds in the light, about one-half of the radioactivity was in phosphorylated compounds and <10% in malate. Guard cells in epidermal strips produced a different labelling pattern; in the light, <10% of the label was in phosphorylated compounds and about 60% in malate. The rate of solute accumulation in intact guard cells was estimated to have been 900 femto-osmol per cell and hour. If Rubisco operated at full capacity in guard cells, and hexoses were produced as osmotica, solutes could be supplied at a rate of 19 femto-osmol per cell and hour, which would constitute 2% of the estimated requirement. The capacity of guard-cell Rubisco to meet the solute requirement for stomatal opening in leaves of Pisum sativum is insignificant.

Photosynthetic CO2 fixation and ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase activity of Nostoc sp. strain UCD 7801 in symbiotic association with Anthoceros punctatus

The cyanobacterium Nostoc sp. strain UCD 7801, immediately after separation from pure cultures of a reconstituted symbiotic association with the bryophyte Anthoceros punctatus, exhibited a rate of light-dependent CO2 fixation that was eightfold lower than that measured in the free-living growth state. Ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBPC/O) specific activity was also eightfold lower in cell extracts of symbiotic strain 7801 relative to that in free-living cultures. The in vitro activity from symbiotic strain 7801 could not be increased by incubation under the standard RuBPC/O activation conditions. Polyclonal antibodies against the RuBPC/O large subunit were used in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to determine that RuBPC/O accounted for 4.3 and 5.2% of the total protein in cell extracts of strain 7801 grown in symbiotic and free-living states, respectively. The results imply that the regulation of RuBPC/O activity in the symbiotic growth state is by a posttranslational mechanism rather than by an alteration in RuBPC/O protein synthesis. The amount of carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate required to irreversibly inhibit RuBPC/O activity of sybiotic cell extracts was 80% of that required for extracts of free-living cultures. This result indicates that any covalent modification of RuBPC/O in symbiotically associated Nostoc cells did not interfere with the ribulose bisphosphate binding site, since inactive enzyme also bound carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate.

Carbonyl sulfide: an alternate substrate for but not an activator of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase

Carbonyl sulfide, a competitive inhibitor of ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase with respect to CO2 (Laing, W. A., and Christeller, J. T. (1980) Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 202, 592-600), is an alternate substrate. Thiocarboxylation was monitored by mass spectrometry as the stoichiometric consumption of carbonyl sulfide. The product, 1-thio-3-phosphoglycerate, was identified by 13C NMR and UV absorption spectroscopy and measured by enzymic conversion to thiolactate, coupled to the oxidation of NADH. The expected stoichiometry of thiocarboxylation was confirmed. The maximal rates of thiocarboxylation for the spinach and Rhodospirillum rubrum enzymes were close to the maximal rates of carboxylation for these two enzymes. Both enzymes favored CO2 over carbonyl sulfide (with Mg2+ as metal ion) by a factor of about 110. Thiocarboxylation could only be demonstrated with enzymes carbamylated with CO2. Incubation of the carbamylated E.ACO2.Mg complex with excess carbonyl sulfide caused the displacement of the activator carbamate. The thiocarbamylated enzyme was catalytically incompetent and did not form a stable quaternary complex with 2'-carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate. Incubation of the thiocarbamylated enzyme with excess CO2 resulted in the displacement of the thiocarbamate, the re-formation of the carbamylated E.ACO2.Mg complex and the restoration of catalytic competence. Computergraphic simulation of the thiocarbamylated quaternary complex indicated unfavorable van der Waals interactions associated with the thiocarbamate.

Reaction-intermediate analogue binding by ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase causes specific changes in proteolytic sensitivity: the amino-terminal residue of the large subunit is acetylated proline.

Trypsin rapidly inactivated the catalytic activities of spinach ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase [3-phospho-D-glycerate carboxy-lyase (dimerizing), EC 4.1.1.39], but the stoichiometry of binding of the reaction-intermediate analogue carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate was only slightly reduced after proteolysis. Electrophoretic analysis indicated that several forms of the large subunit were generated during proteolysis but that the small subunit was resistant. Three tryptic peptides were isolated and characterized after digestion of the activated enzyme; the tryptic-sensitive sites were identified at Lys-8, Lys-14, and Lys-466 of the large subunit. Tryptic digestion of the enzyme complexed with the reaction-intermediate analogue released only two peptides by hydrolysis at Lys-8 and at Lys-14. The loss of susceptibility of Lys-466 to trypsin may be the result of a conformational change that limits the accessibility of the carboxyl-terminal region after binding of the reaction-intermediate analogue. Analysis of the amino-terminal tryptic peptide by composition and fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry demonstrated that the actual amino-terminal residue is proline at position 3 of the DNA-deduced sequence and that this proline is blocked with an N-acetyl moiety. Thus, posttranslational processing of the chloroplast-encoded large subunit of the enzyme must occur to remove Met-1 and Ser-2 and to acetylate the amino terminus.

Essentiality of Lys-329 of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase from Rhodospirillum rubrum as demonstrated by site-directed mutagenesis.

The unusual chemical properties of active-site Lys-329 of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase from Rhodospirillum rubrum have suggested that this residue is required for catalysis. To test this postulate Lys-329 was replaced with glycine, serine, alanine, cysteine, arginine, glutamic acid or glutamine by site-directed mutagenesis. These single amino acid substitutions do not appear to induce major conformational changes because (i) intersubunit interactions are unperturbed in that the purified mutant proteins are stable dimers like the wild-type enzyme and (ii) intrasubunit folding is normal in that the mutant proteins bind the competitive inhibitor 6-phosphogluconate with an affinity similar to that of wild-type enzyme. In contrast, all of the mutant proteins are severely deficient in carboxylase activity (less than 0.01% of wild-type) and are unable to form the exchange-inert complex, characteristic of the wild-type enzyme, with the transition-state analogue carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate. These results underscore the stringency of the requirement for a lysyl side-chain at position 329 and imply that Lys-329 is involved in catalysis, perhaps stabilizing a transition state in the overall reaction pathway.

Distance between two active-site lysines of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase from Rhodospirillum rubrum

In the absence of a three-dimensional structure of ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase [3-phospho-D-glycerate carboxy-lyase(dimerizing), EC 4.1.1.39], we have probed the distance between two active-site lysyl residues (Lys-166 and Lys-329) of the Rhodospirillum rubrum enzyme with 4,4'-diisothiocyano-2,2'-disulfonate stilbene, a covalent cross-linking reagent that spans 12 A. The reagent rapidly inactivated the carboxylase, and a competitive inhibitor provided substantial protection. To remove products arising from intersubunit or intermolecular cross-linking, the inactivated enzyme was subjected to gel filtration in the presence of urea. Inspection of a tryptic digest of the isolated monomeric fraction revealed that more than half of the incorporated reagent was associated with a single peptide. This peptide was purified by gel filtration, followed by high HPLC. Compositional and sequence analyses of the purified peptide established that it was composed of two chains, encompassing positions 149-168 and 314-337 of the original protein subunit and connected by a cross-link between Lys-166 and Lys-329. Thus, the two active-site lysines of the carboxylase can be juxtaposed within 12 A, a finding that is consistent with their purported proximity to ribulose bisphosphate in the enzyme-substrate complex. The cross-link was not formed when the carboxylase was treated with the reagent either in the presence of a transition-state analogue (carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate) or in the absence of CO(2) and Mg(2+), conditions under which the enzyme exists in a deactivated form.

The sites for catalysis and activation of ribulosebisphosphate carboxylase share a common domain

The complexation of ribulosebiphosphate carboxylase with CO 2, Mg 2+, and carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate (CABP) to produce the quaternary enzyme-carbamate-Mg 2+-CABP complex closely mimics the formation of the catalytically competent enzymecarbamate-Mg 2+-3-keto-CABP form during enzymatic catalysis. Quaternary complexes were prepared with various metals (Mg 2+, Cd 2+, Mn 2+, Co 2+, and Ni 2+) and with specifically 13C-enriched ligands. 31P and 13C NMR studies of these complexes demonstrate that the activator CO 2 site (carbamate site), the metal binding site, and the substrate binding site are contiguous. It follows that both the carboxylase and oxygenase activities of this bifunctional enzyme are influenced by the structures of the catalytic and activation sites.

Co 2+- and Cu 2+-incubated ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase from Rhodospirillum rubrum studied with electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy

Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase from Rhodospirillum rubrum selectively catalyzes the oxygenase reaction when activated with Co 2+ (Robison, P.D., Martin, ·M.N. and Tabita, F.R. (1979) Biochemistry 18, 4453–4458). This property has been used in an investigation of the oxygenase reaction. With electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, we have observed a transient, ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate-dependent enzyme-Co 2+ complex. It is formed in considerable amounts both in the presence and in the absence of oxygen which indicates that it is formed before oxygen participates in the reaction. The complex is therefore suggested to contain bound ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate or the enolate anion of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate. An EPR spectrum was also recorded for the R. rubrum enzyme-Cu 2+-carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate complex. The narrow hyperfine lines in the spectrum (linewidth 1.0–1.5 mT) are consistent with Cu 2+ coordination to oxygen atoms only. This is similar to the situation in the spinach enzyme, which indicates that the metal is bound in an environment that has been highly conserved in the two enzymes.

Site-specific mutagenesis of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase. Evidence that carbamate formation at Lys 191 is required for catalytic activity.

Site-specific mutagenesis of a cloned gene for ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase from Rhodospirillum rubrum was used to examine the functional significance of carbamate activation. Lysine 191, the residue involved in carbamate formation, was replaced with a glutamate in order to mimic the anionic nature of the carbamate. The resulting enzyme was capable of binding the six-carbon transition state analog carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate, but completely lacked catalytic activity. In contrast to the wild-type enzyme, carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate binding was not stabilized by divalent metal and CO2. These observations are consistent with a proposed role for the carbamate in binding the metal required for catalysis.

Characterization of an active-site peptide modified by glyoxylate and pyridoxal phosphate from spinach ribulosebisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase

Activated ribulosebisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase from spinach was treated with glyoxylate plus or minus the transition-state analog, carboxyarabinitol bisphosphate, or the inactive enzyme with pyridoxal phosphate plus or minus the substrate, ribulose bisphosphate. Covalently modified adducts with glyoxylate or pyridoxal phosphate were formed following reduction with sodium borohydride. The derivatized enzymes were carboxymethylated and digested with trypsin; the labeled peptides which were unique to the unprotected samples were purified by ion-exchange chromatography and gel filtration. Both glyoxylate and pyridoxal phosphate were associated with only one major peptide, which in each case was subjected to amino acid analysis and sequencing. The sequence was -Tyr-Gly-Arg-Pro-Leu-Leu-Gly-Cys(Cm)-Thr-Ile-Lys-Lys ∗-Pro-Lys-, with both reagents exhibiting specificity for the same lysine residue as indicated by the asterisk. This peptide is identical to that previously isolated from spinach carboxylase labeled with either of two different phosphorylated affinity reagents and homologous to one from Rhodospirillum rubrum carboxylase modified by pyridoxal phosphate. The species invariance of this lysine residue, number 175, and the substantial conservation of adjacent sequence support the probability for a functional role in catalysis of the lysyl ϵ-amino group.