Interaction of α-chymotrypsin with dimethyl sulfoxide:: A change of substrate could Change the interaction mechanism

The kinetic behavior of alpha-chymotrypsin was studied in water-DMSO mixtures at concentrations of the organic solvent that do not cause irreversible denaturation of the enzyme. Various substrates (N-substituted derivatives of L-tyrosine) were found to display substantially different kinetic patterns of interaction with alpha-chymotrypsin, which can be described by totally different kinetic schemes. The differences were ascribed to competition between the N-acyl group of the substrate and the DMSO molecule at the S-2 site of substrate binding to the active site of the enzyme.