scholarly journals Chemical Modification of Active Site Residues in γ-Glutamyl Transpeptidase.

1995 ◽  
Vol 270 (21) ◽  
pp. 12476-12480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry K. Smith ◽  
Alton Meister
Author(s):  
Ryuji Yamazawa ◽  
Ritsuko Kuwana ◽  
Kenji Takeuchi ◽  
Hiromu Takamatsu ◽  
Yoshitaka Nakajima ◽  
...  

Abstract In order to characterize the probable protease gene yabG found in the genomes of spore-forming bacteria, Bacillus subtilis yabG was expressed as a 35 kDa His-tagged protein (BsYabG) in Escherichia coli cells. During purification using Ni-affinity chromatography, the 35 kDa protein was degraded via several intermediates to form a 24 kDa protein. Furthermore, it was degraded after an extended incubation period. The effect of protease inhibitors, including certain chemical modification reagents, on the conversion of the 35 kDa protein to the 24 kDa protein was investigated. Reagents reacting with sulfhydryl groups exerted significant effects, strongly suggesting that the yabG gene product is a cysteine protease with autolytic activity. Site-directed mutagenesis of the conserved Cys and His residues indicated that Cys218 and His172 are active site residues. No degradation was observed in the C218A/S and H172A mutants. In addition to the chemical modification reagents, benzamidine inhibited the degradation of the 24 kDa protein. Determination of the N-terminal amino acid sequences of the intermediates revealed trypsin-like specificity for YabG protease. Based on the relative positions of His172 and Cys218 and their surrounding sequences, we propose the classification of YabG as a new family of clan CD in the Merops peptidase database.


1990 ◽  
Vol 272 (2) ◽  
pp. 479-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Andersson ◽  
R Morgenstern

Amino acid residues that are essential for the activity of rat liver microsomal glutathione transferase have been identified using chemical modification with various group-selective reagents. The enzyme reconstituted into phosphatidylcholine liposomes does not require stabilization with glutathione for activity (in contrast with the purified enzyme in detergent) and can thus be used for modification of active-site residues. Protection by the product analogue and inhibitor S-hexylglutathione was used as a criterion for specificity. It was shown that the histidine-selective reagent diethylpyrocarbonate inactivated the enzyme and that S-hexylglutathione partially protected against this inactivation. All three histidine residues in microsomal glutathione transferase could be modified, albeit at different rates. Inactivation of 90% of enzyme activity was achieved within the time period required for modification of the most reactive histidine, indicating the functional importance of this residue in catalysis. The arginine-selective reagents phenylglyoxal and 2,3-butanedione inhibited the enzyme, but the latter with very low efficiency; therefore no definitive assignment of arginine as essential for the activity of microsomal glutathione transferase can be made. The amino-group-selective reagents 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulphonate and pyridoxal 5′-phosphate inactivated the enzyme. Thus histidine residues and amino groups are suggested to be present in the active site of the microsomal glutathione transferase.


2004 ◽  
Vol 279 (52) ◽  
pp. 54079-54087 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian-Ke Tie ◽  
Da-Yun Jin ◽  
David R. Loiselle ◽  
R. Marshall Pope ◽  
David L. Straight ◽  
...  

1984 ◽  
Vol 224 (3) ◽  
pp. 703-707 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Manohar ◽  
N Appaji Rao

Chemical modification of amino acid residues with phenylglyoxal, N-ethylmaleimide and diethyl pyrocarbonate indicated that at least one residue each of arginine, cysteine and histidine were essential for the activity of sheep liver serine hydroxymethyltransferase. The second-order rate constants for inactivation were calculated to be 0.016 mM-1 X min-1 for phenylglyoxal, 0.52 mM-1 X min-1 for N-ethylmaleimide and 0.06 mM-1 X min-1 for diethyl pyrocarbonate. Different rates of modification of these residues in the presence and in the absence of substrates and the cofactor pyridoxal 5′-phosphate as well as the spectra of the modified protein suggested that these residues might occur at the active site of the enzyme.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 1122-1137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nivedita Singh ◽  
Parameswaran Saravanan ◽  
M.S. Thakur ◽  
Sanjukta Patra

Background: Phosphodiesterases 9A (PDE9A) is one of the prominent regulating enzymes of the signal transduction pathway having highest catalytic affinity for second messenger, cGMP. When the cGMP level is lowered, an uncontrolled expression of PDE9A may lead to various neurodegenerative diseases. To regulate the catalytic activity of PDE9A, potent inhibitors are needed. Objective: The primary objective of the present study was to develop new xanthine based inhibitors targeting PDE9A. This study was an attempt to bring structural diversification in PDE9A inhibitor development because most of the existing inhibitors are constructed over pyrazolopyrimidinone scaffold. Methods: Manual designing and parallel molecular docking approach were used for the development of xanthine derivatives. In this study, N1, N3, N9 and C8 positions of xanthine scaffold were selected as substitution sites to design 200 new compounds. Reverse docking and pharmaceutical analyses were used for final validation of most promising compounds. Results: By keeping free energy of binding cut-off of -6.0 kcal/mol, 52 compounds were screened. The compounds with substitution at N1, N3 and C8 positions of xanthine showed good occupancy in PDE9A active site pocket with a significant interaction pattern. This was further validated by screening different factors such as free energy of binding, inhibition constant and interacting active site residues in the 5Å region. Substitution at C8 position with phenyl substituent determined the inhibition affinity of compounds towards PDE9A by establishing a strong hydrophobic - hydrophobic interaction. The alkyl chain at N1 position generated selectivity of compounds towards PDE9A. The aromatic fragment at N3 position increased the binding affinity of compounds. Thus, by comparative docking study, it was found that compound 39-42 formed selective interaction towards PDE9A over other members of the PDE superfamily. Conclusion: From the present study, N1, N3 and C8 positions of xanthine were concluded as the best sites for substitution for the generation of potent PDE9A inhibitors.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Bou-Nader ◽  
Frederick W. Stull ◽  
Ludovic Pecqueur ◽  
Philippe Simon ◽  
Vincent Guérineau ◽  
...  

AbstractFolate enzyme cofactors and their derivatives have the unique ability to provide a single carbon unit at different oxidation levels for the de novo synthesis of amino-acids, purines, or thymidylate, an essential DNA nucleotide. How these cofactors mediate methylene transfer is not fully settled yet, particularly with regard to how the methylene is transferred to the methylene acceptor. Here, we uncovered that the bacterial thymidylate synthase ThyX, which relies on both folate and flavin for activity, can also use a formaldehyde-shunt to directly synthesize thymidylate. Combining biochemical, spectroscopic and anaerobic crystallographic analyses, we showed that formaldehyde reacts with the reduced flavin coenzyme to form a carbinolamine intermediate used by ThyX for dUMP methylation. The crystallographic structure of this intermediate reveals how ThyX activates formaldehyde and uses it, with the assistance of active site residues, to methylate dUMP. Our results reveal that carbinolamine species promote methylene transfer and suggest that the use of a CH2O-shunt may be relevant in several other important folate-dependent reactions.


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