Kinetic and inhibition studies on substrate channelling in the bifunctional enzyme catalysing C-terminal amidation. (1/31)

A series of experiments has been conducted to investigate the possibility that substrate channelling might occur in the bifunctional forms of enzymes carrying out C-terminal amidation, a post-translational modification essential to the biological activity of many neuropeptides. C-terminal amidation entails sequential action by peptidylglycine mono-oxygenase (PAM, EC 1.14.17.3) and peptidylamidoglycolate lyase (PGL, EC 4.3.2.5), with the mono-oxygenase catalysing conversion of a glycine-extended pro-peptide into the corresponding alpha-hydroxyglycine derivative, which is then converted by the lyase into amidated peptide plus glyoxylate. Since the mono-oxygenase and lyase reactions exhibit tandem reaction stereospecificities, channelling of the alpha-hydroxy intermediate might occur, as is the case for some other multifunctional enzymes. Selective inhibition of the mono-oxygenase domain by competitive ester inhibitors, as well as mechanism-based mono-oxygenase inactivation by the novel olefinic inhibitor 5-acetamido-4-oxo-6-phenylhex-2-enoate (N-acetylphenylalanyl acrylate), has little to no effect on the kinetic parameters of the lyase domain of the AE from Xenopus laevis. Similarly, inhibition of the lyase domain by the potent dioxo inhibitor 2,4-dioxo-5-acetamido-6-phenylhexanoate has little effect on the activity of the monooxygenase domain in the bifunctional enzyme. A series of experiments on intermediate accumulation and conversion were also carried out, along with kinetic investigations of the reactivities of the monofunctional and bifunctional forms of PAM and PGL towards substrates and inhibitors. Taken together, the results demonstrate the kinetic independence of the mono-oxygenase and lyase domains, and provide no evidence for substrate channelling between these domains in the bifunctional amidating enzyme.  (+info)

Kinetic and stereochemical studies on novel inactivators of C-terminal amidation. (2/31)

C-terminal amidation, a required post-translational modification for the bioactivation of many neuropeptides, entails sequential enzymic action by peptidylglycine alpha-mono-oxygenase (PAM, EC 1.14.17.3) and peptidylamidoglycolate lyase (PGL, EC 4.3.2.5). Here we introduce novel compounds in which an olefinic functionality is incorporated into peptide analogues as the most potent turnover-dependent inactivators of PAM. Kinetic parameters for PAM inactivation by 4-oxo-5-acetamido-6-phenyl-hex-2-enoic acid and 4-oxo-5-acetamido-6-(2-thienyl)-hex-2-enoic acid were obtained by using both the conventional dilution assay method and the more complex progress curve method. The results obtained from the progress curve method establish that these compounds exhibit the kinetic characteristics of pure competitive inactivators (i.e. no ESI complex forms during inactivation). On the basis of k(inact)/K(i) values, 4-oxo-5-acetamido-6-(2-thienyl)-hex-2-enoic acid is almost two orders of magnitude more potent than benzoylacrylate, a chemically analogous olefinic inactivator that lacks the peptide moiety. Stereochemical studies established that PAM inactivation by 4-oxo-5-acetamido-6-(2-thienyl)-hex-2-enoic acid is stereospecific with respect to the moiety at the P(2) position, which is consistent with previous results with substrates and reversible inhibitors. In contrast, 2, 4-dioxo-5-acetamido-6-phenylhexanoic acid, which is a competitive inhibitor with respect to ascorbate, exhibits a low degree of stereospecificity in binding to the ascorbate sites of both PAM and dopamine-beta-hydroxylase.  (+info)

Urea is a product of ureidoglycolate degradation in chickpea. Purification and characterization of the ureidoglycolate urea-lyase. (3/31)

A ureidoglycolate-degrading activity was analyzed in different organs of chickpea (Cicer arietinum). Activity was detected in all the tissues analyzed, but highest levels of specific activity were found in pods, from which it has been purified and characterized. This is the first ureidoglycolate-degrading activity that has been purified to homogeneity from any photosynthetic organism. Only one ureidoglycolate-degrading activity was found during the purification. The enzyme was purified 1,500-fold, and specific activity for the pure enzyme was 8.6 units mg(-1), which corresponds with a turnover number of 1,600 min(-1). The native enzyme has a molecular mass of 180 kD and consists of six identical or similar-sized subunits of 31 kD each. The enzyme exhibited hyperbolic, Michaelian kinetics for (-) ureidoglycolate with K(m) values of 6 and 10 microM in the presence or absence of Mn(2+), respectively. Optimum pH was between 7 and 8 and maximum activity was found at temperatures above 70 degrees C, the enzyme being extremely stable and resistant to heat denaturation. The activity was inhibited by EDTA and enhanced by several bivalent cations, thus suggesting that the enzyme is a metalloprotein. This enzyme has been characterized as a ureidoglycolate urea-lyase (EC 4.3.2.3), which catalyzes the degradation of (-) ureidoglycolate to glyoxylate and urea. This is the first time that such an activity is detected in plant tissues. A possible function for this activity and its implications in the context of nitrogen mobilization in legume plants is also discussed.  (+info)

Pathways for urea production during early life of an air-breathing teleost, the African catfish Clarias gariepinus Burchell. (4/31)

Embryos and larvae of the African catfish Clarias gariepinus excrete significant quantities of urea. The present study focused on the potential urea-generating pathways during early development of this teleost; uricolysis, argininolysis and the ornithine-urea cycle (OUC). Uricase, allantoinase, allantoicase and ureidoglycollate lyase of the uricolytic pathway were expressed in all early life stages and in adult liver of C. gariepinus. Uricase activity increased in starved larvae compared with yolk-sac larvae. The key regulatory enzyme of the teleost OUC, carbamoyl phosphate synthetase III (CPSase III), was expressed predominantly in muscle of developing C. gariepinus larvae and showed negligible activity in the absence of its allosteric effector N-acetyl-L-glutamate. CPSase III and ornithine carbamoyl transferase activities increased in fed larvae compared with starved larvae. In contrast to the early developmental stages, adult C. gariepinus expressed only low and variable levels of CPSase III, suggesting that, under the experimental conditions employed, OUC expression is influenced by developmental stage in this species. The data indicate that early C. gariepinus life stages express the enzymes necessary for urea production by uricolysis, argininolysis and the OUC, and this may explain why urea tissue levels and urea excretion rates are substantial during the early development of this air-breathing teleost.  (+info)

Catalysis, stereochemistry, and inhibition of ureidoglycolate lyase. (5/31)

Ureidoglycolate lyase (UGL, EC 4.3.2.3) catalyzes the breakdown of ureidoglycolate to glyoxylate and urea, which is the final step in the catabolic pathway leading from purines to urea. Although the sequence of enzymatic steps was worked out nearly 40 years ago, the stereochemistry of the uric acid degradation pathway and the catalytic properties of UGL have remained very poorly described. We now report the first direct investigation of the absolute stereochemistry of UGL catalysis. Using chiral chromatographic analyses with substrate enantiomers, we demonstrate that UGL catalysis is stereospecific for substrates with the (S)-hydroxyglycine configuration. The first potent competitive inhibitors for UGL are reported here. These inhibitors are compounds which contain a 2,4-dioxocarboxylate moiety, designed to mimic transient species produced during lyase catalysis. The most potent inhibitor, 2,4-dioxo-4-phenylbutanoic acid, exhibits a KI value of 2.2 nM and is therefore among the most potent competitive inhibitors ever reported for a lyase enzyme. New synthetic alternate substrates for UGL, which are acyl-alpha-hydroxyglycine compounds, are described. Based on these alternate substrates, we introduce the first assay method for monitoring UGL activity directly. Finally, we report the first putative primary nucleotide and derived peptide sequence for UGL. This sequence exhibits a high level of similarity to the fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase family of proteins. Close mechanistic similarities can be visualized between the chemistries of ureidoglycolate lyase and fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase catalysis.  (+info)

Differentially regulated malate synthase genes participate in carbon and nitrogen metabolism of S. cerevisiae. (6/31)

We have isolated a second gene (MLS1), which in addition to DAL7, encodes malate synthase from S. cerevisiae. Expression of the two genes is specific for their physiological roles in carbon and nitrogen metabolism. Expression of MLS1, which participates in the utilization of non-fermentable carbon sources, is sensitive to carbon catabolite repression, but nearly insensitive to nitrogen catabolite repression. DAL7, which participates in catabolism of the nitrogenous compound allantoin, is insensitive to carbon catabolite repression, but highly sensitive to nitrogen catabolite repression. Results obtained with null mutations in these genes suggest that S. cerevisiae contains at least one and perhaps two additional malate synthase genes.  (+info)

The source of the oxygen atom in the alpha-hydroxyglycine intermediate of the peptidylglycine alpha-amidating reaction. (7/31)

Peptidylglycine alpha-amidating activity catalyses the oxidation of a C-terminally glycine-extended peptide to a desglycine alpha-amidated peptide at the expense of ascorbate and O2 in the presence of Cu2+. The reaction involves oxidative N-dealkylation within the terminal glycine residue, with retention of the glycine N atom and release of the remainder as glyoxylate. Recent studies by us and others have revealed that the reaction consists of two steps via a carbinolamide as an intermediate (peptidyl alpha-hydroxyglycine), and also that two separate enzymes derived from a common precursor protein catalyse these steps, formation of the carbinolamide and its conversion into alpha-amide and glyoxylate. As for the mechanism of carbinolamide formation, two distinct pathways can be considered: direct mono-oxygenation at the glycine alpha-C atom and dehydrogenation leading to an imine followed by hydration. To draw a distinction between them, we carried out the reaction with D-Tyr-Val-Gly as the substrate either in the H2(18)O-enriched medium or under an atmosphere of 18O2, and isolated the alpha-hydroxylglycine intermediate. The fast-atom-bombardment mass-spectral analysis demonstrated that the hydroxy O atom comes from O2, but not from H2O, indicating that the alpha-hydroxylation should be a monooxygenase reaction.  (+info)

Intermittent hypoxia activates peptidylglycine alpha-amidating monooxygenase in rat brain stem via reactive oxygen species-mediated proteolytic processing. (8/31)

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