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ABSTRACT: The 24p3 protein is a 25 KDa glycoprotein, having been purified from mouse uterine fluid. Thr54, Ser88, and Thr128/Ser129 on the protein molecule were predicted to be the phosphorylation site of casein kinase II, protein kinase C, and cAMP-dependent protein kinase, respectively. Incorporation of phosphate to this protein from [gamma-32P]-ATP was tested in the solution suitable for the three kinases. Neither casein kinase II nor cAMP-dependent protein kinase reacted to the 24p3 protein; however, protein kinase C demonstrated phosphorylation to this protein. This phosphorylation may be competing with a polypeptide segment: Arg79-Tyr-Trp-Ilu-Arg-Thr-Phe-Val-Pro-Ser88-Ser-Arg-Ala-Gly-Gln-Phe-Thr-Leu-Gly97 in the 24p3 protein molecule. To support this theory, Ser88 is a phosphorylation site of protein kinase C on 24p3 protein. The enzyme kinetic parameter, based on the Michaelis-Menten equation, determined Km to be 2.96 microM in the phosphorylation of 24p3 protein by the kinase. Both of the phosphorylated and dephosphorylated form of 24p3 protein can enhance the cAMP-dependent protein kinase activity in vitro. In addition, this experiment will show for the first time that serine-phosphorylated 24p3 protein exists in mouse uterine tissue.
Journal of Protein Chemistry 11/2001; 20(7):563-9.
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ABSTRACT: Proteomic analysis is an important approach to characterizing the proteome and studying protein function in the post-genomic era. It is also a powerful screening method for detecting unexpected alterations in protein expression that may be missed by conventional biochemical techniques. The aim of this study was to perform a preliminary proteomic analysis of PC12 cells in order to investigate the effect of nerve growth factor (NGF) on protein expression in PC12 cells during neurite outgrowth. PC12 cell proteins were separated by two-dimensional electrophoresis (2DE) and visualized by silver staining, then certain proteins were identified by N-terminal amino acid microsequencing and a homology search of a protein sequence database. Over 400 proteins were detected, 10% of which showed a significant (greater than 30%) increase or decrease in expression during NGF-induced neuronal differentiation. Seven proteins in the 2DE map were identified; the levels of five of these were unaffected by NGF treatment, whereas the levels of the other two, beta-tubulin and a novel 43-kDa chromogranin B-derived fragment, were significantly increased by more than 30 and 200%, respectively. Our results suggest that chromogranin B processing is enhanced in PC12 cells during NGF-induced neuronal differentiation. In addition, since this increase in the levels of the chromogranin B-derived fragment was specifically blocked by PD98059, we suggest that the increased processing can be ascribed to activation of the MAP kinase pathway, and that the 43-kDa chromogranin B-derived fragment can serve as a new marker of neuronal differentiation for proteomic studies.
Molecular Brain Research 09/2001; 92(1-2):181-92. · 2.00 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: An expression library was generated from a partial NcoI and HindIII digest of genomic DNA from the thermophilic bacterium, Bacillus stearothermophilus P1. The DNA fragments were cloned into the expression vector pQE-60 and transformed into Escherichia coli M15[EP4]. Sequence analysis of a lipase gene showed an open reading frame of 1254 nucleotides coding a 29-amino-acid signal sequence and a mature sequence of 388 amino acids. The expressed lipase was isolated and purified to homogeneity in a single chromatographic step. The molecular mass of the lipase was determined to be approximately 43 kDa by SDS-PAGE and mass spectrometry. The purified lipase had an optimum pH of 8.5 and showed maximal activity at 55 degrees C. It was highly stable in the temperature range of 30-65 degrees C. The highest activity was found with p-nitrophenyl ester-caprate as the synthetic substrate and tricaprylin as the triacylglycerol. Its activity was strongly inhibited by 10 mM phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride and 1-hexadecanesulfonyl chloride, indicating that it contains a serine residue which plays a key role in the catalytic mechanism. In addition, it was stable for 1 h at 37 degrees C in 0.1% Chaps and Triton X-100.
Protein Expression and Purification 09/2001; 22(3):388-98. · 1.59 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: A growing number of reports demonstrate that hypersialylation, which is observed in certain pathological processes, such as oncogenic transformation, tumor metastasis, and invasion, is associated with enhanced sialyltransferase (ST) activity. There is therefore a need for the development of ST inhibitors to modulate ST activity and thus alleviate the disease processes caused by STs. In the present study, soyasaponin I had been discovered to be a potent and specific ST inhibitor by screening strategy from 7500 samples including micribial extracts and natural products. Kinetic analysis shows that it is a CMP-Neu5Ac competitive inhibitor with for ST3Gal I with an inhibition constant (K(i)) of 2.1 microM. In addition, it is only active against ST, but not against the other tested glycosyltransferases and glycosidases. Our study is the first report to discover ST inhibitor by screening method and also to provide the new chemical structure information that should be useful in the development of other novel ST inhibitors.
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 07/2001; 284(2):466-9. · 2.48 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The moderate thermophilic bacterium Bacillus stearothermophilus P1 expresses a thermostable lipase that was active and stable at the high temperature. Based on secondary structure predictions and secondary structure-driven multiple sequence alignment with the homologous lipases of known three-dimensional (3-D) structure, we constructed the 3-D structure model of this enzyme and the model reveals the topological organization of the fold, corroborating our predictions. We hypothesized for this enzyme the alpha/beta-hydrolase fold typical of several lipases and identified Ser-113, Asp-317, and His-358 as the putative members of the catalytic triad that are located close to each other at hydrogen bond distances. In addition, the strongly inhibited enzyme by 10 mM PMSF and 1-hexadecanesulfonyl chloride was indicated that it contains a serine residue which plays a key role in the catalytic mechanism. It was also confirmed by site-directed mutagenesis that mutated Ser-113, Asp-317, and His-358 to Ala and the activity of the mutant enzyme was drastically reduced.
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 06/2001; 283(4):868-75. · 2.48 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The antifreeze glycoproteins (AFGPs) 1 are composed of a repeating tripeptide unit (Ala-Thr-Ala) in which the threonine residue is glycosylated with the disaccharide beta-D-Gal-(1-->3)-alpha-D-GalNAc. A new procedure for synthesizing AFGPs using Fmoc-(Ac4-beta-D-Gal-(1-->3)-benzylidene- alpha-D-GalNAc)Thr-OH (10) as a building block has been developed. Total synthesis of the AFGPs (n = 4, 8) in overall yields of 61% and 33 %, respectively, has demonstrated the usefulness of the method. The synthetic AFGPs 1 (n = 4, 8) showed a similar conformation to the native AFGPs in their circular dichroism spectra.
Chemistry 02/2001; 7(3):585-90. · 5.93 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: It has been proposed that 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) oxidase catalyzes the oxidation of ACC to ethylene via N-hydroxyl-ACC as an intermediate. However, due to its chemical instability the putative intermediate has never been isolated. Here, we have shown that a purified recombinant ACC oxidase can utilize alpha-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB), an analog of ACC, as an alternative substrate, converting AIB into CO2, acetone, and ammonia. We chemically synthesized the putative intermediate compound, N-hydroxyl-AIB (HAIB), and tested whether it serves as an intermediate in the oxidation of AIB. When [1-(14)C]AIB was incubated with ACC oxidase in the presence of excess unlabeled HAIB as a trap, no labeled HAIB was detected. By comparing the acetone production rates employing HAIB and AIB as substrates, the conversion of HAIB to acetone was found to be much slower than that of using AIB as substrate. Based on these observations, we conclude that ACC oxidase does not catalyze via the N-hydroxylation of its amino acid substrate. ACC oxidase also catalyzes the oxidation of other amino acids, with preference for the D-enantiomers, indicating a stereoselectivity of the enzyme.
Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics 02/2001; 385(1):179-85. · 2.93 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Three thermostable proteases, designated S, N, and B, are extracellular enzymes produced by Bacillus stearothermophilus strain TLS33. They were purified by lysine affinity chromatography, strong anion exchange Q HyperD chromatography, and Ultrogel AcA44 gel filtration. The molecular masses of the enzymes determined by SDS-PAGE and zymography were approximately 36, 53, and 71 kDa, respectively. Thermostable protease S bound strongly to the lysine affinity column and could be purified by this single step. The optimum pH values of proteases S, N, and B were shown to be 8.5, 7.5, and 7.0, respectively. The maximum activities for the enzymes were at 70, 85, and 90 degrees C, respectively. Proteases S, N, and B at pH 7.0 in the presence of 5 mM CaCl(2) retained half their activities after 30 min at 72, 78, and 90 degrees C, respectively. All three thermostable proteases were strongly inhibited by the metal chelators EDTA and 1,10-phenanthroline, and the proteolytic activities were restored by addition of ZnCl(2). They can thus be classified as Zn(2+) metalloproteases. The cleavage specificities of proteases S, N, and B on a 30-residue synthetic peptide from pro-BPN' subtilisin were Tyr-Ile, Phe-Lys, and Gly-Phe, respectively.
Protein Expression and Purification 12/2000; 20(2):142-51. · 1.59 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The binding of somatostatin (SST) to endogenous G-protein-coupled receptors (SST receptors or SSTRs) is followed by internalization of SST, and, several reports have shown that a high density of SSTRs is present on most hormone-secreting tissue tumors. Facile synthesis of the long-acting SST analog, octreotide, has previously been described. Octreotide might be of practical value in developing tumor tracers and in serving as a carrier of cytotoxic antitumor drugs.
Fluorescein-labeled octreotide was internalized into the cytosol of human breast MCF-7 carcinoma cells via binding to SSTRs. Octreotide-conjugated paclitaxel (taxol) was created by coupling taxol-succinate to the amino-terminal end of octreotide. This conjugate retains the biological activity of taxol in inducing formation of tubulin bundles, eventually causing apoptosis of MCF-7 cells. Cytotoxicity of octreotide-conjugated taxol is mainly mediated by SSTR, as shown by the observation that octreotide pretreatment can rescue the induced cell death. In comparison with free taxol, this conjugate shows much less toxicity in Chinese hamster ovary cells.
Octreotide-conjugated taxol exerts the same antitumor effect of free taxol on stabilizing microtubule formation and inducing cell death. This conjugate triggers tumor cell apoptosis mediated by SSTRs and is exclusively toxic to SSTR-expressing cells. Octreotide-conjugated taxol is less toxic to low-SSTR-expressing cells compared with free taxol. Our results strongly indicated that octreotide-conjugated taxol demonstrates cell selectivity and may be used as a targeting agent for cancer therapy.
Chemistry & Biology 08/2000; 7(7):453-61. · 5.83 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The expression level of extracellular proteins in an alkaliphilic bacterium, Bacillus sp. strain K-1, grown in a xylan-containing medium, is significantly increased when compared with that grown in the nonxylan culture medium. A proteomic approach has been efficiently applied to separate and characterize these differentially expressed secretory proteins. Eight prominent protein spots were identified and subjected to N-terminal amino acid sequencing. The results show that three spots share considerable similarity with the xylanolytic enzymes and that two spots share considerable similarity with the GltC regulatory protein and 3-dehydroquinate dehydratase, respectively. In addition, the three other proteins show little similarity with the known proteins in the database. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that the proteomic approach is a highly efficient method to rapidly study the differential expression of the secreted proteins by Bacillus sp. strain K-1 grown under xylan-induced condition.
Electrophoresis 06/2000; 21(9):1740-5. · 3.30 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Somatostatin analogues, such as octreotide, are useful for the visualization and treatment of tumors. Unfortunately, these compounds were produced synthetically using complex and inefficient procedures. Here, we describe a novel approach for the synthesis of octreotide and its analogues using p-carboxybenzaldehyde to anchor Fmoc-threoninol to solid phase resins. The reaction of the two hydroxyl groups of Fmoc-threoninol with p-carboxybenzaldehyde was catalyzed with p-toluenesulphonic acid in chloroform using a Dean-Stark apparatus to form Fmoc-threoninol p-carboxybenzacetal in 91% yield. The Fmoc-threoninol p-carboxybenzacetal acted as an Fmoc-amino acid derivative and the carboxyl group of Fmoc-threoninol p-carboxybenzacetal was coupled to an amine-resin via a DCC coupling reaction. The synthesis of protected octreotide and its conjugates were carried out in their entirety using a conventional Fmoc protocol and an autosynthesizer. The acetal was stable during the stepwise elongation of each Fmoc-amino acid as shown by the averaged coupling yield (> 95%). Octreotide (74 to 78% yield) and five conjugated derivatives were synthesized with high yields using this procedure, including three radiotherapy octreotides (62 to 75% yield) and two cellular markers (72 to 76% yield). This novel approach provides a strategy for the rapid and efficient large-scale synthesis of octreotide and its analogues for radiopharmaceutical and tagged conjugates.
Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry 10/1999; 7(9):1797-803. · 2.92 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The endogenous argininosuccinate lyase activity of duck delta2-crystallin was specifically inactivated by the histidine-specific reagent, diethyl pyrocarbonate. The protein was protected by l-citrulline or l-arginine from the diethyl pyrocarbonate inactivation. To characterize further the chemical mechanism of the delta2-crystallin-catalysed reaction, deuterium-labelled argininosuccinate was enzymically synthesized from fumarate and l-arginine with delta2-crystallin in 2H2O. The argininosuccinate synthesized contained about 19% of the anhydride form; however, the deuterium was clearly demonstrated to be incorporated enantioselectively. Only the pro-HR atom at C-9 of the succinate moiety was labelled in the [2H]argininosuccinate-9-d synthesized, which indicates an anti-elimination mechanism for the endogenous argininosuccinate lyase activity of delta2-crystallin. The enzymic activity of duck lens delta2-crystallin in the pH range 5.5-8.5 was investigated using both protium- and deuterium-labelled argininosuccinate as the substrate. From the logkcat versus pH plot, two molecular pKa values of 6.18+/-0.02 and 8.75+/-0.03 were detected in the delta2-crystallin-argininosuccinate binary complex. The former must be dehydronated and the latter hydronated to achieve an optimum reaction rate. The logkcat/Km versus pH plot suggested two molecular pKa values of 5.96+/-0.09 and 8.29+/-0.10 for the free delta2-crystallin to be involved in the substrate binding. Small kinetic isotope effects of 1.17+/-0.02 and 1.05+/-0.09 were found for kcat and kcat/Km respectively. Combining results from labelling and kinetic analysis indicates that the endogenous argininosuccinate lyase activity of duck delta2-crystallin is compatible with a stepwise E1cB mechanism, the rate-limiting step probably at the C-N bond-cleavage step.
Biochemical Journal 08/1998; 333 ( Pt 2):327-34. · 4.90 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The propeptides of bacterial subtilisin BPN' and Carlsberg were synthesized to investigate their inhibitory function on the enzymes. Kinetically, pro-BPN' inhibits the proteolytic activities of subtilisin BPN' and Carlsberg separately in a slow binding mode. Pro-Carlsberg behaves as a typical rapid equilibrium competitive inhibitor for these two proteases. Functionally, pro-Carlsberg inhibits the subtilisins with moderate selectivity. The inhibition constant Ki of pro-BPN' to subtilisin BPN' is 5.0 nM, and 6.1 nM to subtilisin Carlsberg. The on-rate of pro-BPN' to subtilisin BPN' is 5.8 x 10(5) M(-1)s(-1), and the off-rate 2.9 x 10(-3) s(-1). Similarly, the on-rate of pro-BPN' to subtilisin Carlsberg is 2.2 x 10(5) M(-1)s(-1), and the off-rate 1.3 x 10(-3) s(-1). On the other hand, the Ki of pro-Carlsberg to subtilisin BPN' gives 1.3 x 10(2) nM, and 88 nM to subtilisin Carlsberg. Based on the key features of the interactions between pro-BPN' and subtilisin from X-ray crystallographic results (Gallagher et al., 1995), the correlation between the sequence of subtilisin propeptides and their inhibition abilities on the proteases are compared and discussed.
Protein engineering 11/1997; 10(10):1227-33.
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ABSTRACT: The N-terminal leucine residue of snake venom cardiotoxin II (CTX II) (Naja naja atra) was systematically replaced with D-leucine (CTXII-L1-D-L), glycine (CTXII-L1G) or deleted [CTXII-(2-60)] to study the role of leucine residue in CTX II molecule. CTX II, CTXL1-D-L, CTXL1G and CTX(2-60) were produced by chemical synthesis method and purified by high performance liquid chromatography. Owing to folding problem in CTXII-(2-60), only CTX II, CTXII-L1-D-L and CTXII-L1G were produced in a pure form and characterized by amino acid analysis, mass spectrometry and peptide mapping. In the structural aspect, changing the Leu-1 by D-Leu or Gly causes a drastic alteration in the whole CTX II structure as detected by circular dichroism, 1-anilino-naphthalene-8-sulfonate (ANS) fluorescence assay. In the functional aspect, both CTXII-L1-D-L and CTXII-L1G are still retained substantial biological activity of CTX II. Therefore, the results indicate that both the chirality and the side-chain of the N-terminal leucine residue of CTX II are important elements in maintaining the whole CTX II structure. In addition, this study is the first report in elucidating the reason why the first N-terminal residue of most CTXs (90.3%) is leucine residue.
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 05/1997; 233(3):713-6. · 2.48 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The alkaline proteases subtilisin Carlsberg and alcalase possess substantial enzymatic activity even when dissolved in ethanol. The crude enzymes were purified by gel filtration and the main fractions suspended in ethanol to give a translucent suspension. Both the supernatant and the resuspended precipitate after high-speed centrifugation were found to have enzymatic activities. The solubility of subtilisin Carlsberg in anhydrous ethanol was found to be 45.1 micrograms/ml and that of alcalase was 48.1 micrograms/ml by Coomassie blue dye-binding method using bovine serum albumin as a standard. In the presence of water, the solubility of both enzymes increased with water content. The stability of enzymes incubated in ethanol was assayed by their amidase and transesterase activities using Ala-Ala-Pro-Phe-pNA as substrate in phosphate buffer (pH8.2) and Moz-Leu-OBzl as substrate in anhydrous ethanol, respectively. The soluble enzymes have a half-life of about 36 hr and that of suspended enzymes about 50 hr in the amidase activity assay, whereas the same soluble enzymes have a half-life of about several hours and that of suspended enzymes 1 h by the transesterase activity assay. The stability of both enzymes decreased as water concentration increased. The diastereoselectivity of the enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis of diastereo pairs of tetrapeptide esters, L-Ala-L-Ala-(D- or L-)Pro-L-Phe-OMe and L-Ala-L-Ala-(D- or L-)Ala-L-Phe-OMe, in phosphate is as high as that of the transesterification of these substrates in ethanol. It is concluded that active sites and selectivity of alkaline serine proteases in anhydrous alcohol are probably very similar to those in aqueous solution in spite of the fact that a lower reactivity is usually associated with the enzymes in nonaqueous solvents.
Journal of Protein Chemistry 06/1995; 14(4):205-15.
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ABSTRACT: Cardiotoxins, neurotoxins and phospholipase A2 (PLA2) are three major classes of toxic components present in the Taiwan cobra, Naja naja atra of the Elapidae family. Cardiotoxins (or called cytotoxins), a group of major polypeptides of around 60 amino-acid residues present abundantly in the elapid family of snakes, comprise about 45-55% of the crude venom of Taiwan cobra. In contrast to another prominent group of structurally similar neurotoxins with well-established acetylcholine receptors and modes of action, cardiotoxins showed no defined cellular targets and very diverse pharmacological functions. A systematic structure/function comparison of these toxins was made by their relative inhibitory effects on protein kinase C (PKC) isolated from mouse brains. Lethality and hemolysis of various cardiotoxin isoforms were also compared in order to shed some insight on the biological targets and mechanisms of these surface-active amphiphilic polypeptides. A structure comparison of these cardiotoxins based on computer model-building revealed that some defined and subtle differences can be detected upon the superposition of these three-dimensional polypeptide chains, which may reflect the intrinsic differences in the hydrophobic peptide segments present on the surface loops of toxin molecules. The differences seem to correlate with different inhibitory activities exhibited by cardiotoxins in contrast to the lack of activity by cobrotoxin and PLA2 on PKC.
Biochemistry and molecular biology international 05/1995; 35(5):1103-12.
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ABSTRACT: Six cardiotoxins and one neurotoxin isolated and purified from the Taiwan cobra venom (Naja naja atra) possess distinct pharmacological and biochemical properties despite the existence of a grossly similar tertiary structure among these toxins, i. e., a core consisting of a series of short loops and four disulfide bridges. A systematic structure comparison of these major toxin isoforms was made by the secondary-structure predictions together with computer model-building based on the primary sequences and the established X-ray and NMR structures of one published cardiotoxin isoform and cobrotoxin. It is of interest to find that some defined and subtle differences can be detected upon the superposition of these three-dimensional polypeptide chains, which may reflect the intrinsic differences in the surface hydrophobicity of cardiotoxins and cobrotoxin as revealed by hydropathy profiles of these toxins in one of three major loops. The differences seem to correlate with different inhibitory activities exhibited by cardiotoxins in contrast to the lack of activity by cobrotoxin on protein kinase C (PKC).
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 02/1995; 206(1):22-32. · 2.48 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Diastereomeric peptide-esters (Ala-Ala-AA2-Phe-OMe, AA2 = Gly, D- or L-Ala, Pro, Phe, Lys, and Glu) have been used as substrates, and the kinetic constants (Kcat and Km) of the three alkaline proteases, subtilisin Carlsberg, alcalase, and Nagarse (subtilisin BPN') catalyzed ester-hydrolysis, were measured to investigate the selectivity of the enzyme-catalyzed peptide esterhydrolysis. All three proteases preferred the substrate which had a small side-chain at the s-2 site. Thus, the substrates with a bulky side-chain at the p-2 site such as Phe, Pro, Glu, and Lys, hydrolyzed with a rate of about one-tenth that of Ala at the p-2 site, and the Kcat decreased as the size of the p-2 amino acid residue increased. The diastereoselectivity of the alkaline protease-catalyzed hydrolysis of each diastereomeric pair depended on the size of the amino acid residue at the p-2 position of the substrate. The substrates with a bulky side-chain at the p-2 site hydrolyzed with higher diastereoselectivity than did the substrates with a small side-chain at the p-2 site. Molecular modeling of the enzyme-substrate complex show that: for the enzyme complexed with a substrate which has L-L-L-L configuration, each residue of the L-L-L-L tetrapeptide filled in and was completely enclosed by the cleft of the four subsites of the enzyme. The side-chains of the residues were identically positioned within the pocket of the binding-site. For the complex of enzyme with substrate of L-L-D-L, the side-chain of the D-amino acid residue was far away from the s-2 subsite of the enzyme, and had close contact with the side-chains of Leu-126 and Ile-107 of the enzyme.
Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry 12/1993; 1(5):361-7. · 2.92 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Mastoparan B, a tetradecapeptide toxin (LKLKSIVSWAKKVL) isolated from the hornet (Vespa basalis) venom, was synthesized chemically. The physical and biological properties of both the native and synthetic peptides were studied and proved to be identical. Mastoparan B was found to have a potent antibacterial activity to both Gram negative and Gram positive bacteria.
Biochemistry and molecular biology international 03/1993; 29(2):241-6.
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ABSTRACT: A systematic analysis of the kinetic properties of duck lens epsilon-crystallin with lactate dehydrogenase [LDH, (E.C. 1.1.1.27)] activity was carried out by employing some 19 different alpha-keto acids as substrates for this NADH-dependent LDH-catalyzed reaction. The steady-state Michaelis and catalytic constants (Km, kcat) were determined for a broad range of organic compounds. The results provide important insights regarding the binding and affinity of substrates to active sites of this enzyme crystallin and indicate a great potential for the application of the stable epsilon-crystallin as a catalyst to the synthesis of some important chiral alpha-hydroxyacids in a convenient and efficient way. It is also demonstrated for the first time that in addition to the enzymatic activity of lactate dehydrogenase, duck epsilon-crystallin also possesses the enzymatic activity of malate dehydrogenase.
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 08/1992; 186(2):874-80. · 2.48 Impact Factor