| First Author | Vazeux G | Year | 1997 |
| Journal | Biochem J | Volume | 327 ( Pt 3) |
| Pages | 883-9 | PubMed ID | 9581570 |
| Mgi Jnum | J:44246 | Mgi Id | MGI:1099620 |
| Doi | 10.1042/bj3270883 | Citation | Vazeux G, et al. (1997) A tyrosine residue essential for catalytic activity in aminopeptidase A. Biochem J 327(Pt 3):883-9 |
| abstractText | Aminopeptidase A (EC 3.4.11.7; APA) is a 130 kDa membrane-bound zinc enzyme that contains the consensus sequence HEXXH (residues 385-389) conserved among the zinc metalloprotease family. In this motif, both histidine residues and the glutamic residue were shown to be involved respectively in zinc co-ordination and catalytic activity. Treatment of APA with N-acetylimidazole results in a loss of enzymic activity; this is prevented by the competitive aminopeptidase inhibitor amastatin, suggesting the presence of an important tyrosine, lysine or cysteine residue at the active site of APA. A tyrosine residue was previously proposed to be involved in the enzymic activity of aminopeptidase N. Furthermore sequence alignment of mouse APA with other monozinc aminopeptidases indicates the presence of a conserved tyrosine (Tyr-471 in APA). The functional role of Tyr-471 in APA was investigated by replacing this residue with a phenylalanine (Phe-471) or a histidine (His-471) residue by site-directed mutagenesis. Kinetic studies showed that the Km values of both mutants were similar to that of the wild-type enzyme, whereas kcat values were decreased by three orders of magnitude and corresponded to a variation in free energy of the rate-limiting step by 4.0 and 4.2 kcal/mol (0.96 and 1.00 kJ/mol) for the Phe-471 and His-471 mutants respectively. The mutation did not modify the inhibitory potency of a thiol-containing inhibitor that strongly chelates the active-site zinc ion, whereas that of a putative analogue of the transition state presumed to mimic the reaction intermediate was reduced. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that the Tyr- 471 hydroxy group participates in catalysis by stabilizing the transition state complex through interaction with the oxyanion. |
