Amino acid lactate dehydrogenase

L-Amino acid oxidase has been used to measure L-phenylalanine and involves the addition of a sodium arsenate-borate buffer, which promotes the conversion of the oxidation product, phenylpyruvic acid, to its enol form, which then forms a borate complex having an absorption maximum at 308 nm. Tyrosine and tryptophan react similarly but their enol-borate complexes have different absorption maxima at 330 and 350 nm respectively. Thus by taking absorbance readings at these wavelengths the specificity of the assay is improved. The assay for L-alanine may also be made almost completely specific by converting the L-pyruvate formed in the oxidation reaction to L-lactate by the addition of lactate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.27) and monitoring the oxidation of NADH at 340 nm. 

Determination of the level of cytosolic enzymes such as aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase, and lactate dehydrogenase is part of standard biochemical liver function tests to measure hepatocellular necrosis [2, 101]. Cytosolic enzymes are not subject to genetic variations inherent in microsomal enzyme production. Liver cytosolic enzymes metabolize several molecules, of which galactose and amino acids are typical examples, used for hepatic function tests. 

Proton transfers are particularly common. This acid-base catalysis by enzymes is much more effective than the exchange of protons between acids and bases in solution. In many cases, chemical groups are temporarily bound covalently to the amino acid residues of the enzyme or to coenzymes during the catalytic cycle. This effect is referred to as covalent catalysis (see the transaminases, for example p. 178). The principles of enzyme catalysis sketched out here are discussed in greater detail on p. 100 using the example of lactate dehydrogenase. 

The active form of lactate dehydrogenase (mass 144 kDa) is a tetramer consisting of four subunits (1). Each monomer is formed by a peptide chain of 334 amino acids (36 kDa). In the tetramer, the subunits occupy equivalent positions (1) each monomer has an active center. Depending on metabolic conditions, LDH catalyzes NADH-de-pendent reduction of pyruvate to lactate, or NAD -dependent oxidation of lactate to pyruvate (see p. 18). 

The active center of an LDH subunit is shown schematically in Fig. 2. The peptide backbone is shown as a light blue tube. Also shown are the substrate lactate (red), the coenzyme NAD (yellow), and three amino acid side chains (Arg-109, Arg-171, and His-195 green), which are directly involved in the catalysis. A peptide loop (pink) formed by amino acid residues 98-111 is also shown. In the absence of substrate and coenzyme, this partial structure is open and allows access to the substrate binding site (not shown). In the enzyme lactate NAD"" complex shown, the peptide loop closes the active center. The catalytic cycle of lactate dehydrogenase is discussed on the next page. 

Feeney, R., Clarke, A. R. Holbrook, J. J. (1990). A single amino acid substitution in lactate dehydrogenase improves the catalytic efficiency with an alternative coenzyme. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 166, 667-72. 

Hydroxy and Amino Acids. Reduction of 2-oxoacids with NADH. catalyzed by lactate dehydrogenase, is an established method for the preparation of hontochiral ur-hydroxy acids of both S and R configurations. The enzyme is found in all higher organisms and can be easily isolated from a variety of mammalian and bacterial sources. 

An example of an enzyme which has different isoenzyme forms is lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) which catalyzes the reversible conversion of pyruvate into lactate in the presence of the coenzyme NADH (see above). LDH is a tetramer of two different types of subunits, called H and M, which have small differences in amino acid sequence. The two subunits can combine randomly with each other, forming five isoenzymes that have the compositions H4, H3M, H2M2, HM3 and M4. The five isoenzymes can be resolved electrophoretically (see Topic B8). M subunits predominate in skeletal muscle and liver, whereas H subunits predominate in the heart. H4 and H3M isoenzymes are found predominantly in the heart and red blood cells H2M2 is found predominantly in the brain and kidney while HM3 and M4 are found predominantly in the liver and skeletal muscle. Thus, the isoenzyme pattern is characteristic of a particular tissue, a factor which is of immense diagnostic importance in medicine. Myocardial infarction, infectious hepatitis and muscle diseases involve cell death of the affected tissue, with release of the cell contents into the blood. As LDH is a soluble, cytosolic protein it is readily released in these conditions. Under normal circumstances there is little LDH in the blood. Therefore the pattern of LDH isoenzymes in the blood is indicative of the tissue that released the isoenzymes and so can be used to diagnose a condition, such as a myocardial infarction, and to monitor the progress of treatment. 

Predict its most likely protein translation by submitting the DNA sequence along with the following amino acid sequences of human lactate dehydrogenase isozymes to Procustes analyses. 

The amino acid sequences of corresponding regions from dogfish M4 and Bacillus stearothermophilus lactate dehydrogenases are shown below ... 

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