Carboxypeptidase A

The shape of a large protein is influenced by many factors including of course Its primary and secondary structure The disulfide bond shown m Figure 27 18 links Cys 138 of carboxypeptidase A to Cys 161 and contributes to the tertiary structure Car boxypeptidase A contains a Zn " ion which is essential to the catalytic activity of the enzyme and its presence influences the tertiary structure The Zn ion lies near the cen ter of the enzyme where it is coordinated to the imidazole nitrogens of two histidine residues (His 69 His 196) and to the carboxylate side chain of Glu 72... 

Knowing how the protein chain is folded is a key ingredient m understanding the mechanism by which an enzyme catalyzes a reaction Take carboxypeptidase A for exam pie This enzyme catalyzes the hydrolysis of the peptide bond at the C terminus It is... 

FIGURE 27 19 Proposed mechanism of hydrolysis of a peptide catalyzed by carboxypeptidase A The peptide is bound at the active site by an ionic bond between its C terminal ammo acid and the positively charged side chain of arginine 145 Coordination of Zn to oxygen makes the carbon of the carbonyl group more positive and increases the rate of nucleophilic attack by water... 

Living systems contain thousands of different enzymes As we have seen all are structurally quite complex and no sweeping generalizations can be made to include all aspects of enzymic catalysis The case of carboxypeptidase A illustrates one mode of enzyme action the bringing together of reactants and catalytically active functions at the active site... 

Metabolic Functions. Zinc is essential for the function of many enzymes, either in the active site, ie, as a nondialyzable component, of numerous metahoenzymes or as a dialyzable activator in various other enzyme systems (91,92). WeU-characterized zinc metahoenzymes are the carboxypeptidases A and B, thermolysin, neutral protease, leucine amino peptidase, carbonic anhydrase, alkaline phosphatase, aldolase (yeast), alcohol... 

ENZYMATIC ANALYSIS WITH CARBOXYPEPTIDASES. Carboxypeptidases are enzymes that cleave amino acid residues from the C-termini of polypeptides in a successive fashion. Four carboxypeptidases are in general use A, B, C, and Y. Carboxypeptidase A (from bovine pancreas) works well in hydrolyzing the C-terminal peptide bond of all residues except proline, arginine, and lysine. The analogous enzyme from hog pancreas, carboxypeptidase B, is effective only when Arg or Lys are the C-terminal residues. Thus, a mixture of carboxypeptidases A and B liberates any C-terminal amino acid except proline. Carboxypeptidase C from citrus leaves and carboxypeptidase Y from yeast act on any C-terminal residue. Because the nature of the amino acid residue at the end often determines the rate at which it is cleaved and because these enzymes remove residues successively, care must be taken in interpreting results. Carboxypeptidase Y cleavage has been adapted to an automated protocol analogous to that used in Edman sequenators. 

The body of an adult human contains about 2 g of Zn but, as Zn enzymes are present in most body cells, its concentration is very low and realization of its importance was therefore delayed. The two Zn enzymes which have received most attention are carboxypeptidase A and carbonic anhydrase. 

Carboxypeptidase A catalyses the hydrolysis of the terminal peptide bond in proteins during the process of digestion ... 

Uncovering of the three dimentional structure of catalytic groups at the active site of an enzyme allows to theorize the catalytic mechanism, and the theory accelerates the designing of model systems. Examples of such enzymes are zinc ion containing carboxypeptidase A 1-5) and carbonic anhydrase6-11. There are many other zinc enzymes with a variety of catalytic functions. For example, alcohol dehydrogenase is also a zinc enzyme and the subject of intensive model studies. However, the topics of this review will be confined to the model studies of the former hydrolytic metallo-enzymes. 

Figure A8.7 Preparation of optically pure a-methyl amino acids using carboxypeptidase A.

Similar reaction mechanisms, involving general base and metal ion catalysis, in conjunction with an OH nucleophilic attack, have been proposed for thermolysin (Ref. 12) and carboxypeptidase A (Refs. 12 and 13). Both these enzymes use Zn2+ as their catalytic metal and they also have additional positively charged active site residues (His 231 in thermolysin and... 

Carbon atom, 4. See also Atomic orbitals Carbon dioxide hydration, 197-199. See also Carbonic anhydrase Carbonic anhydrase, 197-199,200 Carbonium ion transition state, 154, 159 Carboxypeptidase A, 204-205 Catalysis, general acid, 153,164,169 in carboxypeptidase A, 204-205 free energy surfaces for, 160, 161 in lysozyme, 154... 

Chymotrypsin, 170,171, 172, 173 Classical partition functions, 42,44,77 Classical trajectories, 78, 81 Cobalt, as cofactor for carboxypeptidase A, 204-205. See also Enzyme cofactors Condensed-phase reactions, 42-46, 215 Configuration interaction treatment, 14,30 Conformational analysis, 111-117,209 Conjugated gradient methods, 115-116. See also Energy minimization methods Consistent force field approach, 113 Coulomb integrals, 16, 27 Coulomb interactions, in macromolecules, 109, 123-126... 

Figure 7-3. Two-dimensional representation of a dipeptide substrate, glycyl-tyrosine, bound within the active site of carboxypeptidase A.

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