Fatty acids lipoxygenase enzymes

Provitamins A exhibit anticarcinogenic effects, because they are part of the control mechanisms that scavenge free radicals (toxic forms of oxygen). Their antioxidant potential is relatively low. Other carotenoids that do not act as provitamins A have significantly higher antioxidant activities, such as lycopene, zeaxanthin and lutein. The enzymes that oxidise fatty acids (lipoxygenases or linoleate O2 oxidoreductases, formerly known as Kpoxidases) are antivitamins A. 

Lipoxygenase-Catalyzed Oxidations. Lipoxygenase-1 catalyzes the incorporation of dioxygen into polyunsaturated fatty acids possessing a l(Z),4(Z)-pentadienyi moiety to yield ( ),(Z)-conjugated hydroperoxides. A highly active preparation of the enzyme from soybean is commercially available in purified form. From a practical standpoint it is important to mention that the substrate does not need to be in solution to undergo the oxidation. Indeed, the treatment of 28 g/L of linoleic acid [60-33-3] with 2 mg of the enzyme results in (135)-hydroperoxide of linoleic acid in 80% yield... 

Lipoxygenases catalyse the regio-specific and stereoselective oxygenation of unsaturated fatty acids. The mammalian enzymes have been detected in human platelets, lung, kidney, testes and white blood cells. The leukotrienes, derived from the enzymatic action of the enzyme on arachidonic acid, have effects on neutrophil migration and aggregation, release of lysosomal enzymes, capillary permeability, induction of pain and smooth muscle contraction (Salmon, 1986). 

At the end of the reaction, hydroperoxide can be easily recovered in the aqueous phase (98-99%) after its separation from the organic phase and precipitation of the enzymes. The hydroperoxides obtained are highly reactive molecules [109]. They are intermediate compounds in the lipoxygenase pathway in plants, precursors for the synthesis of hydroxy-fatty acids (i.e., ( + )-coriolic acid [38,110], and regulators of the prostaglandins biosynthesis [111-113]. 

Flavor is one of the major characteristics that restricts the use of legume flours and proteins in foods. Processing of soybeans, peas and other legumes often results in a wide variety of volatile compounds that contribute flavor notes, such as grassy, beany and rancid flavors. Many of the objectionable flavors come from oxidative deterioration of the unsaturated lipids. The lipoxygenase-catalyzed conversion of unsaturated fatty acids to hydroperoxides, followed by their degradation to volatile and non-volatile compounds, has been identified as one of the important sources of flavor and aroma components of fruits and vegetables. An enzyme-active system, such as raw pea flour, may have most of the necessary enzymes to produce short chain carbonyl compounds. 

A summary of the processes for producing the eicosanoids from the polyunsaturated fatty acid, arachidonic acid, is presented in Figure 11.27. The two enzymes separate for synthesising the prostanoids or the leucotrienes are cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase, respectively. Whether prostanoids or leucotrienes are produced in any given tissue will depend on the relative activities of these two enzymes in that tissue. 

Lipoxygenase [EC 1.13.11.12] catalyzes the reaction of linoleate with dioxygen to produce (9Z,11 )-(135 )-13-hydroperoxyoctadeca-9,ll-dienoate. This iron-depen-dent enzyme can also oxidize other methylene-interrupted polyunsaturated fatty acids. See also specific enzyme... 

In 1990, Triantaphylidds and coworkers reported on the preparative enzymatic synthesis of hnoleic acid (135) hydroperoxide 24a using soybean lipoxygenase-1. In this dioxygenation asymmetry is induced by the catalyst, the enzyme. The reaction was later used by Dussault and also by Baba and coworkers as key step in the preparation of more complex peroxides. The enzyme is a non-heme iron dioxygenase which catalyzes the incorporation of dioxygen into polyunsaturated fatty acids to yield E,Z conjugated diene hydroperoxides 24a-d. With this enzymatic method, the hydroperoxide 24a could... 

The eicosanoids, so called because of their derivation from a 20-carbon unsaturated fatty acid, arachidonic acid (eicosatetraenoic acid), are obtained from membrane phospholipids and synthesized de novo at the time of cellular stimulation. Arachidonic acid is cleaved from membrane-bound phosphatidylcholine by the enzyme phospholipase A2. Alternatively, arachidonic acid may be derived by the sequential actions of phospholipase C and diacylglyceryl lipase. Arachidonic acid can then follow either of two enzymatic pathways that result in the production of inflammatory mediators. The pathway initiated by cyclooxygenase (COX) produces prostaglandins the lipoxygenase pathway generates leukotrienes (Fig. 36.2). 

Lipoxygenase (EC 1.13.11.12) is an enzyme that catalyzes the hydroperoxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids and esters containing a cis-cis-l, 4-pentadiene system (Table 6). In 1947, Theorell et al. obtained the enzyme in a crystalline form from soybeans and reported that the enzyme neither contained nor required a metal cofactor192. Subsequent studies from three groups of investigators have demonstrated that the enzyme purified from soybeans in an iron-containing dioxygenase74-76 ... 

Lipoxygenases, of which the enzyme from soy beans has been studied the most, also catalyze oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids in lipids as indicated in Eq. 21-17. Formation of the hydroperoxide product is accompanied by a shift of the double bond and conversion from cis to trans configuration. Soybean lipoxygenase is a member of a family of related lipoxygenases that are found in all eukaryotes. All... 

The non enzymes, the lipoxygenases, catalyse the oxidation of 1,4-diene fatty acids to alkyl hydroperoxides and the slow step of the reaction involves H atom abstraction from the carbon adjacent to the two double bonds of the fatty acid by a Fe(OH)3 species. This mechanism has now been shown to be correct by use of the lipoxygenase model (244).219 Two papers discussed earlier are relevant to this section.138,175... 

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