Glutamine synthetase location

Glutamine synthetase, a brain Mn enzyme, is located mainly in astrocytes, and its synthesis may be modulated by nitric oxide (496). Inhibition of this enzyme could be relevant to aging diseases (497). There is evidence that human NT2-N neurons die via ionotropic glutamate receptor-mediated mechanisms when exposed to hypoxia in the presence of glutamate (498). 

X-ray crystal structures of glutamine synthetase from both Salmonella typhimuriuni and Mycobacterium tuberculosis are very similar. Structures of wild type enzymes and of active site mutants have been determined. All structures have been solved with Mn in the active site. There are twelve identical subunits arranged in two face-to-face symmetrical hexamers. The active sites are in funnel-shaped open-ended cavities located between adjacent subunits of the hexamer. These cavities are 45 A long, 30 A wide at the outer end, and 10 A wide at the inner end and the active site with the two Mn " ions is approximately halfway down the cavity. The metal-metal distance is 5.8 A. The more tightly bound Mn is coordinated to the side chains of Glu-131, Glu-212, Glu-220, and two water molecules, one of which is shared by both metal ions. Glu-129, Glu-357, His-269, and two additional water molecules are bound to the Mn + at the lower affinity site. A schematic view of the active site metal coordination is shown in Figure 36. 

Thus, we have determined the distances between the adenylyl moiety and the two divalent metal ion binding sites on glutamine synthetase by 13C and 3 P NMR, spin-labeled EPR, and fluorescence energy transfer methods. The results obtained from each method are in good agreement. The data show that the adenylyl regulatory site is close to the catalytic site (12-20 A). Additional data on the rotational correlation time of the adenyl derivatives reveal that the adenylyl site is located on the surface of the enzyme. 

Lightfoot, D.A., Green, N.K. Cullimore, J.V. (1988). The chloroplast-located glutamine synthetase of Phaseolus vulgaris L. Nucleotide sequence, expression in different organs and uptake into isolated chloroplasts. Plant Molecular Biology 11, 191-202. 

Fig. 10. Active site of glutamine synthetase. The two metal ions are designated ni and nj and represent their location in the crystal stmcture (98). The metal ions coordinate the substrates glutamate (ni) and ATP (n ) and are considered to be involved in the mechanism as shown. The ni site serves to orient the glutamate for attack on ATP and the 02 metal ion aids in making ADP a good leaving group. The reaction shown represents the initial step in the overall mechanism. Subsequent steps involve attack of NH3 on the y-glutamyl-P intermediate.

Glutamine synthetase in liver is located in cells surrounding the portal vein. Its major role is to convert any ammonia that has escaped from urea production into glutamine, such that free ammonia does not leave the liver and enter the circulation. 

Fig. S. Depiction of the active site of Escherichia coli glutamine synthetase showing the n, and 2 metal-ion sites and the probable location of the nucleotide when Cr + (A) or Mn + (B) is the divalent cation.

Dihydroorotate dehydrogenase, the enzyme catalyzing the dehydrogenation of dihydroorotate to orotate (reaction 4 of the pathway Fig. 15-15), is located on the outer side of the inner mitochondrial membrane. This enzyme has FAD as a prosthetic group and in mammals electrons are passed to ubiquinone. The de novo pyrimidine pathway is thus compartmentalized dihydroorotate synthesized by trifunctional DHO synthetase in the cytosol must pass across the outer mitochondrial membrane to be oxidized to orotate, which in turn passes back to the cytosol to be a substrate for bifunctional UMP synthase. Mammalian cells contain two carbamoyl phosphate synthetases the glutamine-dependent enzyme (CPSase II) which is part of CAD, and an ammonia-dependent enzyme (CPSase /) which is found in the mitochondrial matrix, and which is used for urea and arginine biosynthesis. Under certain conditions (e.g., hyperammonemia), carbamoyl phosphate synthesized in the matrix by CPSase I may enter pyrimidine biosynthesis in the cytosol. 

In eukaryotic cells, two separate pools of carbamoyl phosphate are synthesized by different enzymes located at different sites. Carbamoyl phosphate synthetase I (CPS I) is located in the inner membrane of mitochondria in the liver and, to lesser extent, in the kidneys and small intestine. It supplies carbamoyl phosphate for the urea cycle. CPS 1 is specific for ammonia as nitrogen donor and requires N-acetylglutamate as activator. Carbamoyl phosphate synthetase II (CPS II) is present in the cytosol. It supplies carbamoyl phosphate for pyrimidine nucleotide biosynthesis and uses the amido group of glutamine as nitrogen donor. The presence of physically separated CPSs in eukaryotes probably reflects the need for independent regulation of pyrimidine biosynthesis and urea formation, despite the fact that both pathways require carbamoyl phosphate. In prokaryotes, one CPS serves both pathways. 

In the first step of the urea cycle, NH4, bicarbonate, and ATP react to form carbamoyl phosphate (see Fig. 38.12). The cleavage of 2 ATPs is required to form the high-energy phosphate bond of carbamoyl phosphate. Carbamoyl phosphate synthetase I (CPSI), the enzyme that catalyzes this first step of the urea cycle, is found mainly in mitochondria of the liver and intestine. The Roman numeral suggests that another carbamoyl phosphate synthetase exists, and indeed, CPSll, located in the cytosol, produces carbamoyl phosphate for pyrimidine biosynthesis, using nitrogen from glutamine (see Chapter 41). 

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