Interfacial activation, lipases conformation changes

In 1958 Sarda and Desnuelle [79] discovered the lipase activation at the interfaces. They observed that porcine pancreatic lipase in aqueous solution was activated some 10-fold at hydrophobic interfaces which were created by poorly water-soluble substrates. An artificial interface created in the presence of organic solvent can also increase the activity of the lipase. This interfacial activation was hypothesized to be due to a dehydration of the ester substrate at the interface [80], or enzyme conformational change resulting from the adsorption of the lipase onto a hydrophobic interface [42,81,82]. 

True lipases show the interfacial activation phenomenon in their catalytic activity pattern. At low concentration of water-insoluble substrates, lipases are almost inactive, and the hydrolytic activity does not increase linearly. At a certain substrate concentration, however, the hydrolytic activity of lipases increases rapidly and the lipase kinetics resembles normal enzyme kinetics. This boost in activity is related to the formation of water-insoluble substrate aggregates such as micelles or another second phase. Only when this second phase is present, do lipases become fully active. This interfacial activation is caused by a large conformational change in the 3D structure of the lipases. In their water-soluble form, the active site is covered by a lid, which prevents the substrates from reaching it. At the lipidAvater interface, the lid is opened and the active site is accessible to the substrates. In addition, the now accessible area is mainly hydrophobic, which gives the open-form lipase the shape and behavior of conventional surfactant molecules with a hydrophilic and a hydrophobic moiety in one single molecule. 

Conflicting hypotheses were also put forward with respect to the mechanism of interfacial activation. Desnuelle et al. (1960) were the first to suggest that a conformational change in the enzyme could be responsible for the enhancement of activity at the oil-water interface. There were also other hypotheses. For example. Wells (1974) suggested that the apparent activation of lipases is due to the orientation of the scissile ester bond on the surface of micelles Brockerhoff (1968), on the other hand, pointed to the possibility of differences in solvation of the ester bond in solution versus a lipid phase, whereas Brockman et al. (1973) postulated that a steep substrate concentration gradient at the interface may provide an explanation. 

In lipases the existing database regarding the oxyanion holes is still limited. In RmL two amide groups (residues 145 and 146) were originally proposed as likely candidates for this function (Brady et al., 1990). However, structural analyses of the two RmL-inhibitor complexes (Brzozowski et al., 1991 U. Derewenda et al., 1992) revealed that the oxyanion hole is likely to be fully formed only after the conformational change associated with interfacial activation, and that it is made up of both the amide and the side-chain hydroxyl of Ser-82 (Fig. 6). A hy-... 

Since the pioneering studies of the phenomenon by Sarda and Des-nuelle (1958), many authors have hypothesized about the molecular basis of interfacial activation (see Section I). The present structural evidence supports the original proposal put forward by Desnuelle et al. (1960), who postulated a conformational change in the enzyme, fixing itself at the interface. All crystal structures of lipases clearly show that a change is necessary to expose the catalytic centers, which in the native enzymes are buried under various surface loops, or lids. 

Lipases are interphase-active enzymes with hydrophobic domains. The hydro-phobic surface (loop) on lipase is thought to enable lipophilic interfacial binding with substrate molecules that actually induces the conformational changes in lipases. The open conformation will provide substrate with access to the active site, and vice versa. In certain types of lipases, the movements of a short a-hehcal hydrophobic loop in the lipase structure cause a conformational change that exposes the active sites to the substrate. This movement also increases the nonpolarity of the surface surrounding the catalytic site [30, 32, 34, 35]. Obviously, the hydrophobic surface plays an important role in the activity of lipase as an enzyme. 

Proteins, naturally occurring macromolecular surfactants with amphiphilic nature, are adsorbed onto interfaces, thereby affecting the physical states of interfaces. Many enzymes are involved in catalytic reaction at interfaces. For enzymatic reaction at interfaces, different from the reaction in homogeneous systems, interfacial contact and subsequent conformational change of enzymes are important events determining their catalytic activity. In this chapter, I will describe the conformation of proteins and their interaction (protein-protein and protein-surfactant) at interfaces (mainly liquid-liquid interfaces). The characteristics of enzymatic reaction at liquid-liquid and solid-liquid interfaces, especially lipase reaction, wiU also be described. 

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