Metalloenzyme nickel-requiring

Roughly 30% of enzymes are metalloenzymes or require metal ions for activity and the present chapter will concentrate on the chemisty and structure of the plant metalloenzymes. As analytical methods have improved it has been possible to establish a metal ion requirement for a variety of enzymes which were initially considered to be pure proteins. A dramatic example is provided by the enzyme urease isolated from Jack beans and first crystallised by Sumner (1926) (the first enzyme to be crystallised). Sumner defined an enzyme as a pure protein with catalytic activity, however, Zerner and his coworkers (Dixon et al., 1975) established that urease is in fact a nickel metalloenzyme. Jack bean urease contains two moles of nickel(II) per mole of active sites and at least one of these metal ions is implicated in its mechanism of action. 

Nickel is required by plants when urea is the source of nitrogen (Price and Morel, 1991). Bicarbonate uptake by cells may be limited by Zn as HCOT transport involves the zinc metal-loenzyme carbonic anhydrase (Morel et al., 1994). Cadmium is not known to be required by organisms but because it can substitute for Zn in some metalloenzymes it can promote the growth of Zn-limited phytoplankton (Price and Morel, 1990). Cobalt can also substitute for Zn but less efficiently than Cd. 

Like most trace elements, nickel can activate various enzymes in vitro, but no enzyme has been shown to require nickel, specifically, to be activated. Howevei, mease has been shown to be a nickel metalloenzyme and has been found to contain 6 to 8 atoms of nickel per mole of enzyme (Fishbein et al.. 1976). RNA (ribonucleic add) preparations from diverse sources consistently contain nickel in concentrations many times higher than those found in native materials from which the RNA ts isolated (Wacker-Vallee, 1959 Sunderman, 1965). Nickel may serve to stabilize the ordered structure of RNA. Nickel may have a role in maintaining ribosomal structure (Tal, 1968, 1969). These studies and other information have led to the suggestion that nickel may play a role in nucleic acid and/or protein metabolism. 

In order to carry out most biochemical reactions, metalloenzymes generally utilize the rarer transition metal ions. Elements such as zinc, copper, iron, nickel, and cobalt are found in low concentrations in plasma and seawater and yet the enzyme has to select the appropriate metal ion from them. There is evidence for the existence of proteins that can chaperone specific metal ions to their appropriate sites in apoenzymes, protecting the metal ions from adverse reactions as they are guided to their required location [5]. How does the enzyme attempt to select out the one metal ion it requires The answer is that the chemistry of the metal ion is used as a basis for selection. Each metal ion has some property that is different from that of most others, but, in fact, there is often considerable overlap in these properties so that a given enzyme may bind one of several different cations in one specific site. Some relevant data are provided in Tables 1 and 2. The metalloenzyme contains within its overall design an arrangement of preferred side-chain functional groups with the correct size hole to bind the required metal ions in an appropriate hydrophobic or hydrophilic environment. Thus the metalloenzyme binds metal ions... 

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