Ornithine decarboxylase turnover

Eflornithine (difluoromethylornithine, DFMO) inhibits the ornithine decarboxylase of the polyamine pathway, in both the trypanosome and the mammalian cell, by acting as an irreversible competitor of the natural substrate ornithine. Inhibition of ornithine decarboxylase results in depletion of the polyamines, putrescine, spermidine and spermine, which are essential for cell proliferation. Eflornithine selectively harms the parasite and not the mammalian cells, despite acting as an ornithine decarboxylase inhibitor in both cell types. This selectivity is explained by the lower rate of ornithine decarboxylase production in the parasite, as compared to mammalian cells. Due to the high turnover rate, mammalian cells are capable of quickly replenishing inhibited ornithine decarboxylase by newly... 

Phillips MA, Coffino P, Wang CC. Cloning and sequencing of the ornithine decarboxylase gene from Trypanosoma brucei. Implications for enzyme turnover and selective difluoromethylornithine inhibition. JBiol Chem 1987 262 8721-8727. 

In mammalian cells, ornithine decarboxylase undergoes rapid turnover—that is, a constant round of enzyme degradation and synthesis. In some trypanosomes, however, the enzyme—for reasons not well understood—is stable, not readily replaced by newly synthesized enzyme. An inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase that binds permanently to the enzyme would thus have little effect on human cells, which could rapidly replace inactivated enzyme, but would adversely affect the parasite. 

Genetic factors influence the rate of not only synthesis of proteins but also their breakdown, i.e., the rate of turnover. As we have seen in Chapter 10, some enzymes are synthesized as inactive proenzymes which are later modified to active forms, and active enzymes are destroyed, both by accident and via deliberate hydrolytic pathways. Protein antienzymes may not only inhibit enzymes but may promote their breakdown.35 An example is the antienzyme that controls ornithine decarboxylase, a key enzyme in the synthesis of the polyamines that are essential to growth.36,37 As with all cell constituents, the synthesis of enzymes and other proteins is balanced by degradation. 

Synthesis of polyamines in the majority of cells is initiated by ornithine decarboxylase (ODC EC 4.1.1.17), which catalyses the conversion of ornithine to putrescine (Fig. 7.1) (4,13). In mammalian cells ODC undergoes rapid induction and has a short half-life. In the parasitic protozoa so far examined (T. b. brucei, P. falciparum, L. donovani and T. vaginalis), ODC has a long half-life as judged from the rate of decay of activity in the presence of cycloheximide (14-17). In African trypanosomes the slow turnover of ODC appears to be attributable to the absence of a 36 amino acid region (PEST sequence) on the COOH-terminal end (18,19). In mammalian cells, this is... 

DEMO is a suicide irrhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase. Although it also inhibits mammalian ornithine decarboxylase, DMFO is less toxic to the host because of more rapid turnover and replacement of the irreversibly inhibited enzyme itr the host than in parasites. The answer rs (A). The anticoccidial 4-amitroquinolines inhibit mitochorrdrial respiration itr eimeria species, probably through itrteractiorr with a comporrerrt between NADH oxidase atrd C54ochrome b in the electron transport chaitr. The answer is (A). 

RIO. Russell, D. H., and Snyder, S. J., Amine synthesis in regenerating rat liver Extremely rapid turnover of ornithine decarboxylase. Mol. Pharmacol. 5, 253 (1969). 

A more dramatic difference is seen with ornithine decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1.17). This enzyme catcJyses the rale-limiting step in polyamine synthesis, and its activity in many tissues and organisms correlates well with the rate of DNA synthesis and cell proliferation. Its turnover is one of the most rapid of all enzymes, generally having a half-life of less than 20 min. Bullfield et al. (1988) have found a 20-fold higher activity in the skeletal muscle from the broiler strain compared with that in a layer strain of domestic fowl at one week of age. TTiis increased activity is almost certainly achieved by an increase in fcs with little change in fca-... 

Enzymes present in the liver cytosol with short half-lives include ornithine decarboxylase, thymidine kinase, tyrosine aminotransferase, tryptophan oxygenase, hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA reductase, serine dehydratase, and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase. All of these enzymes have degradation rate constants greater than 0.1/h—more than 10 times more rapid than the average ka for liver cytosol proteins (Schimke, 1970). Perhaps a scrutiny of the group can provide information on the enzyme properties as well as the nature of reactions catalyzed by enzymes with rapid turnover rates. 

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