Peptidases catalytic mechanism

Polgar, L. Catalytic mechanisms of serine and threonine peptidases. In Handbook of Proteolytic Enzymes, 2nd edition Barrett, A. J. Rawlings, N. D. Woessner, J. F., Eds. Elsevier Academic Press Amsterdam, Boston, Heidelberg, London, New York, Oxford, Paris, San Diego, San Francisco, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo 2004, pp 1441-1448. 

The evolutionary classification has a rational basis, since, to date, the catalytic mechanisms for most peptidases have been established, and the elucidation of their amino acid sequences is progressing rapidly. This classification has the major advantage of fitting well with the catalytic types, but allows no prediction about the types of reaction being catalyzed. For example, some families contain endo- and exopeptidases, e.g., SB-S8, SC-S9 and CA-Cl. Other families exhibit a single type of specificity, e.g., all families in clan MB are endopeptidases, family MC-M14 is almost exclusively composed of carboxypeptidases, and family MF-M17 is composed of aminopeptidases. Furthermore, the same enzyme specificity can sometimes be found in more than one family, e.g., D-Ala-D-Ala carboxypeptidases are found in four different families (SE-S11, SE-S12, SE-S13, and MD-M15). 

Other serine hydrolases such as cholinesterases, carboxylesterases, lipases, and fl-lactamases of classes A, C, and D have a hydrolytic mechanism similar to that of serine peptidases [25-27], The catalytic mechanism also involves an acylation and a deacylation step at a serine residue in the active center (see Fig. 3.3). All serine hydrolases have in common that they are inhibited by covalent attachment of diisopropyl phosphorofluoridate (3.2) to the catalytic serine residue. The catalytic site of esterases and lipases has been less extensively investigated than that of serine peptidases, but much evidence has accumulated that they also contain a catalytic triad composed of serine, histidine, and aspartate or glutamate (Table 3.1). 

Peptidases are further classified based on their catalytic mechanism. The following four mechanistic classes are well established (Dunn, 2001). 

Storer, A.C. and Menard, R. (1994) Catalytic mechanism in papain family of cysteine peptidases. Meth. Enzymol., 244, 486. 

Fujinaga, M., Cherney, M.M., Oyama, H., Oda, K., and James, M.N. (2004). The molecular structure and catalytic mechanism of a novel carboxyl peptidase from Scytalidium lignico-lum. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101 3364—3369. 

The overall process of peptide bond scission is identical in all classes of peptidases and differences between the catalytic mechanisms are rather subtle. The attack on the carbonyl group of the peptide bond requires a nucleophilic agent, either oxygen or sulfur, in order to approach the slightly electrophilic carbonyl carbon atom. To remove a proton from the attacking nucleophile, general base catalysis will assist this process. Furthermore, some type of electrophilic action on the carbonyl oxygen increases the polarization of the C - O-bond. 

Proteolytic cleavage. Proteolytic cleavage is one of the most prevalent types of protein posttranslational modifications. Proteolytic modification of proteins is catalyzed by various endo- and exo-peptidases (subsection 12.8.1 for catalytic mechanism) and play essential functions in ... 

Bjelke JR, Christensen J, Branner S, Wagtmann N, Olsen C, Kanstrup AB, Rasmussen HB (2004) Tyrosine 547 constitutes an essential part of the catalytic mechanism of dipeptidyl peptidase IV. J Biol Chem 279 34691 34697... 

Peptidase classification. Mechanism of catalysis catalytic site reaction catalyzed cleavage site and molecular structure and homology amino acid sequences and three-dimensional structures... 

Peptidases or proteases are enzymes that hydrolyse peptide bonds [9]. Proteolytic enzymes can be classified in five classes on basis of their catalytic mechanism aspartic, metallo-, cysteine, threonine and serine peptidases, whereby the latter three follow the same basic mechanism (Scheme 7.3) [10], Another classification of peptidases on the basis of statistically significant similarities in amino acid sequences was presented by Rawlings et al. (MEROPS database) [11], Serine proteases (SP) alone cover approximately one-third of all known proteases, and can accelerate the peptide hydrolysis very efficiently 10 fold) [6,11,12], SPs also hydro-... 

The peptidases were separated into catalytic types according to the chemical nature of the group responsible for catalysis. The major catalytic types are, thus, Serine (and the related Threonine), Cysteine, Aspartic, Metallo, and As-Yet-Unclassified. An in-depth presentation of catalytic sites and mechanisms, based on this classification, is the subject of Chapt. 3. 

The previous chapter offered a broad overview of peptidases and esterases in terms of their classification, localization, and some physiological roles. Mention was made of the classification of hydrolases based on a characteristic functionality in their catalytic site, namely serine hydrolases, cysteine hydrolases, aspartic hydrolases, and metallopeptidases. What was left for the present chapter, however, is a detailed presentation of their catalytic site and mechanisms. As such, this chapter serves as a logical link between the preceding overview and the following chapters, whose focus is on metabolic reactions. 

The mechanism by which serine peptidases, particularly serine endopep-tidases (EC 3.4.21), hydrolyze peptide bonds in peptides and proteins has been extensively investigated by X-ray crystallography, site-directed mutagenesis, detection of intermediates, chemical modification, H-NMR spectroscopy, and neutron diffraction [2-14], These studies revealed that all serine peptidases possess a catalytic triad, composed of a serine, a histidine, and an aspartate residue, and a so-called oxyanion hole formed by backbone NH groups. 

Fig. 3.3. Major steps in the hydrolase-catalyzed hydrolysis of peptide bonds, taking chymo-trypsin, a serine hydrolase, as the example. Asp102, His57, and Ser195 represent the catalytic triad the NH groups of Ser195 and Gly193 form the oxyanion hole . Steps a-c acylation Steps d-f deacylation. A possible mechanism for peptide bond synthesis by peptidases is represented by the reverse sequence Steps f-a.

The mechanism of hydrolysis of cysteine peptidases, in particular cysteine endopeptidases (EC 3.4.22), shows similarities and differences with that of serine peptidases [2] [3a] [55 - 59]. Cysteine peptidases also form a covalent, ac-ylated intermediate, but here the attacking nucleophile is the SH group of a cysteine residue, or, rather, the deprotonated thiolate group. Like in serine hydrolases, the imidazole ring of a histidine residue activates the nucleophile, but there is a major difference, since here proton abstraction does not appear to be concerted with nucleophilic substitution but with formation of the stable thiolate-imidazolium ion pair. Presumably as a result of this specific activation of the nucleophile, a H-bond acceptor group like Glu or Asp as found in serine hydrolases is seldom present to complete a catalytic triad. For this reason, cysteine endopeptidases are considered to possess a catalytic dyad (i.e., Cys-S plus H-His+). The active site also contains an oxyanion hole where the terminal NH2 group of a glutamine residue plays a major role. 

The results of a computational study revealed that the sedolisins, a family of ser-inecarboxyl peptidases, may evoke different catalytic machineries than do classical serine proteases in achieving transition-state stabilization. The family is characterized by a unique catalytic triad, Ser-Glu-Asp, that operates primarily through a general acid-base mechanism.76... 

Several vital processes rely on clan PA peptidases. Chief among them are blood coagulation and the immune response, which involve cascades of sequential zymogen activation. In both systems, the chymotrypsin-fold peptidase domain is combined with one more associated protein domains, including apple, CUB, EGF, fibronectin, kringle, sushi, and von Willebrand factor domains. These protein domains are on the N-terminus as an extension of the propeptide segment of the peptidase. Such a trend of N-terminal-associated domains in the SIA peptidase family is common across all forms of life. The domain architecture pairs well with the zymogen activation mechanism, which liberates the proper N-terminus to enable catalytic activity. Often, the associated protein domains remain attached to... 

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