Trypsin active serine, mechanism

An exceptionally reactive serine residue has been identified in a great number of hydrolase enzymes, e. g., trypsin, subtilisin, elastase, acetylcholine esterase and some lipases. These enzymes appear to hydrolyze their substrates by a mechanism analogous to that of chymotrypsin. Hydrolases such as papain, ficin and bromelain, which are distributed in plants, have a cysteine residue instead of an active serine residue in their active sites. Thus, the transient intermediates are thioesters. 

Bromomethyl-3,4-dibromo-3,4-dihydrocoumarin 1 (Fig. 11.4) and its chloro-methylated analogue 2b rapidly and progressively inactivate a-chymotrypsin and also the activities of a series of trypsin-like proteases. A benzyl substituent characteristic of good substrates of a-chymotrypsin was introduced at the 3-position to make inhibition more selective. This substituted dihydrocoumarin 3 irreversibly inhibited a-chymotrypsin and other proteases. These functionalized six-membered aromatic lactones, and their five- and seven-membered counterparts, 3//-benzofuran-2-ones 2a26 and 4,5-dihydro-3//-benzo[b]oxepin-2-ones 2c,27 were the first efficient suicide inhibitors of serine proteases. Their postulated mechanism of action is shown in Scheme 11.2. 

The mechanism of action of anticholinesterases is to form a stable covalent complex with the Achase enzyme. Achase is one of several enzymes known as serine esterases. Other examples include the intestinal enzymes trypsin and chymotrypsin as well as the blood clotting agent thrombin. During the course of the catalysis the alcohol -OH of a serine side chain in the active site of the enzyme forms an ester complex, called the acyl-enzyme, with the substrate. So, acetylcholine will go through similar chemical reactions with Achase. 

Irreversible inhibitors often provide clues to the nature of the active site. Enzymes that are inhibited by iodo-acetamide, for example, frequently have a cysteine in the active site, and the cysteinyl sulfhydryl group often plays an essential role in the catalytic mechanism (fig. 7.18). An example is glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, in which the catalytic mechanism begins with a reaction of the cysteine with the aldehyde substrate (see fig. 12.21). As we discuss in chapter 8, trypsin and many related proteolytic enzymes are inhibited irreversibly by diisopropyl-fluorophosphate (fig. 7.18), which reacts with a critical serine residue in the active site. 

The serine proteases are a large family of proteolytic ( enzymes that use the reaction mechanism for nucleophilic catalysis outlined in equations (3) and (4), with a serine residue as the reactive nucleophile. The best known members of the family are three closely related digestive enzymes trypsin, chymotrypsin, and elastase. These enzymes are synthesized in the mammalian pancreas as inactive precursors termed zymogens. They are secreted into the small intestine, where they are activated by proteolytic cleavage in a manner discussed in chapter 9. 

The trypsin family of serine proteases includes over 80 well-characterized enzymes having a minimum sequence homology of >21%. Two amino acid residues are absolutely conserved (Cysl82, Glyl96) within their active sites [26,27]. These proteases have similar catalytic mechanisms that lead to hydrolysis of ester and amide bonds. This occurs via an acyl transfer mechanism that utilizes proton donation by histidine to the newly formed alcohol or amine group, dissociation and formation of a covalent acyl-enzyme complex. 

A free -OH group of the tyro.syl residue is necessary for the activity of pepsin. Both the -OH of serine and the imidazole portion of histidine appear to be necessary parts of the active center of certain hydrolytic cn/ymes, such as trypsin ami chymotrypsin. and furnish the electrostatic forces involved in a proposed mechanism (Fig. 2S-3). in which E denotes enzyme and the other symbols are self-evident. (Alternative mechanisms have been propo.sed esterification and hydrolysis were studied extensively hy M. L. Bender sce Journal of the American Chemical Soeieiv 79 1258. IM7 80 5.3.38. 1958 82 1900. 1960 86 .3704. 53.30. 1964]. D. M. Blow reviewed studies concerning the structure and mechanism of chymotrypsin (.sec Accounts of Chemical Re-,twr<7i 9 145. 1976].)... 

Both AChE and BChE are of the serine hydrolase class, which includes proteases such as trypsin (see PROTEASE inhibitors). Characteristically, such enzymes can be inhibited through covalent linkage of constituent parts of irreversible anticholinesterases such as dyflos (DFP, diisopropylfluorophosphonate). The active site of the enzyme contains a catalytic triad with a glutamate residue, a serine residue and a histidine imidazole ring. The mechanism of the catalysis of break down of AChE has been characterized, and the reaction progresses at a very fast rate. 

Convergence may also occur when the sequence and structure of molecules are very different, but the mechanisms by which they act are similar. Serine proteases have evolved independently in bacteria (e.g. subtilisin) and vertebrates (e.g. trypsin). Despite their very different sequences and three-dimensional structures, in each the same set of three amino acids form the active site. The catalytic triads are His57, Aspl02, and Serl95 (trypsin) and Asp32, His64, and Ser221 (subtilisin) (Doolittle, 1994 A. Tramontano, personal communication). 

Over 80 different (3-lactamases are now known. One classification is a system that divides the enzymes into three classes A, B, and C. Classes A and C are active-site serine enzymes. The serine residue in class A enzymes is at position 70. This class contains four major (3-lactamases 749/C (from B. licheniformis), PCI (from S. aureus), 569/H P-lactamase I (from B. cereus), and PBR322 and RTEM (from E. coli). As with other serine-type hydrolytic enzymes (acetylcholinesterase, trypsin), the mechanism of action requires initial formation of an acylated enzyme, in this case acylation of ser-70 followed by hydrolysis of the derivative to regenerate the enzyme ... 

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