Tyrosine-activating enzyme

The properties of the purified enzyme correspond closely to the properties observed in crude preparations (see above) and also agree with the properties of the purified enzymes specific for other amino acids (listed in Table IV, as far as they have been determined. In addition to Mg, the tyrosine activating enzyme (133) has a requirement for K+. To these properties ought to be added the ability to transfer the activated amino acid pnto a specific polynucleotide acceptor (158). 

In order for the cyclooxygenase to function, a source of hydroperoxide (R—O—O—H) appears to be required. The hydroperoxide oxidizes a heme prosthetic group at the peroxidase active site of PGH synthase. This in turn leads to the oxidation of a tyrosine residue producing a tyrosine radical which is apparendy involved in the abstraction of the 13-pro-(5)-hydrogen of AA (25). The cyclooxygenase is inactivated during catalysis by the nonproductive breakdown of an active enzyme intermediate. This suicide inactivation occurs, on average, every 1400 catalytic turnovers. 

Phenylalanine is hydroxylated to tyrosine and then sequentially to 4-hydroxyphenyl-pyruvate and by dioxygenation and rearrangement to 2,5-dihydroxyphenylpyruvate (Figure 3.16) (Arias-Barrau et al. 2004). Hydroxylation involves 6,7-dimethyltetrahydro-biopterin that is converted into the 4a-carbinolamine (Song et al. 1999). Copper is not a component of the active enzyme, although there is some disagreement on whether or not Fe is involved in the reaction for the hydroxylase from Chromobacterium violaceum (Chen and Frey 1998). 

Lequea et al. used the activity of tyrosine apodecarboxylase to determine the concentration of the enzyme cofactor pyridoxal 5 -phosphate (vitamin B6). The inactive apoenzyme is converted to the active enzyme by pyridoxal 5 -phosphate. By keeping the cofactor the limiting reagent in the reaction by adding excess apoenzyme and substrate, the enzyme activity is a direct measure of cofactor concentration. The enzymatic reaction was followed by detecting tyramine formation by LCEC. The authors used this method to determine vitamin B6 concentrations in plasma samples. 

After formation of an O-coordinated ketyl radical anion and a cis coordinated tyrosin via hydrogen abstraction, a rapid intramolecular one-electron redox reaction occurs with release of the product aldehyde and formation of the fully reduced active site containing a Cu(I) ion, which then reacts with 02 to give H202 and the active enzyme. The above sequence represents Nature s mechanistic blueprint for coordination chemists. 

An outline mechanism for tyrosine activation has been proposed (Fersht, 1975 Fersht et al., 1975a,b Ward and Fersht, 1988a) on the basis of conventional kinetic and binding studies, and this is shown in (49). For the aminoacylation step, some aspects of the reaction are still not known such as the point at which AMP is displaced, but the currently preferred mechanism (Fersht and Jakes, 1975 Ward and Fersht, 1988b) is that given in (50). This is compatible with the observed kinetics which show that two moles of tyrosine bind in each enzyme turnover during which one molecule of Tyr-tRNA appears. 

Table 18 Values of and for wild-type and mutant enzymes in tyrosine activation [see (47) and (49)]. 

One of the important consequences of studying catalysis by mutant enzymes in comparison with wild-type enzymes is the possibility of identifying residues involved in catalysis that are not apparent from crystal structure determinations. This has been usefully applied (Fersht et al., 1988) to the tyrosine activation step in tyrosine tRNA synthetase (47) and (49). The residues Lys-82, Arg-86, Lys-230 and Lys-233 were replaced by alanine. Each mutation was studied in turn, and comparison with the wild-type enzyme revealed that each mutant was substantially less effective in catalysing formation of tyrosyl adenylate. Kinetic studies showed that these residues interact with the transition state for formation of tyrosyl adenylate and pyrophosphate from tyrosine and ATP and have relatively minor effects on the binding of tyrosine and tyrosyl adenylate. However, the crystal structures of the tyrosine-enzyme complex (Brick and Blow, 1987) and tyrosyl adenylate complex (Rubin and Blow, 1981) show that the residues Lys-82 and Arg-86 are on one side of the substrate-binding site and Lys-230 and Lys-233 are on the opposite side. It would be concluded from the crystal structures that not all four residues could be simultaneously involved in the catalytic process. Movement of one pair of residues close to the substrate moves the other pair of residues away. It is therefore concluded from the kinetic effects observed for the mutants that, in the wild-type enzyme, formation of the transition state for the reaction involves a conformational change to a structure which differs from the enzyme structure in the complex with tyrosine or tyrosine adenylate. The induced fit to the transition-state structure must allow interaction with all four residues simultaneously. 

The iron protein has been found in animals, viruses and some prokaryotic organisms. The best studied example is from Escherichia coli.S19 The enzyme consists of two subunits, Bi and B2. Subunit B, has a molecular weight of 160 000 and is made up of two polypeptide chains. It contains redox-active SH groups, which play a role in the reaction, and has two binding sites for substrates and sites for effector molecules. It can bind any of the four ribonucleotide substrates. Subunit B2 has a molecular weight of 78 000 and also has two polypeptide chains. It contains a dimeric oxo-bridged iron site associated with a remarkably stable tyrosine radical. The formation of the active enzyme from B, and B2 requires the presence of magnesium ions. 

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