Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:1.7.1.2 (nitrate reductase)
 3,861 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In animals the terminal step in the pathway for degradation of sulphur-containing amino acids is the oxidation of sulphite to sulphate. This reaction is catalysed by the enzyme sulphite oxidase. The enzyme contains molybdenum and a cytochrome b5 type haem, is localized in the mitochondrial intermembrane space and transfers electrons from sulphite to cytochrome c on the inner membrane. The sulphite oxidase protein has a molecular weight of 110 000 (chicken) to 122 000 (human) and exists as a dimer of identical subunits. The haem and molybdenum cofactors are present on separate domains of the molecule. The structure of the molydbenum cofactor has not been worked out in detail, but this cofactor is known to be present in many other molybdoenzymes including xanthine oxidase and nitrate reductase. Three cases of genetic sulphite oxidase deficiency in humans have been reported. The three affected children displayed mental retardation, neurological abnormalities and dislocated ocular lenses. The biochemical basis for lack of enzyme activity in each case has been studied. All three have been shown to lack the sulphite oxidase protein, but in one case this appears to be secondary to a defect in synthesis of the molybdenum cofactor. Sulphite oxidase deficiency has been produced in the rat by administration of high levels of tungsten. Sulphite oxidase-deficient animals are particularly susceptible to the toxic effects of sulphite and atmospheric sulphur dioxide.
 ...
PMID:The oxidation of sulphite in animals systems. 39 60

A study has been made of e.p.r. signals due to Mo(V) in reduced sulphite oxidase (EC 1.8.3.1) from chicken liver. Reduction by SO3(2-), or photochemically in the presence of a deazaflavin derivative, produces spectra indistinguishable from one another. Three types of spectra from the enzyme were distingusihed and shown to correspond to single chemical species, since they could be simulated at both 9 and 35 GHz by using the same parameters. These were the low-pH form of the enzyme, with gav. 1.9805, the high-pH form, with gav. 1.9681 and a phosphate complex, with gav. 1.9741. The low-H form shows interaction with a single exchangeable proton, with A(1H)av. (hyperfine coupling constant) = 0.98 mT, probably in the form of an MoOH group. Parameters of the signals are compared with those for signals from xanthine oxidase and nitrate reductase. The signal from the phosphate complex of sulphite oxidase in unique among anion complexes of Mo-containing enzymes in showing no hyperfine coupling to protons. There is no evidence for additional weakly coupled protons or nitrogen nuclei in the sulphite oxidase signals. The possibility is considered that the enzymic mechanism involves abstraction of a proton and two electrons from HSO3- by a Mo = O group in the enzyme.
 ...
PMID:Electron-paramagnetic-resonance parameters of molybdenum(V) in sulphite oxidase from chicken liver. 624 54