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Query: EC:6.3.2.3 (glutathione synthetase)
678 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Glutathione synthetase is an enzyme that belongs to the glutathione synthetase ATP-binding domain-like superfamily. It catalyzes the second step in the biosynthesis of glutathione from gamma-glutamylcysteine and glycine in an ATP-dependent manner. Glutathione synthetase has been purified and sequenced from a variety of biological sources; still, its exact mechanism is not fully understood. A variety of structural alignment methods were applied and four highly conserved residues of human glutathione synthetase (Glu-144, Asn-146, Lys-305, and Lys-364) were identified in the binding site. The function of these was studied by experimental and computational site-directed mutagenesis. The three-dimensional coordinates for several human glutathione synthetase mutant enzymes were obtained using molecular mechanics and molecular dynamics simulation techniques, starting from the reported crystal structure of human glutathione synthetase. Consistent with circular dichroism spectroscopy, our results showed no major changes to overall enzyme structure upon residue mutation. However, semiempirical calculations revealed that ligand binding is affected by these mutations. The key interactions between conserved residues and ligands were detected and found to be essential for enzymatic activity. Particularly, the negatively charged Glu-144 residue plays a major role in catalysis.
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PMID:Function of conserved residues of human glutathione synthetase: implications for the ATP-grasp enzymes. 1499 May 77

This Mini-Review summarizes the historic developments and technological achievements in the biotechnological production of glutathione in the past 30 years. Glutathione is the most abundant non-protein thiol compound present in living organisms. It is used as a pharmaceutical compound and can be used in food additives and the cosmetic industries. Glutathione can be produced using enzymatic methods in the presence of ATP and its three precursor amino acids (L-glutamic acid, L-cysteine, glycine). Alternatively, glutathione can be produced by direct fermentative methods using sugar as a starting material. In the latter method, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida utilis are currently used to produce glutathione on an industrial scale. At the molecular level, the genes gshA and gshB, which encode the enzymes gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase and glutathione synthetase, respectively, have been cloned from Escherichia coli and over-expressed in E. coli, S. cerevisiae, and Lactococcus lactis. It is anticipated that, with the design and/or discovery of novel producers, the biotechnological production of glutathione will be further improved to expand the application range of this physiologically and medically important tripeptide.
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PMID:Glutathione: a review on biotechnological production. 1548 Jun 25

Gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase (gamma-GCS) and glutathione synthetase (GS), distinct enzymes that together account for glutathione (GSH) synthesis, have been isolated and characterized from several Gram-negative prokaryotes and from numerous eukaryotes including mammals, amphibians, plants, yeast, and protozoa. Glutathione synthesis is relatively uncommon among the Gram-positive bacteria, and, to date, neither the genes nor the proteins involved have been identified. In the present report, we show that crude extracts of Streptococcus agalactiae catalyze the gamma-GCS and GS reactions and can synthesize GSH from its constituent amino acids. The putative gene for S. agalactiae gamma-GCS was identified and cloned, and the corresponding protein was expressed and purified. Surprisingly, it was found that the isolated enzyme catalyzes both the ATP-dependent synthesis of L-gamma-glutamyl-L-cysteine from L-glutamate and L-cysteine and the ATP-dependent synthesis of GSH from L-gamma-glutamyl-L-cysteine and glycine. This novel bifunctional enzyme, referred to as gamma-GCS-GS, has been characterized in terms of catalytic activity, substrate specificity, and inhibition by GSH, cystamine, and transition state analog sulfoximines. The N-terminal 518 amino acids of gamma-GCS-GS (total M(r) 85,000) show 32% identity and 43% similarity with E. coli gamma-GCS (M(r) 58,000), but the C-terminal putative GS domain (remaining 202 amino acids) of gamma-GCS-GS shows no significant homology with known GS sequences. The C terminus (360 amino acids) is, however, homologous to D-Ala, D-Ala ligase (24% identity; 38% similarity), an enzyme having the same protein fold as known GS proteins. These results are discussed in terms of the evolution of GSH synthesis and the possible occurrence of a similar bifunctional GSH synthesis enzyme in other bacterial species.
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PMID:Glutathione synthesis in Streptococcus agalactiae. One protein accounts for gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase and glutathione synthetase activities. 1564 37

Glutathione is the predominant low-molecular-weight peptide thiol present in living organisms and plays a key role in protecting cells against oxygen toxicity. Until now, glutathione synthesis was thought to occur solely through the consecutive action of two physically separate enzymes, gamma-glutamylcysteine ligase and glutathione synthetase. In this report we demonstrate that Listeria monocytogenes contains a novel multidomain protein (termed GshF) that carries out complete synthesis of glutathione. Evidence for this comes from experiments which showed that in vitro recombinant GshF directs the formation of glutathione from its constituent amino acids and the in vivo effect of a mutation in GshF that abolishes glutathione synthesis, results in accumulation of the intermediate gamma-glutamylcysteine, and causes hypersensitivity to oxidative agents. We identified GshF orthologs, consisting of a gamma-glutamylcysteine ligase (GshA) domain fused to an ATP-grasp domain, in 20 gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Remarkably, 95% of these bacteria are mammalian pathogens. A plausible origin for GshF-dependent glutathione biosynthesis in these bacteria was the recruitment by a GshA ancestor gene of an ATP-grasp gene and the subsequent spread of the fusion gene between mammalian hosts, most likely by horizontal gene transfer.
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PMID:A multidomain fusion protein in Listeria monocytogenes catalyzes the two primary activities for glutathione biosynthesis. 1590 9

gamma-Glutamylcysteine ligase (GCL) combines cysteine and glutamate through its gamma carboxyl moiety as the first step for glutathione (GSH) synthesis and is considered to be the rate-limiting enzyme in this pathway. The enzyme is a heterodimer, with a heavy catalytic and a light regulatory subunit, which plays a critical role in the anti-oxidant response. Besides the original method of Seelig designed for the measurement of a purified enzyme, few endpoint methods, often unrefined, are available for measuring it in complex biological samples. We describe a new, fast and reliable kinetic LC/MS method which enabled us to optimize its detection. l-2-Aminobutyrate is used instead of cysteine (to avoid glutathione synthetase interference) as triggering substrate with saturating concentrations of glutamate and ATP; the gamma glutamylaminobutyrate formed is measured at m/z=233 at regular time intervals. Reaction rate is maximum because ATP is held constant by enzymatic recycling of ADP by pyruvate kinase and phosphoenolpyruvate. The repeatability of the method is good, with CV% of 6.5 and 4% for catalytic activities at, respectively 0.9 and 34 U/l. The affinities of rat and human enzymes for glutamate and aminobutyrate are in good agreement with previous published data. However, unlike the rat enzyme, human GCL is not sensitive to reduced glutathione and displays a more basic optimum pH.
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PMID:Kinetic measurement by LC/MS of gamma-glutamylcysteine ligase activity. 1590 41

Carefully designed molecules that are intimately related to the reaction mechanism of enzymes are often highly selective and potent inhibitors that serve as extremely useful chemical probes for understanding the reaction mechanism and structure of enzymes. This article describes the design, synthesis, and applications of specific inhibitors of two mechanistically distinct groups of enzymes, ATP-dependent amide ligases and Ser- and Thr-hydrolases. Our strategy is based on the premise that stable analogues of the transition state (transition-state analogues) are highly potent inhibitors that serve as good mechanistic probes, and that a key structure of a good inhibitor of one enzyme is also utilized for the inhibitors of other enzymes that share the same chemistry in their catalyzed reactions, irrespective of the degree of structural similarity and evolutionary link between the enzymes. According to these principles, we designed and synthesized a series of phosphinate- and sulfoximine-based transition-state analogue inhibitors of glutathione synthetase, gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase and asparagine synthetase. For the second group of enzymes, we synthesized a gamma-monofluorophosphono glutamate analogue for mechanism-based affinity labeling of gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase and fluorescent phosphonic acid esters for the active-site titration of lipase. These inhibitors were used successfully as ligands for detailed kinetic analyses, X-ray crystallography, and mass analysis of the enzymes to identify the key amino acid residues responsible for catalysis and substrate recognition in the transition state.
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PMID:Enzyme inhibitors as chemical tools to study enzyme catalysis: rational design, synthesis, and applications. 1604 44

The bovine filarial worm Setaria cervi was found to have abundance of glutathione synthetase (GS; EC 6.3.2.3) activity, the enzyme being involved in catalysing the final step of glutathione (GSH) biosynthesis. A RP-HPLC method involving precolumn derivatization with o-phthalaldehyde has been followed for the estimation of GS activity in crude filarial preparations. Subcellular fractionation of the enzyme was undertaken and it was confirmed to be a soluble protein residing mainly in cytosolic fraction. Attempts to determine the Km value for L-gamma-glutamyl-L-cysteine gave a distinctly nonlinear double-reciprocal plot in which data obtained at relatively high dipeptide concentrations (>1 mM) extrapolate to a Km value of about 400 microM whereas data obtained at lower concentrations (<0.1 mM) extrapolate to a value of about 33 microM. Km was determined to be around 950 and 410 microM for ATP and glycine, respectively. The effect of various amino acids was studied on enzyme activity at 1mM concentration. L-cystine caused a significant enzyme inhibition of 11%. Preincubation with N-ethylmaleimide also resulted in significant inhibition of GS activity.
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PMID:Setaria cervi: kinetic studies of filarial glutathione synthetase by high performance liquid chromatography. 1608 76

Glutathione (gamma-glu-cys-gly; GSH) is usually present at high concentrations in most living cells, being the major reservoir of non-protein reduced sulfur. Because of its unique redox and nucleophilic properties, GSH serves in bio-reductive reactions as an important line of defense against reactive oxygen species, xenobiotics and heavy metals. GSH is synthesized from its constituent amino acids by two ATP-dependent reactions catalyzed by gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase and glutathione synthetase. In yeast, these enzymes are found in the cytosol, whereas in plants they are located in the cytosol and chloroplast. In protists, their location is not well established. In turn, the sulfur assimilation pathway, which leads to cysteine biosynthesis, involves high and low affinity sulfate transporters, and the enzymes ATP sulfurylase, APS kinase, PAPS reductase or APS reductase, sulfite reductase, serine acetyl transferase, O-acetylserine/O-acetylhomoserine sulfhydrylase and, in some organisms, also cystathionine beta-synthase and cystathionine gamma-lyase. The biochemical and genetic regulation of these pathways is affected by oxidative stress, sulfur deficiency and heavy metal exposure. Cells cope with heavy metal stress using different mechanisms, such as complexation and compartmentation. One of these mechanisms in some yeast, plants and protists is the enhanced synthesis of the heavy metal-chelating molecules GSH and phytochelatins, which are formed from GSH by phytochelatin synthase (PCS) in a heavy metal-dependent reaction; Cd(2+) is the most potent activator of PCS. In this work, we review the biochemical and genetic mechanisms involved in the regulation of sulfate assimilation-reduction and GSH metabolism when yeast, plants and protists are challenged by Cd(2+).
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PMID:Sulfur assimilation and glutathione metabolism under cadmium stress in yeast, protists and plants. 1610 96

Glutamate-cysteine ligase (gamma-ECL) and glutathione synthetase (GS) are the two unrelated ligases that constitute the glutathione biosynthesis pathway in most eukaryotes, purple bacteria, and cyanobacteria. gamma-ECL is a member of the glutamine synthetase family, whereas GS enzymes group together with highly diverse carboxyl-to-amine/thiol ligases, all characterized by the so-called two-domain ATP-grasp fold. This generalized scheme toward the formation of glutathione, however, is incomplete, as functional steady-state levels of intracellular glutathione may also accumulate solely by import, as has been reported for the Pasteurellaceae member Haemophilus influenzae, as well as for certain Gram-positive enterococci and streptococci, or by the action of a bifunctional fusion protein (termed GshF), as has been reported recently for the Gram-positive firmicutes Streptococcus agalactiae and Listeria monocytogenes. Here, we show that yet another member of the Pasteurellaceae family, Pasteurella multocida, acquires glutathione both by import and GshF-driven biosynthesis. Domain architecture analysis shows that this P. multocida GshF bifunctional ligase contains an N-terminal gamma-proteobacterial gamma-ECL-like domain followed by a typical ATP-grasp domain, which most closely resembles that of cyanophycin synthetases, although it has no significant homology with known GS ligases. Recombinant P. multocida GshF overexpresses as an approximately 85-kDa protein, which, on the basis of gel-sizing chromatography, forms dimers in solution. The gamma-ECL activity of GshF is regulated by an allosteric type of glutathione feedback inhibition (K(i) = 13.6 mM). Furthermore, steady-state kinetics, on the basis of which we present a novel variant of half-of-the-sites reactivity, indicate intimate domain-domain interactions, which may explain the bifunctionality of GshF proteins.
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PMID:Characterization of the bifunctional gamma-glutamate-cysteine ligase/glutathione synthetase (GshF) of Pasteurella multocida. 1633 52

Cd(2+) causes disturbance of metabolic pathways through severe damage on several levels. Here we present a comprehensive study of Cd(2+)-mediated effects on transcript, enzyme and metabolite levels in a plant without phytochelatin (PC). The moss Physcomitrella patens (Hedw.) B.S.G. was stressed with up to 10 microm Cd(2+) to investigate the regulation of gene transcription and activities of enzymes involved in the assimilatory sulphate reduction pathway and in glutathione biosynthesis. Real-time PCR, specific enzyme assays as well as thiol peptide profiling techniques were applied. Upon supplementation of 10 microm Cd(2+), the moss showed a more than fourfold increase in expression of genes encoding ATP sulphurylase (ATPS), adenosylphosphosulphate reductase, phosphoradenosylphosphorsulphate reductase, sulphite reductase (SiR) and gamma-glutamyl cysteine synthetase (gamma-ECS). Likewise, elevated enzyme activities of gamma-ECS and glutathione synthetase were observed. Contrarily, activity of O-acetylserine (thiol) lyase (OAS-TL), responsible for biosynthesis of cysteine, was diminished. At the metabolite level, nearly doubling of intracellular cysteine and glutathione content was noted, while the moss did not produce any detectable amounts of PCs. These results suggest a Cd(2+)-induced activation of the assimilatory sulphate reduction pathway as well as of glutathione biosynthesis on different levels of regulation.
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PMID:Sulphate assimilation under Cd2+ stress in Physcomitrella patens--combined transcript, enzyme and metabolite profiling. 1691 69


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