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The structural basis for specificity in lipoxygenase catalysis
Author(s) -
Newcomer Marcia E.,
Brash Alan R.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
protein science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.353
H-Index - 175
eISSN - 1469-896X
pISSN - 0961-8368
DOI - 10.1002/pro.2626
Subject(s) - chemistry , stereospecificity , fatty acid , stereochemistry , substrate (aquarium) , catalysis , lipoxygenase , active site , enzyme , arachidonic acid , enzyme catalysis , biochemistry , oceanography , geology
Abstract Many intriguing facets of lipoxygenase (LOX) catalysis are open to a detailed structural analysis. Polyunsaturated fatty acids with two to six double bonds are oxygenated precisely on a particular carbon, typically forming a single chiral fatty acid hydroperoxide product. Molecular oxygen is not bound or liganded during catalysis, yet it is directed precisely to one position and one stereo configuration on the reacting fatty acid. The transformations proceed upon exposure of substrate to enzyme in the presence of O 2 (RH + O 2 → ROOH), so it has proved challenging to capture the precise mode of substrate binding in the LOX active site. Beginning with crystal structures with bound inhibitors or surrogate substrates, and most recently arachidonic acid bound under anaerobic conditions, a picture is consolidating of catalysis in a U‐shaped fatty acid binding channel in which individual LOX enzymes use distinct amino acids to control the head‐to‐tail orientation of the fatty acid and register of the selected pentadiene opposite the non‐heme iron, suitably positioned for the initial stereoselective hydrogen abstraction and subsequent reaction with O 2 . Drawing on the crystal structures available currently, this review features the roles of the N‐terminal β‐barrel (C2‐like, or PLAT domain) in substrate acquisition and sensitivity to cellular calcium, and the α‐helical catalytic domain in fatty acid binding and reactions with O 2 that produce hydroperoxide products with regio and stereospecificity. LOX structures combine to explain how similar enzymes with conserved catalytic machinery differ in product, but not substrate, specificities.