Structural relationships among class I isozymes of human liver alcohol dehydrogenase

The alpha subunit of human liver alcohol dehydrogenase has been submitted to structural analysis. Together with earlier work on the beta and gamma subunits, the results allow conclusions on the relationship of all known forms of the class I type of the enzyme. Two segments of the alpha subunit were determined; one was also reinvestigated in the beta and gamma subunits. The results establish 11 residue replacements among class I subunits in the segments analyzed and show that the alpha, beta, and gamma protein chains each are structurally distinct in the active site regions, where replacements affect positions influencing coenzyme binding (position 47; Gly in alpha, Arg in beta and gamma) and substrate specificity (position 48; Thr in alpha and beta, Ser in gamma). Residue 128, previously not detected in beta and gamma subunits, corresponds to a position of another isozyme difference (Arg in beta and gamma, Ser in alpha). The many amino acid replacements in alcohol dehydrogenases even at their active sites illustrate that in judgements of enzyme functions absolute importance of single residues should not be overemphasized. Available data suggest that alpha and gamma are the more dissimilar forms within the family of the three class I subunits that have resulted from two gene duplications. The class distinction of alcohol dehydrogenases previously suggested from enzymatic, electrophoretic, and immunological properties therefore also holds true in relation to their structures.     

Nicotinamide 3,N4-ethenocytosine dinucleotide, an analog of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. Synthesis and enzyme studies.

A structural analog of NAD+, NICOTINAMIDE 3,N-4ethenocytosine dinucleotide (epsilonNCD+), has been synthesized, characterized, and compared in activity with the natural coenzyme in several enzyme systems. The Vmax and apparent Km values were determined for NAD+, epsilonNCD+, and epsilonNAD+ (nicotinamide 1, N6-ethenoadenine dinucleotide) with yeast alcohol, horse liver alcohol, pig heart malate, beef liver glutamate, and rabbit muscle lactate and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenases. The Vmax for epsilonNCD+ was as great or greater than that obtained for NAD+ with three of the enzymes, 60-80 per cent with two others, and 14 percent with one. EpsilonNCD+ was found to be more active than epsilonNAD+ with all six dehydrogenases. EpsilonNCD+ served as a substrate for Neurospora crassa tnadase, but could not be phosphorylated with pigeon liver NAD+ kinase. NAD+ pyrophosphorylase from pig liver was unable to catalyze the formation of epsilonNCD+ from the triphosphate derivative of epsilon-cytidine and nicotinamide mononucleotide, but was able to slowly catalyze the pyrolytic cleavage of epsilonNCD+. The coenzyme activity of epsilonNCD+ with dehydrogenases can be discussed in terms of the close spatial homology of epsilonNCD+ and NAD+, which may allow similar accommodations within the enzyme binding regions.     

Structural evidence for a liver-specific glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase.

The amino acid sequences near the amino termini of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase from bovine and porcine liver have been determined. Using classical peptide isolation techniques as well as automated Edman degradation, the NH₂-terminal 30 residues of the bovine liver enzyme were determined to be Val-Lys-Val-Gly-Val-Asn-Gly-Phe-Gly-Arg-Ile-Gly-Arg-Leu-Val-Thr-Arg-Ala-Ala-Phe-Asn-Ser-Gly-Lys-Val-Asp-Ile-Val-Phe-Ile. Twenty-two residues from the NH₂-terminus of the porcine liver enzyme, determined using the automated Edman degradation, were identical to the corresponding sequence from bovine liver enzyme. Both liver enzymes have Asn at position 6. The corresponding residue 6 in the muscle and yeast glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenases is Asp. This evidence suggests that the Asn-6 residue is specific for the liver tissues. The exchange of Asn for Asp may significantly alter the allosteric properties of muscle and liver enzymes especially the activity of the liver enzymes in gluconeogenesis.     

Crystal structure of cod liver class I alcohol dehydrogenase: substrate pocket and structurally variable segments.

The structural framework of cod liver alcohol dehydrogenase is similar to that of horse and human alcohol dehydrogenases. In contrast, the substrate pocket differs significantly, and main differences are located in three loops. Nevertheless, the substrate pocket is hydrophobic like that of the mammalian class I enzymes and has a similar topography in spite of many main-chain and side-chain differences. The structural framework of alcohol dehydrogenase is also present in a number of related enzymes like glucose dehydrogenase and quinone oxidoreductase. These enzymes have completely different substrate specificity, but also for these enzymes, the corresponding loops of the substrate pocket have significantly different structures. The domains of the two subunits in the crystals of the cod enzyme further differ by a rotation of the catalytic domains by about 6 degrees. In one subunit, they close around the coenzyme similarly as in coenzyme complexes of the horse enzyme, but form a more open cleft in the other subunit, similar to the situation in coenzyme-free structures of the horse enzyme. The proton relay system differs from the mammalian class I alcohol dehydrogenases. His 51, which has been implicated in mammalian enzymes to be important for proton transfer from the buried active site to the surface is not present in the cod enzyme. A tyrosine in the corresponding position is turned into the substrate pocket and a water molecule occupies the same position in space as the His side chain, forming a shorter proton relay system.     

The primary structure of alcohol dehydrogenase from Drosophila lebanonensis. Extensive variation within insect 'short-chain' alcohol dehydrogenase lacking zinc

Insect alcohol dehydrogenase is highly different from the well-known yeast and mammalian alcohol dehydrogenases. The enzyme from Drosophila lebanonensis has now been characterized by protein analysis and was found to have a 254-residue protein chain with an acetyl-blocked N-terminal Met. Comparisons with the structures of the enzyme from other species allows judgement of the extent of variability within the insect alcohol dehydrogenases. They have diverged to a considerable extent; two forms analyzed at the protein level differ at 18% of all residues, and all the known Drosophila alcohol dehydrogenase structures reveal differences at 72 positions. Some deviations, against a background similarity, in the extent of changes are noted among the parts corresponding to different exons. The structural variation within Drosophila is about as large as the one for the mammalian zinc-containing alcohol dehydrogenase. Consequently, the results illustrate Drosophila relationships and establish great variations also for group of alcohol dehydrogenases lacking zinc.     

Avian alcohol dehydrogenase. Characterization of the quail enzyme, functional interpretations, and relationships to the different classes of mammalian alcohol dehydrogenase

The primary structure of the major quail liver alcohol dehydrogenase was determined. It is a long-chain, zinc-containing alcohol dehydrogenase of the type occurring also in mammals and hence allows judgement of the gene duplications giving rise to the classes of the human alcohol dehydrogenase system. The avian form is most closely related to the class I mammalian enzyme (72-75% residue identity), least related to class II (60% identity), and intermediately related to class III (64-65% identity). This pattern distinguishes the mammalian enzyme classes and separates classes I and II in particular. In addition to the generally larger similarities with class I, the avian enzyme exhibits certain residue patterns otherwise typical of the other classes, including an extra Trp residue, present in both class II and III but not in class I, with a corresponding increase in the UV absorbance. The avian enzyme further shows that a Gly residue at position 260 previously considered strictly conserved in alcohol dehydrogenases can be exchanged with Lys. However, zinc-binding residues, coenzyme-binding residues, and to a large extent substrate-binding residues are unchanged in the avian enzyme, suggesting its functional properties to be related to those of the class I mammalian alcohol dehydrogenases. In contrast, the areas of subunit interactions in the dimers differ substantially. These results show that (a) the vertebrate enzyme classes are of distant origin, (b) the submammalian enzyme exhibits partly mixed properties in relation to the classes, and (c) the three mammalian enzyme classes are not as equidistantly related as initially apparent but suggest origins from two sublevels.     

Variations and constant patterns in eukaryotic MDR enzymes. Conclusions from novel structures and characterized genomes

Medium-chain dehydrogenases/reductases (MDR) alcohol dehydrogenases exhibit multiple forms through a number of gene duplications. A crucial duplication was the one leading from the glutathione-dependent formaldehyde dehydrogenase line to the liver alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) lines of vertebrates, the first duplication of which can now be further positioned at early vertebrate times. Similarly, screening of MDR forms in recently completed eukaryotic genomes of Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster suggest that the MDR family may constitute a moderately sized protein family centered around a limited number of enzyme activities of five different structural types.     

Characteristics of mammalian class III alcohol dehydrogenases, an enzyme less variable than the traditional liver enzyme of class I

Class III alcohol dehydrogenase, whose activity toward ethanol is negligible, has defined, specific properties and is not just a "variant" of the class I protein, the traditional liver enzyme. The primary structure of the horse class III protein has now been determined, and this allows the comparison of alcohol dehydrogenases from human, horse, and rat for both classes III and I, providing identical triads for both these enzyme types. Many consistent differences between the classes separate the two forms as distinct enzymes with characteristic properties. The mammalian class III enzymes are much less variable in structure than the corresponding typical liver enzymes of class I: there are 35 versus 84 positional differences in these identical three-species sets. The class III and class I subunits contain four versus two tryptophan residues, respectively. This makes the differences in absorbance at 280 nm a characteristic property. There are also 4-6 fewer positive charges in the class III enzymes accounting for their electrophoretic differences. The substrate binding site of class III differs from that of class I by replacements at positions that form the hydrophobic barrel typical for this site. In class III, two to four of these positions contain residues with polar or even charged side chains (positions 57 and 93 in all species, plus positions 116 in the horse and 140 in the human and the horse), while corresponding intraclass variation is small. All these structural features correlate with functional characteristics and suggest that the enzyme classes serve different roles. In addition, the replacements between these triad sets illustrate further general properties of the two mammalian alcohol dehydrogenase classes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Rat liver alcohol dehydrogenase of class III. Primary structure, functional consequences and relationships to other alcohol dehydrogenases

The amino acid sequence of alcohol dehydrogenase of class III from rat liver (the enzyme ADH-2) has been determined. This type of structure is quite different from those of both the class I and the class II alcohol dehydrogenases. The rat class III structure differs from the rat and human class I structures by 133-138 residues (exact value depending on species and isozyme type); and from that of human class II by 132 residues. In contrast, the rat/human species difference within the class III enzymes is only 21 residues. The protein was carboxymethylated with iodo[2(14)C]acetate, and cleaved with CNBr and proteolytic enzymes. Peptides purified by exclusion chromatography and reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography were analyzed by degradation with a gas-phase sequencer and with the manual 4-N,N-dimethylaminoazobenzene-4'-isothiocyanate double-coupling method. The protein chain has 373 residues with a blocked N terminus. No evidence was obtained for heterogeneity. The rat ADH-2 enzyme of class III contains an insertion of Cys at position 60 in relation to the class I enzymes, while the latter alcohol dehydrogenase in rat (ADH-3) has another Cys insertion (at position 111) relative to ADH-2. The structure deduced explains the characteristic differences of the class III alcohol dehydrogenase in relation to the other classes of alcohol dehydrogenase, including a high absorbance, an anodic electrophoretic mobility and special kinetic properties. The main amino acid substitutions are found in the catalytic domain and in the subunit interacting segments of the coenzyme-binding domain, the latter explaining the lack of hybrid dimers between subunits of different classes. Several substitutions provide an enlarged and more hydrophilic substrate-binding pocket, which appears compatible with a higher water content in the pocket and hence could possibly explain the higher Km for all substrates as compared with the corresponding values for the class I enzymes. Finally the class III structure supports evolutionary relationships suggesting that the three classes constitute clearly separate enzymes within the group of mammalian zinc-containing alcohol dehydrogenases.     

Variations and constant patterns in eukaryotic MDR enzymes: Conclusions from novel structures and characterized genomes

Medium-chain dehydrogenases/reductases (MDR) alcohol dehydrogenases exhibit multiple forms through a number of gene duplications. A crucial duplication was the one leading from the glutathione-dependent formaldehyde dehydrogenase line to the liver alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) lines of vertebrates, the first duplication of which can now be further positioned at early vertebrate times. Similarly, screening of MDR forms in recently completed eukaryotic genomes of Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster suggest that the MDR family may constitute a moderately sized protein family centered around a limited number of enzyme activities of five different structural types.     

Amphibian alcohol dehydrogenase, the major frog liver enzyme. Relationships to other forms and assessment of an early gene duplication separating vertebrate class I and class III alcohol dehydrogenases

Submammalian alcohol dehydrogenase structures can be used to evaluate the origins and functions of the different types of the mammalian enzyme. Two avian forms were recently reported, and we now define the major amphibian alcohol dehydrogenase. The enzyme from the liver of the Green frog Rana perezi was purified, carboxymethylated, and submitted to amino acid sequence determination by peptide analysis of six different digests. The protein has a 375-residue subunit and is a class I alcohol dehydrogenase, bridging the gap toward the original separation of the classes that are observable in the human alcohol dehydrogenase system. In relation to the human class I enzyme, the amphibian protein has residue identities exactly halfway (68%) between those for the corresponding avian enzyme (74%) and the human class III enzyme (62%), suggesting an origin of the alcohol dehydrogenase classes very early in or close to the evolution of the vertebrate line. This conclusion suggests that these enzyme classes are more universal among animals than previously realized and constitutes the first real assessment of the origin of the duplications leading to the alcohol dehydrogenase classes. Functionally, the amphibian enzyme exhibits properties typical for class I but has an unusually low Km for ethanol (0.09 mM) and Ki for pyrazole (0.15 microM) at pH 10.0. This correlates with a strictly hydrophobic substrate pocket and one amino acid difference toward the human class I enzyme at the inner part of the pocket. Coenzyme binding is highly similar, while subunit-interacting residues, as in other alcohol dehydrogenases, exhibit several differences.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Mechanism of action of Drosophila melanogaster alcohol dehydrogenase.

Reported kinetic pH dependence data for alcohol dehydrogenase from Drosophila melanogaster are analyzed with regard to differences in rate behaviour between this non-metallo enzyme and the zinc-containing liver alcohol dehydrogenase present in vertebrates. For the Drosophila enzyme a mechanism of action is proposed according to which catalytic proton release to solution during alcohol oxidation occurs at the binary-complex level as an obligatory step preceding substrate binding. Such proton release involves an ionizing group with a pKa of about 7.6 in the enzyme.NAD+ complex, tentatively identified as a tyrosyl residue. The ionized form of this group is proposed to participate in the binding of alcohol substrates and to act as a nucleophilic catalyst of the subsequent step of hydride ion transfer from the bound alcohol to NAD+. Herein lie fundamental mechanistic differences between the metallo and non-metallo short chain alcohol dehydrogenases.     

Structures of human alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenases

Human alcohol dehydrogenase is a dimeric zinc metalloenzyme for which forms of three classes, I, II and III, have been distinguished. Subunits hybridize within but not between classes. There are three types of subunit, alpha, beta, and gamma, in class I. The primary structures of all three forms have been established, as well as the overall properties and the effects of the amino acid substitutions between the various forms. Each subunit has 374 residues, of which 35 exhibit differences among the alpha, beta and gamma chains. Corresponding cDNA structures are also known, as are the genetic organization and details of the gene structures. Allelic variants occur at the beta and gamma loci. Corresponding amino acid substitutions have been characterized, and enzymatic differences between the allelic forms are explained by defined residue exchanges. The results also illustrate recent and repeated isozyme evolution, a subject where alcohol dehydrogenases exceptionally well offer detailed examples. Human aldehyde dehydrogenase occurs of two types, a mitochondrial and a cytosolic form. The enzymes are tetramers, do not contain functional metals, and have subunits which do not form inter-type hybrids. The primary structures have been determined, revealing a positional identity of 68% (in 500 residues) between the mitochondrial and cytosolic forms. The N-terminus is heterogeneous and is not blocked in the subunit of the mitochondrial enzyme, in contrast to that of the cytosolic enzyme or those of all the alcohol dehydrogenases (also cytosolic). A reactive cysteine residue at position 302 has been ascribed functional importance at or close to the active site, is conserved in the two aldehyde dehydrogenases, and is associated with the action of disulfiram on the enzyme. In Oriental populations, a mutant allelic variant of the mitochondrial protein with impaired enzyme function has also been characterized.     

Class III human liver alcohol dehydrogenase: a novel structural type equidistantly related to the class I and class II enzymes

The primary structure of class III alcohol dehydrogenase (dimeric with chi subunits) from human liver has been determined by peptide analyses. The protein chain is a clearly distinct type of subunit distantly related to those of both human class I and class II alcohol dehydrogenases (with alpha, beta, gamma, and pi subunits, respectively). Disregarding a few gaps, residue differences in the chi protein chain with respect to beta 1 and pi occur at 139 and 140 positions, respectively. Compared to class I, the 373-residue chi structure has an extra residue, Cys after position 60, and two missing ones, the first two residues relative to class I, although the N-terminus is acetylated like that for those enzymes. The chi subunit contains two more tryptophan residues than the class I subunits, accounting for the increased absorbance at 280 nm. There are also four additional acidic and two fewer basic side chains than in the class I beta structure, compatible with the markedly different electrophoretic mobility of the class III enzyme. Residue differences between class III and the other classes occur with nearly equal frequency in the coenzyme-binding and catalytic domains. The similarity in the number of exchanges relative to that of the enzymes of the other two classes supports conclusions that the three classes of alcohol dehydrogenase reflect stages in the development of separate enzymes with distinct functional roles. In spite of the many exchanges, the residues critical to basic functional properties are either completely unchanged--all zinc ligands and space-restricted Gly residues--or partly unchanged--residues at the coenzyme-binding pocket.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Primary structure of rat liver D-beta-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase from cDNA and protein analyses: a short-chain alcohol dehydrogenase.

The amino acid sequence of D-beta-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (BDH), a phosphatidyl-choline-dependent enzyme, has been determined for the enzyme from rat liver by a combination of nucleotide sequencing of cDNA clones and amino acid sequencing of the purified protein. This represents the first report of the primary structure of this enzyme. The largest clone contained 1435 base pairs and encoded the entire amino acid sequence of mature BDH and the leader peptide of precursor BDH. Hybridization of poly(A+) rat liver mRNA revealed two bands with estimated sizes of 3.2 and 1.7 kb. A computer-based comparison of the amino acid sequence of BDH with other reported sequences reveals a homology with the superfamily of short-chain alcohol dehydrogenases, which are distinct from the classical zinc-dependent alcohol dehydrogenases. This protein family, initially discerned from Drosophila alcohol dehydrogenase and bacterial ribitol dehydrogenase, is now known to include at least 20 enzymes catalyzing oxidations of distinct substrates.     

The amino acid sequences of the tryptic peptides of cowpea chlorotic mottle virus protein

The amino acid sequences of the major tryptic peptides from the coat protein of wild type cowpea chlorotic mottle virus are presented. The sequences have been determined by a combination of enzyme hydrolysis, mass spectrometry and Edman degradation, and the relative usefulness of mass spectrometry in this peptide sequence determination is discussed.     

Characterization of a microsomal retinol dehydrogenase gene from amphioxus: retinoid metabolism before vertebrates

Amphioxus, a member of the subphylum Cephalochordata, is thought to be the closest living relative to vertebrates. Although these animals have a vertebrate-like response to retinoic acid, the pathway of retinoid metabolism remains unknown. Two different enzyme systems - the short chain dehydrogenase/reductases and the cytosolic medium-chain alcohol dehydrogenases (ADHs) - have been postulated in vertebrates. Nevertheless, recent data show that the vertebrate-ADH1 and ADH4 retinol-active forms originated after the divergence of cephalochordates and vertebrates. Moreover, no data has been gathered in support of medium-chain retinol active forms in amphioxus. Then, if the cytosolic ADH system is absent and these animals use retinol, the microsomal retinol dehydrogenases could be involved in retinol oxidation. We have identified the genomic region and cDNA of an amphioxus Rdh gene as a preliminary step for functional characterization. Besides, phylogenetic analysis supports the ancestral position of amphioxus Rdh in relation to the vertebrate forms.     

Calorimetric investigation of NAD binding to some dehydrogenases.

The thermodynamic parameters for the binding of NAD to some dehydrogenases have been determined calorimetrically at 25° and pH 7.6. Except for liver alcohol dehydrogenase (LADH) the ΔG^o, ΔH^o and ΔS^o values for NAD binding to the dehydrogenases are very similar pointing out a possible structure - thermodynamics correlation. The large deviation observed in the case of LADH would be consistent with the occurrence of a conformational change in this enzyme upon binding NAD.     

A comparative study of the effect of pyrazole on the activity of enzymes in the alcohol/polyol dehydrogenase family]

A comparative study of the effect of pyrazol, an inhibitor of the coenzyme-binding site of alcohol dehydrogenases, on the activity of enzymes of the alcohol/polyol dehydrogenase group has been carried out. Commercial preparations of alcohol dehydrogenases from the cytoplasm of horse liver cells and yeast cells, as well as the enzyme from the cytoplasm of Trichosporon pullulans cells was completely inhibited by 1 mM pyrazol, while alcohol dehydrogenases from Candida utilis and Saccharomyces carlsbergensis were inhibited only by 25% and the enzymes from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Torulopsis candida by 30 and 38%, respectively. The inhibition degree of alcohol dehydrogenases from the cytoplasm of liver cells of various mammals (bull, calf, rat, gopher) and birds (hen, pheasant, duck) varied from 12 to 42% in the presence of 1 mM pyrazol. The activity of sorbitol dehydrogenase from the liver cytoplasm of these mammals and birds changed neither in the presence of 1 mM pyrazol, nor in the case of a 15-fold increase of the inhibitor concentration. Possible structural differences in the coenzyme-binding site of the active center of the enzymes under study are discussed.     

Evidence for the identity of glutathione-dependent formaldehyde dehydrogenase and class III alcohol dehydrogenase

Formaldehyde dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.1.1) is a widely occurring enzyme which catalyzes the oxidation of S-hydroxymethylglutathione, formed from formaldehyde and glutathione, into S-formyglutathione in the presence of NAD. We determined the amino acid sequences for 5 tryptic peptides (containing altogether 57 amino acids) from electrophoretically homogeneous rat liver formaldehyde dehydrogenase and found that they all were exactly homologous to the sequence of rat liver class III alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH-2). Formaldehyde dehydrogenase was found to be able at high pH values to catalyze the NAD-dependent oxidation of long-chain aliphatic alcohols like n-octanol and 12-hydroxydodecanoate but ethanol was used only at very high substrate concentrations and pyrazole was not inhibitory. The amino acid sequence homology and identical structural and kinetic properties indicate that formaldehyde dehydrogenase and the mammalian class III alcohol dehydrogenases are identical enzymes.