Tryparedoxin Peroxidase of Leishmania donovani: Molecular Cloning, Heterologous Expression, Specificity, and Catalytic Mechanism

Tryparedoxin peroxidase (TXNPx) of Trypanosomatidae is the terminal peroxidase of a complex redox cascade that detoxifies hydroperoxides by NADPH (Nogoceke et al., Biol. Chem. 378, 827-836, 1997). A gene putatively coding for a peroxiredoxin-type TXNPx was identified in L. donovani and expressed in Escherichia coli to yield an N-terminally His-tagged protein (LdH6TXNPx). LdH6TXNPx proved to be an active peroxidase with tryparedoxin (TXN) 1 and 2 of Crithidia fasciculata as cosubstrates. LdH6TXNPx efficiently reduces H₂O₂, is moderately active with t-butyl and cumene hydroperoxide, but only marginally with linoleic acid hydroperoxide and phosphatidyl choline hydroperoxide. The enzyme displays ping-pong kinetics with a k_cat of 11.2 s⁻¹ and limiting K_m values for t-butyl hydroperoxide and CfTXN1 of 50 and 3.6 μM, respectively. Site-directed mutagenesis confirmed that C52 and C173, as in related peroxiredoxins, are involved in catalysis. Exchanges of R128 against D and T49 against S and V, supported by molecular modelling, further disclose that the SH group of C52 builds the center of a novel catalytic triad. By hydrogen bonding with the OH of T49 and by the positive charge of R128 the solvent-exposed thiol of C52 becomes deprotonated to react with ROOH. Molecular models of oxidized TXNPx show C52 disulfide-bridged with C173′ that can be attacked by C41 of TXN2. By homology, the deduced mechanism may apply to most peroxiredoxins and complements current views of peroxiredoxin catalysis.