Peptidylglycine α-amidating monooxygenase (PAM) is a bifunctional enzyme that catalyzes the final reaction in the maturation of α-amidated peptide hormones. Peptidylglycine α-hydroxylating monooxygenase (PHM) is the PAM domain responsible for the copper-, ascorbate- and O2-dependent hydroxylation of a glycine-extended peptide. Peptidylamidoglycolate lyase is the PAM domain responsible for the Zn(II)-dependent dealkylation of the α-hydroxyglycine-containing precursor to the final α-amidated peptide.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProviding a project-based experience in an undergraduate biochemistry laboratory class can be complex with large class sizes and limited resources. We have designed a 6-week curriculum during which students purify and characterize the enzymes invertase and phosphatase from bakers yeast. Purification is performed in two stages via ethanol precipitation and anion exchange chromatography, and students perform both direct and coupled enzyme assays.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe heme biosynthetic pathway culminates with the ferrochelatase-catalyzed ferrous iron chelation into protoporphyrin IX to form protoheme. The catalytic mechanism of ferrochelatase has been proposed to involve the stabilization of a nonplanar porphyrin to present the pyrrole nitrogens to the metal ion substrate. Previously, we hypothesized that the ferrochelatase-induced nonplanar distortions of the porphyrin substrate impose selectivity for the divalent metal ion incorporated into the porphyrin ring and facilitate the release of the metalated porphyrin through its reduced affinity for the enzyme.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPeptidylglycine α-amidating monooxygenase (PAM) is a bifunctional enzyme which catalyzes the post-translational modification of inactive C-terminal glycine-extended peptide precursors to the corresponding bioactive α-amidated peptide hormone. This conversion involves two sequential reactions both of which are catalyzed by the separate catalytic domains of PAM. The first step, the copper-, ascorbate-, and O(2)-dependent stereospecific hydroxylation at the α-carbon of the C-terminal glycine, is catalyzed by peptidylglycine α-hydroxylating monooxygenase (PHM).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPeptidylglycine alpha-hydroxylating monooxygenase (PHM, EC 1.14.17.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPeptidyl alpha-hydroxylating monooxygenase (PHM) functions in vivo towards the biosynthesis of alpha-amidated peptide hormones in mammals and insects. PHM is a potential target for the development of inhibitors as drugs for the treatment of human disease and as insecticides for the management of insect pests. We show here that relatively simple ground state analogs of the PHM substrate hippuric acid (C(6)H(5)-CO-NH-CH(2)-COOH) inhibit the enzyme with K(i) values as low as 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSome enzymes catalyze the modification of an ensemble of substrates in vivo and, as a consequence, are not ideal targets for active-site-directed drugs. One solution to inhibiting such multisubstrate enzymes would be a drug that binds tightly to only one substrate, which prevents the binding of that substrate to the enzyme. Ideally, such a drug (called a molecular clamp, a molecular forcep or a molecular tweezer) would prevent the enzymatic processing of only the targeted substrate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPeptidyglycine alpha-amidating monooxygenase is a copper- and zinc-dependent, bifunctional enzyme that catalyzes the cleavage of glycine-extended peptides or N-acylglycines to the corresponding amides and glyoxylate. This reaction is a key step in the biosynthesis of bioactive alpha-amidated peptides and, perhaps, the primary fatty acids amides also. Two clinically useful N-acylglycines are thiorphan and tiopronin, each with a thiol moiety attached to the acyl group.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUbiquitin (Ub) and the ubiquitin-like proteins (UBLs) mediate an array of cellular functions. These proteins contain a C-terminal glycine residue that is key to their function. Oxidative conversion of C-terminal glycine-extended prohormones to the corresponding alpha-amidated peptide is one step in the biosynthesis of bioactive peptide hormones.
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