Publications

• Refined structure of glutathione reductase at 1.54-A resolution.

  Karplus P.A., Schulz G.E.

  The crystal structure of human glutathione reductase has been established at 1.54 A resolution using a restrained least-squares refinement method. Based on 77,690 independent reflections of better than 10 A resolution, a final R-factor of 18.6% was obtained with a model obeying standard geometry w ... >> More

  The crystal structure of human glutathione reductase has been established at 1.54 A resolution using a restrained least-squares refinement method. Based on 77,690 independent reflections of better than 10 A resolution, a final R-factor of 18.6% was obtained with a model obeying standard geometry within 0.025 A in bond lengths and 2.4 degrees in bond angles. The final 2Fo-Fc electron density map allows for the distinction of carbon, nitrogen and oxygen atoms with temperature factors below about 25 A2. Apart from 461 amino acid residues and the prosthetic group FAD, the model contains 524 solvent molecules, about 118 of which can be considered an integral part of the enzyme. The largest solvent cluster is at the dimer interface and contains 104 interconnected solvent molecules, part of which are organized in a warped sheet-like structure. The main-chain dihedral angles are well-concentrated in the allowed regions of the Ramachandran plot. The spread of dihedral angles in beta-pleated sheets is much larger than in alpha-helices and especially in alpha-helix cores, indicating the higher plasticity of beta-structures. The analysis revealed a large amount of 3(10)-helix. The side-chain conformations cluster at the staggered positions, and show well-defined preferences. Also, a mobility gradient is observed for side-chains. Non-polar and polar side-chains show average temperature factor increases per bond of 10% and 25%, respectively. A number of alternative conformations of internal side-chains, in particular serines and methionines, have been detected. The extended FAD molecule also shows a mobility gradient between the very rigid flavin (mean value of B) = 8.7 A2) and the more mobile adenine (mean value of B = 16.2 A2). The entire active center is particularly well ordered, with temperature factors around 10 A2. The dimer interface consists of a rigid contact area, which is well conserved in the Escherichia coli enzyme, and a flexible area that is not. Altogether, the buried surfaces at the crystal contacts are half as large as at the dimer interface, but less specific. The refined structure shows clearly that there are no buried cations compensating the charge of the pyrophosphate moiety of FAD. The flavin deviates slightly from standard geometry, which is possibly caused by the polypeptide environment. In contrast to an earlier interpretation, atom N5 of the flavin can accommodate a proton, and it is conceivable that this proton proceeds to the redox-active disulfide.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS) << Less

  J. Mol. Biol. 195:701-729(1987) [PubMed] [EuropePMC]

• Purification and characterization of glutathione reductase from Rhodospirillum rubrum.

  Libreros-Minotta C.A., Pardo J.P., Mendoza-Hernandez G., Rendon J.L.

  Glutathione reductase (NAD(P)H:GSSG oxidoreductase EC 1.6.4.2.) was purified 1160-fold to homogeneity from the nonsulfurous purple bacteria Rhodospirillum rubrum (wild type). Specific activity of the pure preparation was 102 U/mg. The enzyme displayed a typical flavoprotein absorption spectrum wit ... >> More

  Glutathione reductase (NAD(P)H:GSSG oxidoreductase EC 1.6.4.2.) was purified 1160-fold to homogeneity from the nonsulfurous purple bacteria Rhodospirillum rubrum (wild type). Specific activity of the pure preparation was 102 U/mg. The enzyme displayed a typical flavoprotein absorption spectrum with maxima at 274,365, and 459 nm and an absorbance ratio A280/A459 of 7.6. The amino acid analysis revealed an unusually high content of glycine and arginine residues. Titration of the enzyme with 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid) showed a total of two free thiol groups per subunit, one of which is made accessible only under denaturing conditions. An isoelectric point of 5.2 was found for the native enzyme. Km values, determined at pH 7.5, were 6.1 and 90 microM for NADPH and GSSG, respectively. NADH was about 2% as active as NADPH as an electron donor. The enzyme's second choice in disulfide substrate was the mixed disulfide of coenzyme A and glutathione, for which the specific activity and Km values were 5.1 U/mg and 3.4 mM, respectively. A native molecular weight of 118,000 was found, while denaturing electrophoresis gave a value of 54,400 per subunit, thus suggesting that R. rubrum glutathione reductase exists as a dimeric protein. Other physicochemical constants of the enzyme, such as Stokes radius (4.2 nm) and sedimentation coefficient (5.71 S), were also consistent with a particle of 110,000. << Less

  Arch Biochem Biophys 298:247-253(1992) [PubMed] [EuropePMC]

  This publication is cited by 1 other entry.

• The glutathione reductase GSR-1 determines stress tolerance and longevity in Caenorhabditis elegans.

  Lueersen K., Stegehake D., Daniel J., Drescher M., Ajonina I., Ajonina C., Hertel P., Woltersdorf C., Liebau E.

  Glutathione (GSH) and GSH-dependent enzymes play a key role in cellular detoxification processes that enable organism to cope with various internal and environmental stressors. However, it is often not clear, which components of the complex GSH-metabolism are required for tolerance towards a certa ... >> More

  Glutathione (GSH) and GSH-dependent enzymes play a key role in cellular detoxification processes that enable organism to cope with various internal and environmental stressors. However, it is often not clear, which components of the complex GSH-metabolism are required for tolerance towards a certain stressor. To address this question, a small scale RNAi-screen was carried out in Caenorhabditis elegans where GSH-related genes were systematically knocked down and worms were subsequently analysed for their survival rate under sub-lethal concentrations of arsenite and the redox cycler juglone. While the knockdown of γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase led to a diminished survival rate under arsenite stress conditions, GSR-1 (glutathione reductase) was shown to be essential for survival under juglone stress conditions. gsr-1 is the sole GSR encoding gene found in C. elegans. Knockdown of GSR-1 hardly affected total glutathione levels nor reduced glutathione/glutathione disulphide (GSH/GSSG) ratio under normal laboratory conditions. Nevertheless, when GSSG recycling was impaired by gsr-1(RNAi), GSH synthesis was induced, but not vice versa. Moreover, the impact of GSSG recycling was potentiated under oxidative stress conditions, explaining the enormous effect gsr-1(RNAi) knockdown had on juglone tolerance. Accordingly, overexpression of GSR-1 was capable of increasing stress tolerance. Furthermore, expression levels of SKN-1-regulated GSR-1 also affected life span of C. elegans, emphasising the crucial role the GSH redox state plays in both processes. << Less

  PLoS ONE 8:E60731-E60731(2013) [PubMed] [EuropePMC]

• The catalytic mechanism of glutathione reductase as derived from x-ray diffraction analyses of reaction intermediates.

  Pai E.F., Schulz G.E.

  The mode of binding of NADPH and oxidized glutathione to the flavoenzyme glutathione reductase has been determined by x-ray crystallography. Furthermore, two intermediates of the reaction have been produced in the crystal and have been structurally elucidated. All these analyses were done at 0.3 n ... >> More

  The mode of binding of NADPH and oxidized glutathione to the flavoenzyme glutathione reductase has been determined by x-ray crystallography. Furthermore, two intermediates of the reaction have been produced in the crystal and have been structurally elucidated. All these analyses were done at 0.3 nm resolution. The results allow the stereochemical description of the mechanism of the enzyme. The dinucleotide NADPH is bound in an extended conformation with the nicotinamide ring stacking onto the re-face of the flavin part of FAD, and adenine located at the protein surface. The binding of NADPH results in the 2-electron reduced form of the enzyme, EH2. This form has also been analyzed without any ligand bound. In EH2 the redoxactive disulfide bridge of the protein, which lies at the si-face of the flavin ring, is opened and the sulfur of Cys-58 moves by about 0.1 nm into a position where it can attack one of the sulfurs of the substrate oxidized glutathione. This interchange leads to a mixed glutathione-protein disulfide, which can be stabilized in crystals and has been analyzed. By selectively reacting Cys-58 with iodoacetamide the crystalline enzyme can be blocked in its EH2 state. The imidazole of His-467' is near to all sulfurs taking part in the disulfide bridge exchange and is therefore certainly crucial for catalysis. The crystallographic results establish that electrons flow from NADPH to the substrate GSSG via flavin and the redoxactive protein disulfide bridge. This is consistent with the scheme that has been postulated from biochemical, spectroscopic, and model studies. << Less

  J Biol Chem 258:1752-1757(1983) [PubMed] [EuropePMC]

• Substrate binding and catalysis by glutathione reductase as derived from refined enzyme: substrate crystal structures at 2 A resolution.

  Karplus P.A., Schulz G.E.

  The X-ray structure analyses of four glutathione reductase complexes and derivatives have been extended to 2 A resolution and refined. The results are discussed in conjunction with the structure of the oxidized native enzyme known at 1.54 A resolution. While the residual co-ordinate errors are aro ... >> More

  The X-ray structure analyses of four glutathione reductase complexes and derivatives have been extended to 2 A resolution and refined. The results are discussed in conjunction with the structure of the oxidized native enzyme known at 1.54 A resolution. While the residual co-ordinate errors are around 0.2 A, some significant shifts even in this range could be established. Points of particular interest are the 3.2 A approach of C4N of nicotinamide to N5F of flavin in hydride transfer geometry, the hydrogen bond geometries of the 2'-phosphate of NADPH as compared to inferior geometries for an inorganic phosphate binding together with NADH, the differential mobilities of parts of the substrates as derived from refined atomic temperature factors, and the stabilization of the thiolate of the proximal Cys63 by conformational changes of neighboring residues as well as by flavin. In addition, catalytically competent His467' is seen to interact more optimally with the sulfur of glutathione-I than with the distal sulfur of Cys58. The observed participation of water molecules for both NADPH and glutathione binding is so extensive that a prediction of the binding mode merely from the polypeptide structure would be very difficult. The accurately known geometries allowed us to draw some conclusions on the enzyme mechanism and suggest a possible scenario of the catalysis. << Less

  J Mol Biol 210:163-180(1989) [PubMed] [EuropePMC]

• Catalytic cycle of human glutathione reductase near 1 A resolution.

  Berkholz D.S., Faber H.R., Savvides S.N., Karplus P.A.

  Efficient enzyme catalysis depends on exquisite details of structure beyond those resolvable in typical medium- and high-resolution crystallographic analyses. Here we report synchrotron-based cryocrystallographic studies of natural substrate complexes of the flavoenzyme human glutathione reductase ... >> More

  Efficient enzyme catalysis depends on exquisite details of structure beyond those resolvable in typical medium- and high-resolution crystallographic analyses. Here we report synchrotron-based cryocrystallographic studies of natural substrate complexes of the flavoenzyme human glutathione reductase (GR) at nominal resolutions between 1.1 and 0.95 A that reveal new aspects of its mechanism. Compression in the active site causes overlapping van der Waals radii and distortion in the nicotinamide ring of the NADPH substrate, which enhances catalysis via stereoelectronic effects. The bound NADPH and redox-active disulfide are positioned optimally on opposite sides of the flavin for a 1,2-addition across a flavin double bond. The new structures extend earlier observations to reveal that the redox-active disulfide loop in GR is an extreme case of sequential peptide bonds systematically deviating from planarity--a net deviation of 53 degrees across five residues. But this apparent strain is not a factor in catalysis, as it is present in both oxidized and reduced structures. Intriguingly, the flavin bond lengths in oxidized GR are intermediate between those expected for oxidized and reduced flavin, but we present evidence that this may not be due to the protein environment but instead due to partial synchrotron reduction of the flavin by the synchrotron beam. Finally, of more general relevance, we present evidence that the structures of synchrotron-reduced disulfide bonds cannot generally be used as reliable models for naturally reduced disulfide bonds. << Less

  J Mol Biol 382:371-384(2008) [PubMed] [EuropePMC]

• Human erythrocyte glutathione reductase: chemical mechanism and structure of the transition state for hydride transfer.

  Sweet W.L., Blanchard J.S.

  Kinetic parameters and primary deuterium kinetic isotope effects for NADH and five pyridine nucleotide substrates have been determined at pH 8.1 for human erythrocyte glutathione reductase. DV/KNADH and DV are equal to 1.4 and are pH independent below pH 8.1, but DV decreases to 1.0 at high pH as ... >> More

  Kinetic parameters and primary deuterium kinetic isotope effects for NADH and five pyridine nucleotide substrates have been determined at pH 8.1 for human erythrocyte glutathione reductase. DV/KNADH and DV are equal to 1.4 and are pH independent below pH 8.1, but DV decreases to 1.0 at high pH as a group exhibiting a pK of 8.6 is deprotonated. This result suggests that as His-467' is deprotonated, the rate of the isotopically insensitive oxidative half-reaction is specifically decreased and becomes rate-limiting. For all substrates, equivalent V and V/K primary deuterium kinetic isotope effects are observed at pH values below 8.1. The primary deuterium kinetic isotope effect on V, but not V/K, is sensitive to solvent isotopic composition. The primary tritium kinetic isotope effects agree well with the corresponding value calculated from the primary deuterium kinetic isotope effects by using the Swain-Schaad relationship. This suggests that the primary deuterium kinetic isotope effects observed in these steady-state experiments are the intrinsic primary deuterium kinetic isotope effects for hydride transfer. The magnitude of the primary deuterium kinetic isotope effect is dependent on the redox potential of the pyridine nucleotide substrate used, varying from approximately 1.4 for NADH and -320 mV reductants to 2.7 for thioNADH to 4.2-4.8 for 3-acetylpyridine adenine dinucleotide (3APADH). The alpha-secondary tritium kinetic isotope effects also increase as the redox potential of the pyridine nucleotide substrate becomes more positive. Together, these data indicate that the transition state for hydride transfer is very early for NADH and becomes later for thioNADH and 3APADH, as predicted by Hammond's postulate.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS) << Less

  Biochemistry 30:8702-8709(1991) [PubMed] [EuropePMC]

• Kinetic characterization of glutathione reductase from the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Comparison with the human enzyme.

  Bohme C.C., Arscott L.D., Becker K., Schirmer R.H., Williams C.H. Jr.

  The homodimeric flavoenzyme glutathione reductase (GR) maintains high intracellular concentrations of the antioxidant glutathione (GSSG + NADPH + H(+) <--> 2 GSH + NADP(+)). Due to its central function in cellular redox metabolism, inhibition of GR from the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum ... >> More

  The homodimeric flavoenzyme glutathione reductase (GR) maintains high intracellular concentrations of the antioxidant glutathione (GSSG + NADPH + H(+) <--> 2 GSH + NADP(+)). Due to its central function in cellular redox metabolism, inhibition of GR from the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum represents an important approach to antimalarial drug development; therefore, the catalytic mechanism of GR from P. falciparum has been analyzed and compared with the human host enzyme. The reductive half-reaction is similar to the analogous reaction with GR from other species. The oxidative half-reaction is biphasic, reflecting formation and breakdown of a mixed disulfide between the interchange thiol and GSH. The equilibrium between the E(ox)-EH(2) and GSSG-GSH couples has been modeled showing that the Michaelis complex, mixed disulfide-GSH, is the predominant enzyme form as the oxidative half-reaction progresses; rate constants used in modeling allow calculation of an K(eq) from the Haldane relationship, 0.075, very similar to the K(eq) of the same reaction for the yeast enzyme (0.085) (Arscott, L. D., Veine, D. M., and Williams, C. H., Jr. (2000) Biochemistry 39, 4711-4721). Enzyme-monitored turnover indicates that E(FADH(-))(S-S). NADP(+) and E(FAD)(SH)(2).NADPH are dominant enzyme species in turnover. Since the individual forms of the enzyme differ in their susceptibility to inhibitors, the prevailing states of GR in the cell are of practical relevance. << Less

  J Biol Chem 275:37317-37323(2000) [PubMed] [EuropePMC]