The active center of human glutaredoxin(hGrx1)shares a common thioredoxin fold and specific affinity for substrate glutathione (GSH)with natural glutathione peroxidase(GPx).hGrx1 was redesigned to introduce the catalytic selenocysteine residue to imi- tate the function of antioxidant selenoenzyme GPx in vivo.The human hGrx1 scaffold is a good candidate for potential medical application compared with other animal-originated protein scaffolds.Two consecutive rare codons(AGG-AGG)in the open reading frame of hGrx1 mRNA encoding Arg26-Arg27 residues can reduce seleno-hGrx1 expression level significantly in the Cys auxotrophic Escherichia coli strain BL21cysE51.Therefore,we optimized the rare codons,which resulted in a remarkable in- crease of the expression level in the Cys auxotrophic cells,which may be sufficient for future medical production.The engineered artificial selenoenzyme displays high GPx catalytic activity,rivaling that of some natural GPx proteins.Kinetic analysis of the engineered seleno-hGrx1 showed a typical ping-pong kinetic mechanism;its catalytic properties are similar to those of some nat- urally occurring GPx proteins.
Glutathione peroxidase (GPx, EC1.11.1.9), an important anti-oxidative selenoenzyme, can catalyze the reduction of harmful hydroperoxides with concomitant glutathione, thereby protecting cells and other biological issues against oxidative damage. It captures considerable interest in redesign of its function for either the mechanism study or the pharmacological development as an antioxidant. In order to de- velop a general strategy for specifically targeting and operating selenium in active sites of enzymes, the catalytically essential residue selenocysteine (Sec) was first successfully bioincorporated into the catalytic center of subtilisin by using an auxotrophic expression system. The studies of the catalytic activity and the steady-state kinetics demonstrated that selenosubtilisin is an excellent GPx-like bio- catalyst. In comparison with the chemically modified method, biosynthesis exhibits obvious advan- tages: Sec could be site-directly incorporated into active sites of enzymes to overcome the non-speci- ficity generated by chemical modification. This study provides an important strategy for specifically targeting and operating selenium in the active site of an enzyme.
LI JingLIU XiaoManJI YueTongQI ZhenHuiGE YanXU JiaYunLIU JunQiuLUO GuiMinSHEN JiaCong
