title: Catalytic effectiveness of human aldose reductase. Critical role of C-terminal domain.
abstract: Human aldose reductase and aldehyde reductase are members of the aldo-keto reductase superfamily that share three domains of homology and a nonhomologous COOH-terminal region. The two enzymes catalyze the NADPH-dependent reduction of a wide variety of carbonyl compounds. To probe the function of the domains and investigate the basis for substrate specificity, we interchanged cDNA fragments encoding the NH2-terminal domains of aldose and aldehyde reductase. A chimeric enzyme (CH1, 317 residues) was constructed in which the first 71 residues of aldose reductase were replaced with first 73 residues of aldehyde reductase. Catalytic effectiveness (kcat/Km) of CH1 for the reduction of various substrates remained virtually identical to wild-type aldose reductase, changing a maximal 4-fold. Deletion of the 13-residue COOH-terminal end of aldose reductase, yielded a mutant enzyme (AR delta 303-315) with markedly decreased catalytic effectiveness for uncharged substrates ranging from 80- to more than 600-fold (average 300-fold). The KmNADPH of CH1 and AR delta 303-315 were nearly identical to that of the wild-type enzyme indicating that cofactor binding is unaffected. The truncated AR delta 303-315 displayed a NADPH/D isotope effect in kcat and an increased D(kcat/Km) value for DL-glyceraldehyde, suggesting that hydride transfer has become partially rate-limiting for the overall reaction. We conclude that the COOH-terminal domain of aldose reductase is crucial to the proper orientation of substrates in the active site.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030.
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Bohren
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Grimshaw
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Gabbay
mesh_terms: D000449:Aldehyde Reductase / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D015153:Blotting, Western; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D013379:Substrate Specificity
chemical_list: D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D000449:Aldehyde Reductase