title: Identification of the active-site arginine in rat neutral endopeptidase 24.11 (enkephalinase) as arginine 102 and analysis of a glutamine 102 mutant.
abstract: Neutral endopeptidase 24.11 contains an active-site arginine residue involved in binding the free carboxylate of substrate peptides and inhibitors. This arginine reacts rapidly with [14C]phenylglyoxal, and its reaction is selectively blocked by the presence of either the substrate Met5-enkephalin, the competitive inhibitor phenylalanylalanine, or the transition state analog phosphoramidon. The phenylglyoxal-modified peptide was isolated by a procedure involving limited digestion by trypsin, separation of the tryptic peptides by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC), further digestion of the modified peptide by pepsin, and a final purification by HPLC. By this procedure arginine 102 was identified as the active-site arginine. Verification of this finding came from the use of site-directed mutagenesis in which this arginine was replaced by glutamine. Both the mutant and wild-type enzyme reacted equally well with an amide containing substrate, glutaryl-Ala-Ala-Phe-4-methoxy-2-naphthylamide. However, reaction of the mutant enzyme with a substrate containing a free COOH-terminal carboxylate, 5-dimethylaminonaphthalene-1-sulfonyl-D-Ala-Gly-(NO2)Phe-Gly, was barely detectable with the mutant enzyme. Similarly the mutant enzyme showed a loss of selectivity in inhibition by D-Ala2-Met5-enkephalin compared to the corresponding amide but exhibited no difference in the maximal velocity for hydrolysis of D-Ala2-Met5-enkephalin and its amide.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas 75235.
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Bateman
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Slaughter
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Unnithan
authors.forename: Y G
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Chai
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Moomaw
authors.forename: L B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Hersh
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001120:Arginine; D001665:Binding Sites; D002460:Cell Line; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D005973:Glutamine; D007700:Kinetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D015260:Neprilysin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000032:analysis; D051381:Rats; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D010446:Peptide Fragments; D005973:Glutamine; D004247:DNA; D001120:Arginine; D015260:Neprilysin