title: Specificity of Streptomyces griseus aminopeptidase and modulation of activity by divalent metal ion binding and substitution.
abstract: Streptomyces griseus aminopeptidase is a calcium-activated zinc metalloenzyme characterized by a high enzymic reactivity, high thermal stability and low molecular mass [Spungin, A. and Blumberg, S. (1989) Eur. J. Biochem. 183, 471-477]. A study of the specificity of S. griseus aminopeptidase using amino acid 4-nitroanilide substrates shows that the leucine derivative is the best substrate. Derivatives of other hydrophobic amino acids, methionine and phenylalanine, are also excellent substrates for the enzyme. The 4-nitroanilides of alanine, valine, proline and lysine are good substrates whereas those of the small size glycine and the acidic amino acids are very poor. No hydrolysis of a terminal Xaa residue can be detected with Xaa-proline N-terminal sequences. Calcium ions bind to the enzyme and modulate its activity in a substrate-dependent manner. The catalytically essential zinc of S. griseus aminopeptidase is removed by dialysis against 1,10-phenanthroline and replaced by manganese or cobalt ions, resulting in enzyme derivatives of altered specificities. Thus, whereas the zinc enzyme hydrolyzes leucine 4-nitroanilide at a 10-fold faster rate than the manganese or cobalt enzymes, the cobalt enzyme hydrolyzes alanine 4-nitroanilide at a more than 20-fold faster rate than the zinc or manganese enzymes.
authors.affiliation: Sackler Institute of Molecular Medicine, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ben-Meir
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Spungin
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ashkenazi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Blumberg
mesh_terms: D000626:Aminopeptidases / Q000378:metabolism*; D002118:Calcium / Q000494:pharmacology; D007700:Kinetics; D013305:Streptomyces griseus / Q000201:enzymology*; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D015032:Zinc / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000626:Aminopeptidases; D015032:Zinc; D002118:Calcium