title: The Plasmodium falciparum bifunctional ornithine decarboxylase, S-adenosyl-L-methionine decarboxylase, enables a well balanced polyamine synthesis without domain-domain interaction.
abstract: In the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum (Pf), polyamines are synthesized by a bifunctional enzyme that possesses both ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and S-adenosyl-l-methionine decarboxylase (AdoMetDC) activities. The mature enzyme consists of the heterotetrameric N-terminal AdoMetDC and the C-terminal dimeric ODC, which results in the formation of a heterotetrameric complex. For the native bifunctional protein a half-life longer than 2 h was determined, which is in contrast to the extreme short half-life of its mammalian monofunctional counterparts. The biological advantage of the plasmodial bifunctional ODC/AdoMetDC might be that the control of polyamine synthesis is achieved by only having to regulate the abundance and activity of one protein. An interesting feature in the regulation of the bifunctional protein is that putrescine inhibits PfODC activity approximately 10-fold more efficiently than the mammalian ODC activity, and in contrast to the mammalian AdoMetDC the activity of the PfAdoMetDC domain is not stimulated by the diamine. To analyze post-translational processing, polymerization, and domain-domain interactions, several mutant proteins were generated that have single mutations in either the PfODC or PfAdoMetDC domains. The exchange of amino acids essential for the activity of one domain had no effect on the enzyme activity of the other domain. Even prevention of the post-translational cleavage of the AdoMetDC domain or ODC dimerization and thus the interference with the folding of the protein hardly affected the activity of the partner domain. In addition, inhibition of the activity of the PfODC domain had no effect on the activity of the PfAdoMetDC domain and vice versa. These results demonstrate that no domain-domain interactions occur between the two enzymes of the bifunctional PfODC/AdoMetDC and that both enzymatic activities are operating as independent catalytic sites that do not affect each other.
authors.affiliation: Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Biochemical Parasitology, Bernhard-Nocht-Strasse 74, D-20359 Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wrenger
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Luersen
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Krause
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Muller
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Walter
mesh_terms: D012437:Adenosylmethionine Decarboxylase / Q000737:chemistry*; D000818:Animals; D020134:Catalytic Domain; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003959:Diamines / Q000737:chemistry; D019281:Dimerization; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D009154:Mutation; D009952:Ornithine / Q000737:chemistry; D009955:Ornithine Decarboxylase / Q000737:chemistry*; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000201:enzymology*; D011073:Polyamines / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D011485:Protein Binding; D017510:Protein Folding; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D003959:Diamines; D011073:Polyamines; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D009952:Ornithine; D009955:Ornithine Decarboxylase; D012437:Adenosylmethionine Decarboxylase