title: Catalytic properties of domain-exchanged chimeric proteins between firefly luciferase and Drosophila fatty Acyl-CoA synthetase CG6178.
abstract: Firefly luciferase and fatty acyl-CoA synthetase are members of the acyl-CoA synthetase super family, which consists of a large N-terminal domain and a small C-terminal domain. Previously we found that firefly luciferase has fatty acyl-CoA synthetic activity, and also identified that the homolog of firefly luciferase in Drosophila melanogaster (CG6178) is a fatty acyl-CoA synthetase and is not a luciferase. In this study, we constructed chimeric proteins by exchanging the domain between Photinus pyralis luciferase (PpLase) and Drosophila CG6178, and determined luminescence and fatty acyl-CoA synthetic activities. A chimeric protein with the N-terminal domain of PpLase and the C-terminal domain of CG6178 (Pp/Dm) had luminescence activity, showing approximately 4% of the activity of wild-type luciferase. The Pp/Dm protein also had fatty acyl-CoA synthetic activity and the substrate specificity was similar to PpLase. In contrast, a chimeric protein with the N-terminal domain of CG6178 and the C-terminal of PpLase (Dm/Pp) had only fatty acyl-CoA synthetase activity, and the substrate specificity was similar to CG6178. These results suggest that the N-terminal domain of firefly luciferase is essential for substrate recognition, and that the C-terminal domain is indispensable but not specialized for the luminescence reaction.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Japan. oba@agr.nagoya-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Oba
authors.forename: Kiichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Inouye
mesh_terms: D000225:Adenine / Q000378:metabolism; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002384:Catalysis; D003066:Coenzyme A Ligases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D048888:Fireflies / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D049409:Luciferases, Firefly / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013379:Substrate Specificity
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D049409:Luciferases, Firefly; D003066:Coenzyme A Ligases; D000225:Adenine