title: Glutamine-181 is crucial in the enzymatic activity and substrate specificity of human endoplasmic-reticulum aminopeptidase-1.
abstract: ERAP-1 (endoplasmic-reticulum aminopeptidase-1) is a multifunctional enzyme with roles in the regulation of blood pressure, angiogenesis and the presentation of antigens to MHC class I molecules. Whereas the enzyme shows restricted specificity toward synthetic substrates, its substrate specificity toward natural peptides is rather broad. Because of the pathophysiological significance of ERAP-1, it is important to elucidate the molecular basis of its enzymatic action. In the present study we used site-directed mutagenesis to identify residues affecting the substrate specificity of human ERAP-1 and identified Gln(181) as important for enzymatic activity and substrate specificity. Replacement of Gln(181) by aspartic acid resulted in a significant change in substrate specificity, with Q181D ERAP-1 showing a preference for basic amino acids. In addition, Q181D ERAP-1 cleaved natural peptides possessing a basic amino acid at the N-terminal end more efficiently than did the wild-type enzyme, whereas its cleavage of peptides with a non-basic amino acid was significantly reduced. Another mutant enzyme, Q181E, also revealed some preference for peptides with a basic N-terminal amino acid, although it had little hydrolytic activity toward the synthetic peptides tested. Other mutant enzymes, including Q181N and Q181A ERAP-1s, revealed little enzymatic activity toward synthetic or peptide substrates. These results indicate that Gln(181) is critical for the enzymatic activity and substrate specificity of ERAP-1.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cellular Biochemistry, RIKEN, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama, 351-0198, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshikuni
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: Hiroe
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tanji
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hattori
authors.forename: Masafumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsujimoto
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000626:Aminopeptidases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D020134:Catalytic Domain; D002460:Cell Line; D005973:Glutamine / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D015778:Minor Histocompatibility Antigens; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D010455:Peptides / Q000494:pharmacology; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D015032:Zinc / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D015778:Minor Histocompatibility Antigens; D010455:Peptides; D005973:Glutamine; C016977:amastatin; D000626:Aminopeptidases; C464841:ERAP1 protein, human; D015032:Zinc