title: Structure-function relationships in the evolutionary framework of spermine oxidase.
abstract: Spermine oxidase is a FAD-dependent enzyme that specifically oxidizes spermine, and plays a central role in the highly regulated catabolism of polyamines in vertebrates. The spermine oxidase substrate is specifically spermine, a tetramine that plays mandatory roles in several cell functions, such as DNA synthesis, cellular proliferation, modulation of ion channels function, cellular signalling, nitric oxide synthesis and inhibition of immune responses. The oxidative products of spermine oxidase activity are spermidine, H2O2 and the aldehyde 3-aminopropanal that spontaneously turns into acrolein. In this study the reconstruction of the phylogenetic relationships among spermine oxidase proteins from different vertebrate taxa allowed to infer their molecular evolutionary history, and assisted in elucidating the conservation of structural and functional properties of this enzyme family. The amino acid residues, which have been hypothesized or demonstrated to play a pivotal role in the enzymatic activity, and substrate specificity are here analysed to obtain a comprehensive and updated view of the structure-function relationships in the evolution of spermine oxidase.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sciences, University Roma Tre, 00146 Rome, Italy. manuela.cervelli@uniroma3.it
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cervelli
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Salvi
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Polticelli
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Amendola
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mariottini
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D000587:Oxidoreductases Acting on CH-NH Group Donors / Q000502:physiology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D011487:Protein Conformation; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D014714:Vertebrates; D000097667:Polyamine Oxidase
chemical_list: D000587:Oxidoreductases Acting on CH-NH Group Donors; D000097667:Polyamine Oxidase