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    Glutathione biosynthesis in human erythrocytes
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    Abstract:
    The two enzymes required for de novo glutathione synthesis, glutamyl cysteine synthetase and glutathione synthetase, have been demonstrated in hemolysates of human erythrocytes. Glutamyl cysteine synthetase requires glutamic acid, cysteine, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and magnesium ions to form gamma-glutamyl cysteine. The activity of this enzyme in hemolysates from 25 normal subjects was 0.43+/-0.04 mumole glutamyl cysteine formed per g hemoglobin per min. Glutathione synthetase requires gamma-glutamyl cysteine, glycine, ATP, and magnesium ions to form glutathione. The activity of this enzyme in hemolysates from 25 normal subjects was 0.19+/-0.03 mumole glutathione formed per g hemoglobin per min. Glutathione synthetase also catalyzes an exchange reaction between glycine and glutathione, but this reaction is not significant under the conditions used for assay of hemolysates. The capacity for erythrocytes to synthesize glutathione exceeds the rate of glutathione turnover by 150-fold, indicating that there is considerable reserve capacity for glutathione synthesis. A patient with erythrocyte glutathione synthetase deficiency has been described. The inability of patients' extracts to synthesize glutathione is corrected by the addition of pure glutathione synthetase, indicating that there is no inhibitor in the patients' erythrocytes.
    Keywords:
    Glutathione synthetase
    Glutathione reductase
    GPX3
    Glutathione disulfide
    GPX6
    GPX1
    Adenosine triphosphate
    GPX4
    Glutathione reductase is found ubiquitously in eukaryotes and Gram-negative bacteria, and plays a significant role in bacterial defense against oxidative stress. Glutathione reductase from the Gram-positive bacterium Enterococcus faecalis was purified to homogeneity using anion exchange, hydrophobic interaction, and affinity chromatography. The homogeneous 49-kDa enzyme contained 1 mol bound FAD per subunit. The determined N-terminal amino acid sequence of the E. faecalis enzyme displays significant identity with glutathione reductases from other Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, as well as yeast and human erythrocyte reductases. The kinetic mechanism is ping-pong, and the determined kinetic parameters exhibited by the E. faecalis glutathione reductase are similar to those found for glutathione reductases from yeast, Escherichia coli, and human erythrocyte. A two-fold increased expression of glutathione reductase activity and a three-fold induction of glutathione peroxidase activity were observed under hyperbaric O2 growth conditions without a corresponding change in the total glutathione and soluble thiol content. The difference in the expression of the enzyme, and its cognate substrate's intracellular concentration, under these conditions suggest that the gene encoding glutathione reductase is responsive to oxygen concentration, but that the genes encoding the glutathione synthesizing enzymes are not linked to an oxygen-sensitive promoter.
    Glutathione reductase
    GPX6
    GPX3
    Enterococcus faecalis
    GPX1
    Glutaredoxin
    GPX4
    Glutathione synthetase
    A rival to native peroxidase! An existing binding site for glutathione was combined with the catalytic residue tellurocysteine by using an auxotrophic expression system to create an engineered enzyme that functions as a glutathione peroxidase from the scaffold of a glutathione transferase (see picture). The catalytic activity of the telluroenzyme in the reduction of hydroperoxides by glutathione is comparable to that of native glutathione peroxidase.
    GPX3
    GPX6
    GPX1
    GPX4
    Glutathione reductase
    Glutathione transferase
    Glutathione S-transferase
    Transferase
    Residue (chemistry)
    Citations (71)
    Background: Glutathione is among the important antioxidants to prevent oxidative stress. However, the relationships between abnormality in the glutathione system and pathophysiology of schizophrenia remain uncertain due to inconsistent findings on glutathione levels and/or glutathione-related enzyme activities in patients with schizophrenia. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted using Embase, Medline, PsycINFO, and PubMed. Original studies, in which three metabolite levels (glutathione, glutathione disulfide, and total glutathione (glutathione+glutathione disulfide)) and five enzyme activities (glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, glutamate-cysteine ligase, glutathione synthetase, and glutathione S-transferase) were measured with any techniques in both patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls, were included. Standardized mean differences were calculated to determine the group differences in the glutathione levels with a random-effects model. Results: We identified 41, 9, 15, 38, and seven studies which examined glutathione, glutathione disulfide, total glutathione, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione reductase, respectively. Patients with schizophrenia had lower levels of both glutathione and total glutathione and decreased activity of glutathione peroxidase compared to controls. Glutathione levels were lower in unmedicated patients with schizophrenia than those in controls while glutathione levels did not differ between patients with first-episode psychosis and controls. Conclusions: Our findings suggested that there may be glutathione deficits and abnormalities in the glutathione redox cycle in patients with schizophrenia. However, given the small number of studies examined the entire glutathione system, further studies are needed to elucidate a better understanding of disrupted glutathione function in schizophrenia, which may pave the way for the development of novel therapeutic strategies in this disorder.
    Glutathione reductase
    GPX3
    GPX1
    Glutathione disulfide
    GPX4
    GPX6
    Citations (79)
    Glutathione reductase is found ubiquitously in eukaryotes and Gram-negative bacteria, and plays a significant role in bacterial defense against oxidative stress. Glutathione reductase from the Gram-positive bacterium Enterococcus faecalis was purified to homogeneity using anion exchange, hydrophobic interaction, and affinity chromatography. The homogeneous 49-kDa enzyme contained 1 mol bound FAD per subunit. The determined N-terminal amino acid sequence of the E. faecalis enzyme displays significant identity with glutathione reductases from other Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, as well as yeast and human erythrocyte reductases. The kinetic mechanism is ping-pong, and the determined kinetic parameters exhibited by the E. faecalis glutathione reductase are similar to those found for glutathione reductases from yeast, Escherichia coli, and human erythrocyte. A two-fold increased expression of glutathione reductase activity and a three-fold induction of glutathione peroxidase activity were observed under hyperbaric O2 growth conditions without a corresponding change in the total glutathione and soluble thiol content. The difference in the expression of the enzyme, and its cognate substrate's intracellular concentration, under these conditions suggest that the gene encoding glutathione reductase is responsive to oxygen concentration, but that the genes encoding the glutathione synthesizing enzymes are not linked to an oxygen-sensitive promoter.
    Glutathione reductase
    GPX3
    GPX6
    Enterococcus faecalis
    GPX1
    Glutathione synthetase
    Glutaredoxin
    GPX4
    Glutathione synthetase
    Glutathione reductase
    GPX4
    GPX1
    GPX3
    GPX6
    Glutathione disulfide
    In cultured rat hepatocytes, we have previously demonstrated that inhibition of interleukin-1 (IL-1)-mediated nitric oxide (NO) synthesis is associated with depletion of intracellular reduced glutathione (GSH) in toxin-mediated oxidative injury. To further examine NO's effects on GSH metabolism in rat hepatocytes, IL-1-mediated NO synthesis was examined in the context of 1) cysteine, cystine, and methionine uptake; 2) gene transcription and enzyme activities for gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase, the rate-limiting enzyme in GSH synthesis, glutathione reductase, and glutathione peroxidase; and 3) GSH and oxidized glutathione (GSSG) levels. Inhibition of NO synthesis decreased the GSH content and GSH/GSSG ratio in a guanylyl cyclase-independent fashion. Enzyme activity and steady-state levels of mRNA for gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase were also depressed. Nuclear run-on analysis demonstrated ablation of gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase gene transcription. Hepatocellular uptake of cysteine, cystine, and methionine was not altered. Activity and steady-state mRNA levels for glutathione reductase and glutathione peroxidase were not affected. These results indicate that IL-1-mediated NO synthesis regulates hepatocyte GSH synthesis through a mechanism that is dependent on transcriptional regulation of the rate-limiting enzyme in GSH synthesis. In the setting of oxidative stress and IL-1 exposure, hepatocyte synthesis of NO may be protective through regulation of GSH synthesis.
    GPX1
    Glutathione synthetase
    Glutathione reductase
    Glutathione disulfide
    GPX3
    GPX4