Liver aldehyde oxidase: the nature of hematin component

Fur regulation of Staphylococcus aureus heme oxygenases is required for heme homeostasis

Heme is a cofactor that is essential for cellular respiration and for the function of many enzymes. If heme levels become too low within the cell, S. aureus switches from producing energy via respiration to producing energy by fermentation. S. aureus encodes two heme oxygenases, IsdI and IsdG, which cleave the porphyrin heme ring releasing iron for use as a nutrient source. Both isdI and isdG are only expressed under low iron conditions and are regulated by the canonical Ferric Uptake Regulator (Fur). Here we demonstrate that unregulated expression of isdI and isdG within S. aureus leads to reduced growth under low iron conditions. Additionally, the constitutive expression of these enzymes leads to decreased heme abundance in S. aureus, an increase in the fermentation product lactate, and increased resistance to gentamicin. This work demonstrates that S. aureus has developed tuning mechanisms, such as Fur regulation, to ensure that the cell has sufficient quantities of heme for efficient ATP production through aerobic respiration.

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii LFO1 Is an IsdG Family Heme Oxygenase

Heme is essential for respiration across all domains of life. However, heme accumulation can lead to toxicity if cells are unable to either degrade or export heme or its toxic by-products. Under aerobic conditions, heme degradation is performed by heme oxygenases, enzymes which utilize oxygen to cleave the tetrapyrrole ring of heme. The HO-1 family of heme oxygenases has been identified in both bacterial and eukaryotic cells, whereas the IsdG family has thus far been described only in bacteria. We identified a hypothetical protein in the eukaryotic green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, which encodes a protein containing an antibiotic biosynthesis monooxygenase (ABM) domain consistent with those associated with IsdG family members. This protein, which we have named LFO1, degrades heme, contains similarities in predicted secondary structures to IsdG family members, and retains the functionally conserved catalytic residues found in all IsdG family heme oxygenases. These data establish LFO1 as an IsdG family member and extend our knowledge of the distribution of IsdG family members beyond bacteria. To gain further insight into the distribution of the IsdG family, we used the LFO1 sequence to identify 866 IsdG family members, including representatives from all domains of life. These results indicate that the distribution of IsdG family heme oxygenases is more expansive than previously appreciated, underscoring the broad relevance of this enzyme family. IMPORTANCE This work establishes a protein in the freshwater alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as an IsdG family heme oxygenase. This protein, LFO1, exhibits predicted secondary structure and catalytic residues conserved in IsdG family members, in addition to a chloroplast localization sequence. Additionally, the catabolite that results from the degradation of heme by LFO1 is distinct from that of other heme degradation products. Using LFO1 as a seed, we performed phylogenetic analysis, revealing that the IsdG family is conserved in all domains of life. Additionally, C. reinhardtii contains two previously identified HO-1 family heme oxygenases, making C. reinhardtii the first organism shown to contain two families of heme oxygenases. These data indicate that C. reinhardtii may have unique mechanisms for regulating iron homeostasis within the chloroplast.

Subcellular localisation of guinea pig hepatic molybdenum hydroxylases

Molybdenum hydroxylase activity in guinea pig liver has been compared with that of marker enzymes in mitochondria (succinate dehydrogenase), microsomes (glucose-6-phosphatase) and cytosol (lactate dehydrogenase). Aldehyde oxidase activity was highest in the cytosol, with about 10-fold activity of xanthine oxidase. Significant molybdenum hydroxylase activity was found in mitochondria with minimal levels in microsomes. Mitochondrial and cytosolic aldehyde oxidase varied in substrate specificity and electrophoretic mobility with two major bands in each fraction, one of which was common to cytosol and mitochondria.

Human liver aldehyde oxidase: differential inhibition of oxidation of charged and uncharged substrates

HUMAN LIVER ALDEHYDE OXIDASE (ALDEHYDE: O(2) oxidoreductase, EC 1.2.3.1) has been purified 60-fold and some of its properties studied. Like aldehyde oxidase from other mammalian species, human liver aldehyde oxidase is an enzyme with dual substrate specificity, possessing the ability to catalyze not only the oxidation of aldehydes to the corresponding carboxylic acids, but also the hydroxylation of a number of nonaldehydic heterocyclic compounds; its relative activity towards the latter group of substrates is low, however, when compared with that of liver aldehyde oxidase from rabbit and guinea pig. When the aromatic aldehyde benzaldehyde is used as substrate, human liver aldehyde oxidase, like the rabbit enzyme, is strongly inhibited by menadione, estradiol-17beta, antimycin A, Triton X-100, and N-alkylphenothiazines; the human enzyme differs from the rabbit enzyme, however, in being relatively insensitive to oligomycin and Amytal. Like the rabbit enzyme, the human enzyme can catalyze the 3-hydroxylation of phenazine methosulfate (PMS) and the 6-hydroxylation of N-methylnicotinamide (NMN). With the rabbit enzyme, however, the aerobic hydroxylation of these substrates proceeds by a conventional mechanism, while with the human enzyme, the aerobic hydroxylation of PMS and NMN is anomalous in that the reaction is inhibited only by agents with affinity for the substrate-binding site, such as cyanide and N-alkylphenothiazines, and not by agents which inhibit the "internal electron transport chain" of the enzyme, such as menadione and diethylstilbestrol. This mode of oxidation appears to be unique to substrates with a positively charged quaternary nitrogen; the hydroxylation of other nonaldehydic heterocyclic substrates for the human enzyme is sensitive to conventional aldehyde oxidase inhibitors.