Citrate synthase: an immunochemical investigation of interspecies diversity

Detection of citrate synthase-reacting autoantibodies after heart transplantation: an epitope mapping study

Autoimmune mechanisms play an important role in the pathogenesis of allograft vasculopathy following heart transplantation, but the autoantigens involved have been only sparsely studied. Citrate synthase (CS) enzyme is a conserved molecule, and, as an important mitochondrial autoantigen, it is protected by the "immunological homunculus". Tissue destruction and alteration of the immune regulatory mechanisms can induce pathological immune response against CS in other autoimmune diseases. In our present study we aimed to detect CS-specific autoantibodies in heart transplant patients, therefore, prospective, randomised clinical tests were conducted on 33 heart transplant patients and compared with 130 healthy blood donors. The level and isotype of CS antibodies were detected by simple binding indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The epitope specificities of the autoantibodies were measured on synthetic overlapping peptide sequences of CS enzyme by an indirect multi-pin ELISA method. Mainly IgM isotype CS autoantibodies were found in healthy controls, while IgG was found at higher levels and frequency (four-times higher) in heart transplant patients. Autoantibodies of IgG isotype recognise different epitopes than do autoantibodies of IgM isotype, even within the same group and individual. New epitope-specific IgG and IgM isotype autoantibodies appeared in heart transplant patients when compared with the controls. Our findings suggest a possible role of CS-specific autoantibodies in the pathomechanism of allograft vasculopathy.

Immunological mapping of fine molecular surface structures of citrate synthase enzymes from different cell types

Citrate synthase (EC 4.1.3.7), which is present in all living organisms as a key enzyme in aerobic energy metabolism, is one of the most highly phylogenetically conserved enzymes known in terms of its primary and active site structure. However, in terms of other parameters such as in vitro stability, tolerance to changes in pH, degree of self-polymerization, etc., citrate synthases from different sources are markedly different. These divergences can be observed even between isoforms of the enzyme within the same species. Data documenting these diversities suggest that a high degree of difference in tertiary structures may occur. Therefore, the surface profiles of citrate synthase enzymes from yeast, pig, rat, tomato and Escherichia coli were investigated with immunological methods using monoclonal antibody families generated against either pig citrate synthase (alpha-PCS) or yeast citrate synthase-2 (alpha-YCS-2). A high degree of homology of enzyme epitopes was detected on the mitochondrial citrate synthases originating from yeast, tomato, pig and rat cells. Major differences were found between the hexameric citrate synthase originating from E. coli compared with those dimeric forms prepared from eukaryotic cells. Only modest similarities were detected between the highly homologous peroxisomal and mitochondrial yeast citrate synthases. Furthermore, a point mutation of one of the catalytic residues (H274R on recombinant pig and H313R on yeast enzyme) of mitochondrial citrate synthase (CS-1) resulted in a significant increase in immunological similarity with the peroxisomal isoenzyme (CS-2). These findings are discussed in terms of the possible mechanism of evolution of CS-2 in yeast.