ABSTRACT
Mammalian peroxiredoxin class 6 (Prdx6) are bifunctional enzymes. Non-mammalian Prdx6 enzymes display Cys-based peroxidase activity, but to date their putative phospholipase A2 (PLA2 activities) has not been experimentally investigated. Initially, we observed that five non-mammalian Prdx6 enzymes (enzymes from Arabidopsis thaliana (AtPER1), Triticum aestivum (TaPER1), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PaLsfA) and Aspergillus fumigatus (AfPrx1 and AfPrxC)) present features compatible with PLA2 activities in mammalian Prdx6 by amino acid sequences alignment and tertiary structure modeling. Employing unilamellar liposomes with tracer amounts of [³H]-1,2-Dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) and thin layer chromatography, all the tested non-mammalian Prdx6 enzymes displayed PLA2 activities, with values ranging from 3.4 to 6.1 nmol/min/mg protein. It was previously shown that Thr177 phosphorylation of human Prdx6 increases its PLA2 activity, especially at neutral pH. Therefore, we investigated if human Erk2 kinase could also phosphorylate homologous Thr residues in non-mammalian Prdx6 proteins. We observed phosphorylation of the conserved Thr in three out of the five non-mammalian Prdx enzymes by mass spectrometry. In the case of the mitochondrial Prdx6 from A. fumigatus (AfPrxC), we also observed phosphorylation by western blot, and as a consequence, the PLA2 activity was increased in acidic and neutral conditions by the human Erk2 kinase treatment. The possible physiological meanings of these PLA2 activities described open new fields for future research.