Insights on the participation of Glu256 and Asp204 in the oligomeric structure and cooperative effects of human arginase type I.

Arginase (EC 3.5.3.1) catalyzes the hydrolysis of L-arginine to L-ornithine and urea, and requires a bivalent cation, especially Mn2+ for its catalytic activity. It is a component of the urea cycle and regulates the intracellular levels of l-arginine, which makes the arginase a target for treatment of vascular diseases and asthma. Mammalian arginases contain an unusual S-shaped motif located at the intermonomeric interface. Until now, the studies were limited to structural role of the motif. Then, our interest was focused on functional aspects and our hypothesis has been that the motif is essential for maintain the oligomeric state, having Arg308 as a central axis. Previously, we have shown that the R308A mutant is monomeric and re-associates to the trimeric-cooperative state in the presence of low concentrations of guanidine chloride. We have now mutated Asp204 that interacts with Arg308 in the neighbor subunit, and also we mutated Glu256, proposed as important for oligomerization. Concretely, the human arginase I mutants D204A, D204E, E256A, E256Q and E256D were generated and examined. No differences were observed in the kinetic parameters at pH 9.5 or in tryptophan fluorescence. However, the D204A and E256Q variants were monomeric. On the other hand, D204E and E256D proved to be trimeric and kinetically cooperative at pH 7.5, whereas hyperbolic kinetics was exhibited by E256A, also trimeric. The results obtained strongly support the importance of the interaction between Arg255 and Glu256 in the cooperative properties of arginase, and Asp204 would be relevant to maintain the oligomeric state through salt bridges with Arg255 and Arg308.

Expression, purification, assay, and crystal structure of perdeuterated human arginase I.

Arginase is a manganese metalloenzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of l-arginine to yield l-ornithine and urea. In order to establish a foundation for future neutron diffraction studies that will provide conclusive structural information regarding proton/deuteron positions in enzyme-inhibitor complexes, we have expressed, purified, assayed, and determined the X-ray crystal structure of perdeuterated (i.e., fully deuterated) human arginase I complexed with 2(S)-amino-6-boronohexanoic acid (ABH) at 1.90A resolution. Prior to the neutron diffraction experiment, it is important to establish that perdeuteration does not cause any unanticipated structural or functional changes. Accordingly, we find that perdeuterated human arginase I exhibits catalytic activity essentially identical to that of the unlabeled enzyme. Additionally, the structure of the perdeuterated human arginase I-ABH complex is identical to that of the corresponding complex with the unlabeled enzyme. Therefore, we conclude that crystals of the perdeuterated human arginase I-ABH complex are suitable for neutron crystallographic study.

Crystallization and oligomeric structure of rat liver arginase.

Rat liver arginase, a manganese-metalloenzyme, has been crystallized from polyethylene glycol 8000 in N,N-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)glycine (Bicine) buffer at pH 8.5. Crystals form as either cubes or pyramids and belong to space group P3(1) (or P3(2)) with hexagonal unit cell dimensions a = b = 88.9 A, c = 114.8 A, or a = b = 88.5 A, c = 104.5 A; the variation along the c axis does not correlate with the external crystal morphology of cube or pyramid-shaped. X-ray diffraction data are measured to a limiting resolution of 2.4 A. Given the volume constraints of the unit cell it is likely that rat liver arginase is a trimer, with three 35,000 Da monomers in the asymmetric unit. This resolves a persistent ambiguity regarding the oligomeric structure of this enzyme.