Lipoxygenase

Biochemistry

Based on detailed analyses of 15-lipoxygenase 1 and stabilized 5-lipoxygenase, lipoxygenase structures consist of a 15 kilodalton N-terminal beta barrel domain, a small (e.g. ~0.6 kilodalton) linker inter-domain (see protein domain#Domains and protein flexibility), and a relatively large C-terminal catalytic domain which contains the non-heme iron critical for the enzymes' catalytic activity. Most of the lipoxygenases (exception, ALOXE3) catalyze the reaction Polyunsaturated fatty acid + O₂ → fatty acid hydroperoxide in four steps:

The (—OO⁻) residue may then be protonated to form a hydroperoxide group (—OOH) and further metabolized by the lipoxygenase to e.g. leukotrienes, hepoxilins, and various specialized pro-resolving mediators, or reduced by ubiquitous cellular glutathione peroxidases to a hydroxy group thereby forming hydroxylated (—OH) polyunsaturated fatty acids such as the Hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids and HODEs (i.e. hydroxyoctadecaenoic acids).

Polyunsaturated fatty acids that serve as substrates for one or more of the lipoxygenases include the omega 6 fatty acids, arachidonic acid, linoleic acid, dihomo-γ-linolenic acid, and adrenic acid; the omega-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, and alpha-linolenic acid; and the omega-9 fatty acid, mead acid. Certain of the lipoxygenases, e.g. human and marine 15-lipoxygenase 1, 12-lipoxygenase B, and ALOXE3, are capable of metabolizing fatty acid substrates that are constituents of phospholipids, cholesterol esters, or complex lipids of the skin. Most lipoxygenases catalyze the formation of initially formed hydroperoxy products that have S chirality. Exceptions to this rule include the 12R-lipoxygenases of hulmans and other mammals (see below).

Lipoxygenases depend on the availability of there polyunsaturated fatty acid substrates which, particularly in mammalian cells, is normally maintained at extremely low levels. In general, various phospholipase A2s and diacylglycerol lipases are activated during cell stimulation, proceed to release these fatty acids from their storage sites, and thereby are key regulators in the formation of lipoxygenase-dependent metabolites. In addition, cells, when so activated, may transfer their released polyunsaturated fatty acids to adjacent or nearby cells which then metabolize them through their lipoxygenase pathways in a process termed transcellular metabolism or transcellular biosynthesis.

Biological function and classification

These enzymes are most common in plants where they may be involved in a number of diverse aspects of plant physiology including growth and development, pest resistance, and senescence or responses to wounding. In mammals a number of lipoxygenases isozymes are involved in the metabolism of eicosanoids (such as prostaglandins, leukotrienes and nonclassic eicosanoids). Sequence data is available for the following lipoxygenases:

Plant lipoxygenases

Plants express a variety of cytosolic lipoxygenases (EC 1.13.11.12InterPro: IPR001246) as well as what seems to be a chloroplast isozyme.

Human lipoxygenases

With the exception of the 5-LOX gene which is located on chromosome 10q11.2, all six human LOX genes are located on chromosome 17.p13 and code for a single chain protein of 75–81 kiloDaltons and consisting of 662–711 amino acids. Mammalian LOX genes contain 14 (ALOX5, ALOX12, ALOX15, ALOX15B) or 15 (ALOX12B, ALOXE3) exons with exon/intron boundaries at highly conserved position. The 6 human lipoxygenases along with some of the major products that they make as well as some their associations with genetic diseases are as follows:

Two lipoxygenases may act in series to make di-hydroxy or tri-hydroxy products that have activities quite different than either lipoxyenases' products. This serial metabolism may occur in different cell types that express only one of the two lipoxygenases in a process termed transcellular metabolism. For example, ALOX5 and ALOX15 or, alternatively, ALOX5 and ALOX12 can act serially to metabolize arachidonic acid into lipoxins (see 15-hydroxyicosatetraenoic acid#Further metabolism of 15(S)-HpETE, 15(S)-HETE, 15(R)-HpETE, 15(R)-HETE, and 15-oxo-ETE and lipoxin#Biosynthesis) while ALOX15 and possibly ALOX15B can act with ALOX5 to metabolize eicosapentaenoic acid to resolvin D's (see resolvin#Production).

Mouse lipoxygenases

The mouse is a common model to examine lipoxygenase function. However, there are some key differences between the lipoxygenases between mice and men that make extrapolations from mice studies to humans difficult. In contrast to the 6 functional lipoxygenases in humans, mice have 7 functional lipoxygenases and some of the latter have different metabolic activities than their human orthologs. In particular, mouse Alox15, unlike human ALOX15, metabolizes arachidonic acid mainly to 12-HpETE and mouse Alox15b, in contrast to human ALOX15b, is primarily an 8-lipoxygenase, metabolizing arachdionic acid to 8-HpETE; there is no comparable 8-HpETE-forming lipoxygenase in humans.

3D structure

There are several lipoxygenase structures known including: soybean lipoxygenase L1 and L3, coral 8-lipoxygenase, human 5-lipoxygenase, rabbit 15-lipoxygenase and porcine leukocyte 12-lipoxygenase catalytic domain. The protein consists of a small N-terminal PLAT domain and a major C-terminal catalytic domain (see Pfam link in this article), which contains the active site. In both plant and mammalian enzymes, the N-terminal domain contains an eight-stranded antiparallel β-barrel, but in the soybean lipoxygenases this domain is significantly larger than in the rabbit enzyme. The plant lipoxygenases can be enzymatically cleaved into two fragments which stay tightly associated while the enzyme remains active; separation of the two domains leads to loss of catalytic activity. The C-terminal (catalytic) domain consists of 18-22 helices and one (in rabbit enzyme) or two (in soybean enzymes) antiparallel β-sheets at the opposite end from the N-terminal β-barrel.

Active site

The iron atom in lipoxygenases is bound by four ligands, three of which are histidine residues. Six histidines are conserved in all lipoxygenase sequences, five of them are found clustered in a stretch of 40 amino acids. This region contains two of the three zinc-ligands; the other histidines have been shown to be important for the activity of lipoxygenases.

The two long central helices cross at the active site; both helices include internal stretches of π-helix that provide three histidine (His) ligands to the active site iron. Two cavities in the major domain of soybean lipoxygenase-1 (cavities I and II) extend from the surface to the active site. The funnel-shaped cavity I may function as a dioxygen channel; the long narrow cavity II is presumably a substrate pocket. The more compact mammalian enzyme contains only one boot-shaped cavity (cavity II). In soybean lipoxygenase-3 there is a third cavity which runs from the iron site to the interface of the β-barrel and catalytic domains. Cavity III, the iron site and cavity II form a continuous passage throughout the protein molecule.

The active site iron is coordinated by N^ε of three conserved His residues and one oxygen of the C-terminal carboxyl group. In addition, in soybean enzymes the side chain oxygen of asparagine is weakly associated with the iron. In rabbit lipoxygenase, this Asn residue is replaced with His which coordinates the iron via N^δ atom. Thus, the coordination number of iron is either five or six, with a hydroxyl or water ligand to a hexacoordinate iron.

Details about the active site feature of lipoxygenase were revealed in the structure of porcine leukocyte 12-lipoxygenase catalytic domain complex In the 3D structure, the substrate analog inhibitor occupied a U-shaped channel open adjacent to the iron site. This channel could accommodate arachidonic acid without much computation, defining the substrate binding details for the lipoxygenase reaction. In addition, a plausible access channel, which intercepts the substrate binding channel and extended to the protein surface could be counted for the oxygen path.

Biochemical classification

Soybean Lipoxygenase 1 exhibits the largest H/D kinetic isotope effect (KIE) on kcat (kH/kD) (81 near room temperature) so far reported for a biological system. Recently, an extremely elevated KIE of 540 to 730 was found in a double mutant Soybean Lipoxygenase 1. Because of the large magnitude of the KIE, Soybean Lipoxygenase 1 has served as the prototype for enzyme-catalyzed hydrogen-tunneling reactions.

Human proteins expressed from the lipoxygenase family include ALOX12, ALOX12B, ALOX15, ALOX15B, ALOX5, and ALOXE3. While humans also possess the ALOX12P2 gene, which is an ortholog of the well-expressed Alox12P gene in mice, the human gene is a pseudogene; consequently, ALOX12P2 protein is not detected in humans.