Purification and properties of esterase-4 from Drosophila mojavensis

Purification and characterization of a specific late-larval esterase from two species of the Drosophila repleta group: contributions to understand its evolution

Background

After duplication, one copy of an original gene can become redundant and decay toward a pseudogene status or functionally diverge. Here, we performed the purification and biochemical characterization of EST-4 (a late larval β-esterase) from two Drosophila repleta group species, Drosophila mulleri and Drosophila arizonae, in order to establish comparative parameters between these enzymes in these species and to contribute to better understand their evolution.

Results

In D. mulleri, EST-4 had an optimal activity in temperatures ranging from 40° to 45°C and at pH 7.5, maintaining stability in alkaline pH (8.0 to 10.0). It was classified as serine esterase as its activity was inhibited by PMSF. No ion negatively modulated EST-4 activity, and iron had the most positive modulating effect. In D. arizonae, it showed similar optimum temperature (40°C), pH (8.0), and was also classified as a serine esterase, but the enzymatic stability was maintained in an acidic pH (5.5 to 6.5). Fe+2 had the opposite effect found in D. mulleri, that is, negative modulation. Al+3 almost totally inhibited the EST-4 activity, and Na+ and Cu+2 had a positive modulation effect. Kinetic studies, using ρ-nitrophenyl acetate as substrate, showed that EST-4 from D. mulleri had higher affinity, while in D. arizonae, it showed higher V max and catalytic efficiency in optimal reaction conditions.

Conclusions

EST-4 from D. mulleri and D. arizonae are very closely related and still maintain several similar features; however, they show some degree of differentiation. Considering that EST-4 from D. mulleri has more conspicuous gel mobility difference among all EST-4 studied so far and a lower catalytic efficiency was observed here, we proposed that after duplication, this new copy of the original gene became redundant and started to decay toward a pseudogene status in this species, which probably is not occurring in D. arizonae.

Evolutionary genetics of Drosophila esterases

Over 30 carboxylester hydrolases have been identified in D. melanogaster. Most are classified as acetyl, carboxyl or cholinesterases. Sequence similarities among most of the carboxyl and all the cholinesterases so far characterised from D. melanogaster and other eukaryotes justify recognition of a carboxyl/cholinesterase multigene family. This family shows minimal sequence similarities with other esterases but crystallographic data for a few non-drosophilid enzymes show that the family shares a distinctive overall structure with some other carboxyl and aryl esterases, so they are all put in one superfamily of/beta hydrolases. Fifteen esterase genes have been mapped in D. melanogaster and twelve are clustered at two chromosomal sites. The constitution of each cluster varies across Drosophila species but two carboxyl esterases in one cluster are sufficiently conserved that their homologues can be identified among enzymes conferring insecticide resistance in other Diptera. Sequence differences between two other esterases, the EST6 carboxyl esterase and acetylcholinesterase, have been interpreted against the consensus super-secondary structure for the carboxyl/cholinesterase multigene family; their sequence differences are widely dispersed across the structure and include substantial divergence in substrate binding sites and the active site gorge. This also applies when EST6 is compared across species where differences in its expression indicate a difference in function. However, comparisons within and among species where EST6 expression is conserved show that many aspects of the predicted super-secondary structure are tightly conserved. Two notable exceptions are a pair of polymorphisms in the substrate binding site of the enzyme in D. melanogaster. These polymorphisms are associated with differences in substrate interactions in vitro and demographic data indicate that the alternative forms are not selectively equivalent in vivo.

Alpha-naphthyl acetate esterase-1 (ANAE-1) secreted by epithelioid cells from induced rabbit lung granuloma showed MIF activity

The function of alpha-naphthyl acetate esterase-1, whose isoelectric point values range from 5.15 to 5.45, was examined. A higher value of alpha-naphthyl acetate esterase-1 was detected in the extracts of epithelioid cells isolated from rabbit lung granuloma at 4 weeks after injection of Freund's complete adjuvant, compared to those values of alveolar macrophages isolated from the same lungs described above and of the normal lungs. Additionally, this enzyme activity was observed to be prominent in the culture supernatants of epithelioid cells. alpha-Naphthyl acetate esterase-1 was purified from lung granuloma as a single 62-kDa band by SDS-PAGE analysis. The purified enzyme showed a macrophage migration inhibition activity at concentrations over 20 nM, and its activity was dose-dependent. Moreover, when various amounts of the purified enzyme were added to lymphocyte-derived macrophage migration inhibitory factor, macrophage migration inhibition was significantly enhanced with a dose-dependent manner. The results suggest that alpha-naphthyl acetate esterase-1 secreted by granuloma macrophages, particularly by epithelioid cells, contributes to granuloma formation.