Acetylation of Lys-373 in porcine pancreatic lipase after reaction of the enzyme or its C-terminal fragment [corrected] with p-nitrophenyl acetate

4-Hydroxy-N-propyl-1,8-naphthalimide esters: New fluorescence-based assay for analysing lipase and esterase activity

Research using 1,8-naphthalimide derivatives has expanded rapidly in recent years owing to their cell-permeable nature, ability to target certain cellular locations and fluorescent properties. Here we describe the synthesis of three new esters of 4-hydroxy-N-propyl-1,8-naphthalimide (NAP) and the development of a simple and sensitive assay protocol to measure the activity of carboxylester hydrolases. The NAP fluorophore was esterified with short (butyrate), medium (octanoate) and long (palmitate) chain fatty acids. The esters were spectroscopically characterised and their properties investigated for their suitability as assay substrates. The esters were found to be relatively stable under the conditions of the assay and levels of spontaneous hydrolysis were negligible. Non-specific hydrolysis by proteins such as bovine serum albumin was also minimal. A simple and rapid assay methodology was developed and used to analyse a range of commercially available enzymes that included enzymes defined as lipases, esterases and phospholipases. Clear differences were observed between the enzyme classes with respect to the hydrolysis of the various chain length esters, with lipases preferentially hydrolysing the medium chain ester, whereas esterases reacted more favourably with the short ester. The assay was found to be highly sensitive with the fluorophore detectable to the low nM range. These esters provide alternate substrates from established coumarin-based fluorophores, possessing distinctly different excitation (447 nm) and emission (555 nm) optima. Absorbing at 440-450 nm also offers the flexibility of analysis by UV-visible spectrophotometry. This represents the first instance of a naphthalimide-derived compound being used to analyse these enzymes.

A broad pH range indicator-based spectrophotometric assay for true lipases using tributyrin and tricaprylin

A continuous assay is proposed for the screening of acidic, neutral, or alkaline lipases using microtiter plates, emulsified short- and medium-chain TGs, and a pH indicator. The lipase activity measurement is based on the decrease of the pH indicator optical density due to protonation which is caused by the release of FFAs during the hydrolysis of TGs and thus acidification. Purified lipases with distinct pH optima and an esterase were used to validate the method. The rate of lipolysis was found to be linear with time and proportional to the amount of enzyme added in each case. Specific activities measured with this microplate assay method were lower than those obtained by the pH-stat technique. Nevertheless, the pH-dependent profiles of enzymatic activity were similar with both assays. In addition, the substrate preference of each enzyme tested was not modified and this allowed discriminating lipase and esterase activities using tributyrin (low water solubility) and tricaprylin (not water soluble) as substrates. This continuous lipase assay is compatible with a high sample throughput and can be applied for the screening of lipases and lipase inhibitors from biological samples.

Mechanism of inactivation of a catalytic antibody by p-nitrophenyl esters

Antibody CNJ206 catalyses the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl esters with significant rate enhancement; however, after a few cycles, 90% of the catalytic activity of CNJ206 is irreversibly lost. This report investigates the properties of the inactivated Fab (fragment antigen binding). After inactivation, the residual esterase activity of CNJ206 is similar to that of the catalytic antibody inhibited by the transition-state analogue (TSA) used to elicit it; the affinity of CNJ206 for the TSA is also dramatically lowered. Here we propose a simple scheme that accounts for the steady-state kinetics of inactivation. The following lines of evidence, when taken together, suggest that stable acylated tyrosine side chains within or close to the Fab combining site are involved in the inactivation process: isoelectric focusing and matrix-assisted-laser-desorption-ionisation-time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry show that incubation with substrate results in several acylated Fab species; inactivation is stable at pH 8, is reversed by mild hydroxylamine treatment and follows the same kinetics as inhibition of binding, which is slowed down by the presence of the TSA hapten. Analysis of the Fab-TSA X-ray structure shows that three tyrosine residues are potential candidates for the inactivation of CNJ206 by its substrates, Tyr L96 being the most likely one; this also suggests that site-directed mutation of one or more of these residues might prevent substrate inactivation and significantly improve catalysis.

Sequence of horse pancreatic lipase as determined by protein and cDNA sequencing. Implications for p-nitrophenyl acetate hydrolysis by pancreatic lipases

The complete sequence of the horse pancreatic lipase was elucidated by combining polypeptide chain and cDNA sequencing. Among the structural features of horse lipase, it is worth mentioning that Lys373 is not conserved. This residue, which is present in human, porcine and canine lipases, has been assumed to be involved in p-nitrophenyl acetate hydrolysis by pancreatic lipases. Kinetic investigation of the p-nitrophenyl acetate hydrolysis by the various pancreatic lipases and by the C-terminal domain (336-449) of human lipase reveals that this hydrolysis is the result of the superimposition of independent events; a specific linear hydrolysis occurring at the active site of lipase, a fast acylation depending on the presence of Lys373 and a non-specific hydrolysis most likely occurring in the C-terminal domain of the enzyme. This finding definitely proves that pancreatic lipase bears only one active site and raises the question of a covalent catalysis by pancreatic lipases. Moreover, based on sequence comparison with the above-mentioned pancreatic lipases, three residues located in the C-terminal domain, Lys349, Lys398 and Lys419, are proposed as possible candidates for lipase/colipase binding.

Primary structure of rat pancreatic lipase mRNA

The sequence of rat pancreatic lipase mRNA was determined. The data have been assigned the following accession number, X61925, in the EMBL data library. The total length of the messenger is 1531 nucleotides, plus a poly(A) stretch of about 60 nucleotides. A 72-nucleotides 5'-noncoding region is followed by a 1419-nucleotides open reading frame which encodes a protein of 473 amino acids, including the 17 amino acid signal peptide. The mature enzyme (456 residues) has 6 additional C-terminal amino acids, as compared with the amino acid sequence of pig (direct amino acid sequence), dog, man and rat isoenzyme from Genbank, M58369 (all deduced from the nucleotide sequence). A higher degree of homology exists between the amino acid sequence of rat mature enzyme with those of dog (88%), pig (75%) and man (75%) than with that of rat isolipase (74%).

Lipoprotein lipases and vitellogenins in relation to the known three-dimensional structure of pancreatic lipase

A 106-residue region of high similarity between lipoprotein/pancreatic/hepatic lipases and Drosophila vitellogenins encompasses four beta-strands with all residues but one strictly conserved or conservatively replaced between the structures, and enclosing the putative active site Ser-152. The properties suggest a common folding pattern but the region probably does not function as an 'interface recognition site' in the lipases, although it might well bind fatty acid esters of ecdysteroids or single lipid molecules in the vitellogenins. C-terminally of this 106-residue region, a surface loop ('flap') covers the active site. No residue within this loop is conserved through all lipases, but adjacent segments exhibit 60-70% residue identity. Hepatic and lipoprotein lipases probably hydrolyze both soluble and emulsified substrates at the same site. They lack residues corresponding to a second active site postulated in pancreatic lipase to account for hydrolysis of soluble substrates. In addition, due to structural differences the flap could prevent entry of soluble substrate molecules into the active site of pancreatic lipase.