Kinetic study of monophenol and o-diphenol binding to oxytyrosinase

Purification and Properties of Polyphenol Oxidase of Dried Volvariella bombycina

Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) was purified and characterized from a dried wild edible and medicinal mushroom (V. bombycina). Using Sepharose 4B-L-tyrosine-p-aminobenzoic acid affinity chromatography, PPO was purified from the dried V. bombycina. The purification was completed with a 33.85-fold purification. On sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), the purified enzyme migrated as a single band. The molecular weight of the purified enzyme was estimated by SDS-PAGE to be about 25 kDa. Catechol, 4-methyl catechol, and pyrogallol were used as substrates to determine the enzyme activity and its kinetic parameters (Km and Vmax). At the optimum pH and temperature, dried V. bombycina PPO's Km and Vmax values for catechol, 4-methyl catechol, and pyrogallol were found to be 1.67 mM-833.33 U/mL, 3.17 mM-158.73 U/mL, and 2.67 mM-3333.33 U/mL, respectively. Also investigated were the effects of pH and temperature on the enzymatic properties of PPO in dried V. bombycina. The optimum pH and temperature values for dried V. bombycina PPO obtained by using catechol, 4-methyl catechol, and pyrogallol as substrates were 6.5, 15 °C; 9.0, 20 °C; and 8.0, 15°C, respectively. This is the first study on the purification and characterization of PPO from dried V. bombycina.

Inhibitory effects on mushroom tyrosinase by flavones from the stem barks of Morus lhou (S.) Koidz

Five flavones displaying tyrosinase inhibitory activity were isolated from the stem barks of Morus lhou (S.) Koidz., a cultivated edible plant. The isolated compounds were identified as mormin (1), cyclomorusin (2), morusin (3), kuwanon C (4), and norartocarpetin (5). Mormin (1) was characterized as a new flavone possesing a 3-hydroxymethyl-2-butenyl at C-3. The inhibitory potencies of these flavonoids toward monophenolase activity of mushroom tyrosinase were investigated. The IC50 values of compounds 1-5 for monophenolase activity were determined to be 0.088, 0.092, 0.250, 0.135 mM, and 1.2 microM, respectively. Mormin (1), cyclomorusin (2), kuwanon C (4) and norartocarpetin (5) exhibited competitive inhibition characteristics. Interestingly norartocarpetin (5) showed a time-dependent inhibition against oxidation of L-tyrosine: it also operated under the enzyme isomerization model (k5 = 0.8424 min(-1), k6 = 0.0576 min(-1), K(app)(i) = 1.354 microM).

A review on spectrophotometric methods for measuring the monophenolase and diphenolase activities of tyrosinase

Tyrosinase is a copper enzyme with broad substrate specifity toward a lot of phenols with different biotechnological applications. The availability of quick and reliable measurement methods of the enzymatic activity of tyrosinase is of outstanding interest. A series of spectrophotometric methods for determining the monophenolase and diphenolase activities of tyrosinase are discussed. The product of both reactions is the o-quinone of the corresponding monophenol/diphenol. According to the stability and properties of the o-quinone, the substrate is classified as four substrate types. For each of these substrate types, we indicate the best method for measuring diphenolase activity (among eight methods) and, when applicable, for measuring monophenolase activity (among four methods). The analytical and numerical solutions to the system of differential equations corresponding to the reaction mechanism of each case confirm the underlying validity of the different spectrophotometric methods proposed for the kinetic characterization of tyrosinase in its action on different substrates.

An approximate analytical solution to the lag period of monophenolase activity of tyrosinase

Tyrosinase shows a lag period in its action on monophenols (l-tyrosine). We propose an approximate analytical solution for the lag period, which fulfils the dependences with regard to initial enzyme concentration, and initial monophenol concentration. Furthermore, from a study of the dependences of the lag period on these variables, we can determine experimentally the o-diphenol concentration in the steady state. The Michaelis constant of the o-diphenol in the presence of the monophenol can be determined from the relationship between the o-diphenol concentration in the steady state and the initial monophenol concentration, taking into consideration the experimentally calculated Michaelis constant for the monophenol substrate. Although this Michaelis constant is much lower than the Michaelis constant for diphenol in the absence of monophenol, the binding site is the same. A kinetic analysis of the action mechanism of tyrosinase explains this difference in the values of the Michaelis constants.

A tyrosinase with an abnormally high tyrosine hydroxylase/dopa oxidase ratio. Role of the seventh histidine and accessibility to the active site

The sequencing of the genome of Ralstonia solanacearum[Salanoubat M, Genin S, Artiguenave F, et al. (2002) Nature 415, 497-502] revealed several genes that putatively code for polyphenol oxidases (PPOs). This soil-borne pathogenic bacterium withers a wide range of plants. We detected the expression of two PPO genes (accession numbers NP_518458 and NP_519622) with high similarity to tyrosinases, both containing the six conserved histidines required to bind the pair of type-3 copper ions at the active site. Generation of null mutants in those genes by homologous recombination mutagenesis and protein purification allowed us to correlate each gene with its enzymatic activity. In contrast with all tyrosinases so far studied, the enzyme NP_518458 shows higher monophenolase than o-diphenolase activity and its initial activity does not depend on the presence of l-dopa cofactor. On the other hand, protein NP_519622 is an enzyme with a clear preference to oxidize o-diphenols and only residual monophenolase activity, behaving as a catechol oxidase. These catalytic characteristics are discussed in relation to two other characteristics apart from the six conserved histidines. One is the putative presence of a seventh histidine which interacts with the carboxy group on the substrate and controls the preference for carboxylated and decarboxylated substrates. The second is the size of the residue isosteric with the aromatic F261 reported in sweet potato catechol oxidase which acts as a gate to control accessibility to CuA at the active site.