Drosophila GSTs display outstanding catalytic efficiencies with the environmental pollutants 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene and 2,4-dinitrotoluene

Aslam M A Mazari; Bengt Mannervik

doi:10.1016/j.bbrep.2015.12.003

Drosophila GSTs display outstanding catalytic efficiencies with the environmental pollutants 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene and 2,4-dinitrotoluene

Biochem Biophys Rep. 2015 Dec 4:5:141-145. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrep.2015.12.003. eCollection 2016 Mar.

Authors

Aslam M A Mazari¹, Bengt Mannervik¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Neurochemistry, Stockholm University, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden.

Abstract

The nitroaromatic explosive 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and the related 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT) are toxic environmental pollutants. The biotransformation and detoxication of these persistent compounds in higher organisms are of great significance from a health perspective as well as for the biotechnological challenge of bioremediation of contaminated soil. We demonstrate that different human glutathione transferases (GSTs) and GSTs from the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster are catalysts of the biotransformation of TNT and DNT. The human GSTs had significant but modest catalytic activities with both DNT and TNT. However, D. melanogaster GSTE6 and GSTE7 displayed outstanding high activities with both substrates.

Keywords: 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene detoxication; 2,4-dinitrotoluene detoxication; Drosophila GSTs; Glutathione conjugation; Human GSTs.