Characterization of the bifunctional gamma-glutamate-cysteine ligase/glutathione synthetase (GshF) of Pasteurella multocida

J Biol Chem. 2006 Feb 17;281(7):4380-94. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M509517200. Epub 2005 Dec 8.

Abstract

Glutamate-cysteine ligase (gamma-ECL) and glutathione synthetase (GS) are the two unrelated ligases that constitute the glutathione biosynthesis pathway in most eukaryotes, purple bacteria, and cyanobacteria. gamma-ECL is a member of the glutamine synthetase family, whereas GS enzymes group together with highly diverse carboxyl-to-amine/thiol ligases, all characterized by the so-called two-domain ATP-grasp fold. This generalized scheme toward the formation of glutathione, however, is incomplete, as functional steady-state levels of intracellular glutathione may also accumulate solely by import, as has been reported for the Pasteurellaceae member Haemophilus influenzae, as well as for certain Gram-positive enterococci and streptococci, or by the action of a bifunctional fusion protein (termed GshF), as has been reported recently for the Gram-positive firmicutes Streptococcus agalactiae and Listeria monocytogenes. Here, we show that yet another member of the Pasteurellaceae family, Pasteurella multocida, acquires glutathione both by import and GshF-driven biosynthesis. Domain architecture analysis shows that this P. multocida GshF bifunctional ligase contains an N-terminal gamma-proteobacterial gamma-ECL-like domain followed by a typical ATP-grasp domain, which most closely resembles that of cyanophycin synthetases, although it has no significant homology with known GS ligases. Recombinant P. multocida GshF overexpresses as an approximately 85-kDa protein, which, on the basis of gel-sizing chromatography, forms dimers in solution. The gamma-ECL activity of GshF is regulated by an allosteric type of glutathione feedback inhibition (K(i) = 13.6 mM). Furthermore, steady-state kinetics, on the basis of which we present a novel variant of half-of-the-sites reactivity, indicate intimate domain-domain interactions, which may explain the bifunctionality of GshF proteins.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Escherichia coli / genetics
  • Glutamate-Cysteine Ligase / chemistry
  • Glutamate-Cysteine Ligase / physiology*
  • Glutathione / biosynthesis
  • Glutathione Synthase / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Glutathione Synthase / chemistry
  • Glutathione Synthase / physiology*
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Oxidative Stress
  • Pasteurella multocida / enzymology*
  • Protein Structure, Secondary
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary

Substances

  • Glutamate-Cysteine Ligase
  • Glutathione Synthase
  • Glutathione