The structural and functional contribution of N-terminal region and His-47 on Taiwan cobra phospholipase A2

✍ Scribed by Pei-Hsiu Kao; Ku-Chung Chen; Shinne-Ren Lin; Long-Sen Chang

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 384 KB
• Volume: 14
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1075-2617
• DOI: 10.1002/psc.943

✦ Synopsis

Modification of His-47 and removal of the N-terminal octapeptide caused a different effect on the structure of Naja naja atra (Taiwan cobra) phospholipase A2 (PLA2). Unlike native enzyme, Ca2+ induced an alteration in the structural flexibility of His-modified PLA2. Moreover, the spatial positions of Trp residues in His-modified PLA2 were not properly rearranged toward lipid-water interface in the presence of Ca2+. CD spectra and fluorescence measurement showed that the dynamic properties of Trp residues and the gross conformation of N-terminally truncated PLA2 were totally different from native enzyme. Although a precipitous drop in the enzymatic activity was observed with modified PLA2, His-modified PLA2 and N-terminally truncated PLA2 retained cytotoxicity on inducing necrotic death of human neuroblastoma SK-N-SH cells. Our data suggest that structural perturbations elicited by the chemical modification cause a dissociation of enzymatic activity and cytotoxicity of PLA2.