Relaxed thiol substrate specificity of glutathione transferase effected by a non-substrate glutathione derivative

• Rat glutathione transferase 4-4 catalysed the conjugation of 2-mercaptoethanol with 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene in the presence of S-methyl-glutathione. The reaction was linearly dependent on enzyme concentration and saturation was seen with respect to both 2-mercaptoethanol and S-methyl-glutathione concentration. High concentrations of S-methyl-gluta-thione were inhibitory. The results suggest that the natural substrate glutathione has two distinct functions in the normal catalytic reaction, (i) induction of a catalytically competent conformation of the enzyme and (ii) provision of the substrate sulfhydryl group in the reaction catalyzed.

Nyckelord

Conformational change

Thiol substrate specificity

Reaction mechanism

Glutathione transferase

Glutathione derivative

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