Palmitoyl protein hydrolase/thioesterases is an enzyme (EC 3.1.2.22) that removes
thioester
In organic chemistry, thioesters are organosulfur compounds with the functional group . They are analogous to carboxylate esters () with the sulfur in the thioester playing the role of the linking oxygen in the carboxylate ester, as implied by t ...
-linked fatty acyl groups such as
palmitate
Palmitic acid (hexadecanoic acid in IUPAC nomenclature) is a fatty acid with a 16-carbon chain. It is the most common saturated fatty acid found in animals, plants and microorganisms.Gunstone, F. D., John L. Harwood, and Albert J. Dijkstra. The Li ...
from modified cysteine residues in proteins or peptides during
lysosomal degradation
A lysosome () is a membrane-bound organelle found in many animal cells. They are spherical vesicles that contain hydrolytic enzymes that can break down many kinds of biomolecules. A lysosome has a specific composition, of both its membrane prote ...
. It
catalyzes the reaction
:palmitoyl
rotein+ H
2O
palmitate + protein
This enzyme belongs to the family of
hydrolase
Hydrolase is a class of enzyme that commonly perform as biochemical catalysts that use water to break a chemical bond, which typically results in dividing a larger molecule into smaller molecules. Some common examples of hydrolase enzymes are este ...
s, specifically those acting on
thioester
In organic chemistry, thioesters are organosulfur compounds with the functional group . They are analogous to carboxylate esters () with the sulfur in the thioester playing the role of the linking oxygen in the carboxylate ester, as implied by t ...
bonds. The
systematic name A systematic name is a name given in a systematic way to one unique group, organism, object or chemical substance, out of a specific population or collection. Systematic names are usually part of a nomenclature.
A semisystematic name or semitrivial ...
is palmitoyl
roteinhydrolase. Other names in common use include palmitoyl-protein thioesterase, and palmitoyl-(protein) hydrolase. This enzyme participates in
fatty acid elongation in mitochondria.
Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCL) represent a group of encephalopathies that occur in 1 in 12,500 children. Mutations in the palmitoyl protein thioesterase gene causing infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis.
The most common mutation results in intracellular accumulation of the polypeptide and undetectable enzyme activity in the brain. Direct sequencing of cDNAs derived from brain RNA of INCL patients has shown a mis-sense transversion of A to T at nucleotide position 364, which results in substitution of Trp for Arg at position 122 in the protein - Arg 122 is immediately adjacent to a lipase consensus sequence that contains the putative active site Ser of PPT. The occurrence of this and two other independent mutations in the PPT gene strongly suggests that defects in this gene cause INCL.
Examples
Human proteins containing this domain include:
Structural studies
As of late 2007, 4
structures
A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...
have been solved for this class of enzymes, with
PDB accession codes , , , and .
See also
*
palmitoyl
*
Acyl-protein thioesterase
Acyl-protein thioesterases are enzymes that cleave off lipid modifications on proteins, located on the sulfur atom of cysteine residues linked via a thioester bond. Acyl-protein thioesterases are part of the α/β hydrolase superfamily of protein ...
s
References
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
*
GeneReviews/NCBI/NIH/UW entry on Neuronal Ceroid-Lipofuscinoses
EC 3.1.2
Enzymes of known structure
Peripheral membrane proteins
{{3.1-enzyme-stub