enzymology Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. A ...

, a sulfiredoxin () is an

enzyme Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. A ...

that

catalyzes Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recyc ...

the

chemical reaction A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the IUPAC nomenclature for organic transformations, chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Classically, chemical reactions encompass changes that only involve the pos ...

:peroxiredoxin-(S-hydroxy-S-oxocysteine) + ATP + 2 R-SH

\rightleftharpoons

peroxiredoxin-(S-hydroxycysteine) + ADP + phosphate + R-S-S-R The 3 substrates of this enzyme are peroxiredoxin-(S-hydroxy-S-oxocysteine), ATP, and a

thiol In organic chemistry, a thiol (; ), or thiol derivative, is any organosulfur compound of the form , where R represents an alkyl or other organic substituent. The functional group itself is referred to as either a thiol group or a sulfhydryl gro ...

, whereas its 4

products Product may refer to: Business * Product (business), an item that serves as a solution to a specific consumer problem. * Product (project management), a deliverable or set of deliverables that contribute to a business solution Mathematics * Produ ...

are peroxiredoxin-(S-hydroxycysteine), ADP,

phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...

, and a

disulfide In biochemistry, a disulfide (or disulphide in British English) refers to a functional group with the structure . The linkage is also called an SS-bond or sometimes a disulfide bridge and is usually derived by the coupling of two thiol groups. In ...

. This enzyme is involved in

antioxidant Antioxidants are compounds that inhibit oxidation, a chemical reaction that can produce free radicals. This can lead to polymerization and other chain reactions. They are frequently added to industrial products, such as fuels and lubricant ...

metabolism by re-activating

peroxiredoxin Peroxiredoxins (Prxs, ; HGNC root symbol ''PRDX'') are a ubiquitous family of antioxidant enzymes that also control cytokine-induced peroxide levels and thereby mediate signal transduction in mammalian cells. The family members in humans are PRDX ...

s, which are a group of peroxidases, when these enzymes are inhibited by over-oxidation. This enzyme belongs to the family of

oxidoreductase In biochemistry, an oxidoreductase is an enzyme that catalyzes the transfer of electrons from one molecule, the reductant, also called the electron donor, to another, the oxidant, also called the electron acceptor. This group of enzymes usually ut ...

s, specifically those acting on a sulfur group of donors with other, known, acceptors. 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 ...

of this enzyme class is peroxiredoxin-(S-hydroxy-S-oxocysteine):thiol oxidoreductase [ATP-hydrolysing;

-(S-hydroxycysteine)-forming]. Other names in common use include Srx1, sulphiredoxin, and peroxiredoxin-(S-hydroxy-S-oxocysteine) reductase.

Function

The sulfur atom in the side-chain of the amino acid

cysteine Cysteine (symbol Cys or C; ) is a semiessential proteinogenic amino acid with the formula . The thiol side chain in cysteine often participates in enzymatic reactions as a nucleophile. When present as a deprotonated catalytic residue, sometime ...

can exist in several different

oxidation state In chemistry, the oxidation state, or oxidation number, is the hypothetical charge of an atom if all of its bonds to different atoms were fully ionic. It describes the degree of oxidation (loss of electrons) of an atom in a chemical compound. C ...

s. The most reduced of these is as a

thiol group In organic chemistry, a thiol (; ), or thiol derivative, is any organosulfur compound of the form , where R represents an alkyl or other organic substituent. The functional group itself is referred to as either a thiol group or a sulfhydryl gro ...

(Cys-SH). Oxidation of cysteine produces

cystine Cystine is the oxidized derivative of the amino acid cysteine and has the formula (SCH2CH(NH2)CO2H)2. It is a white solid that is poorly soluble in water. As a residue in proteins, cystine serves two functions: a site of redox reactions and a me ...

, which is one half of a

disulfide bond In biochemistry, a disulfide (or disulphide in British English) refers to a functional group with the structure . The linkage is also called an SS-bond or sometimes a disulfide bridge and is usually derived by the coupling of two thiol groups. In ...

(Cys-S-S-Cys). These lower oxidation states of cysteine (disulfides) are readily reversible, but higher oxidation states, such as

sulfinic acid Sulfinic acids are oxoacids of sulfur with the structure RSO(OH). In these organosulfur compounds, sulfur is pyramidal. Structure and properties Sulfinic acids RSO2H are about 1000x more acidic than the corresponding carboxylic acid RCO2H. Su ...

(Cys-SOOH), were once considered irreversible, biologically speaking. This view changed with the discovery of sulfiredoxin, an enzyme that can reduce sulfinic acid back to thiol, in an ATP-dependent manner. Additional work suggests that it plays a role in resolving mixed disulfide bonds. Initially discovered in yeast, sulfiredoxin is conserved in all eukaryotes, including mammals. In a perfect example of how multiple gene names can confuse the field, sulfiredoxin (Srxn1) was already known as a gene of unknown function, cloned by differential display of an in vitro model of tumorigenesis, and termed “Neoplastic progression 3/Npn3” although nothing about its actual function was reported. As a result, in most mouse microarray studies, sulfiredoxin is termed neoplastic progression 3, and typically classified as “cancer related” or “other” rather than as “antioxidant”. Npn3/Srxn1 is upregulated by an exceptionally large fold-magnitude in microarray studies of oxidative stress. Npn3/Srxn1 is induced up to 32-fold by D3T (liver), 12-fold by CdCl2, (liver), 4- to 10-fold by paracetamol (liver) and 3.3-fold by paraquat (heart). A survey of the GEO database also indicates a large induction of Npn3/Srxn1 is observed in injury to the lung by hyperoxia (data set GDS247, ID# 102780_at) or phosgene (GDS1244, 1451680_at). That Npn3 and Sxrn1 are synonyms of the same gene has not been pointed out in any of the 15 papers written on Srxn1 since its discovery. Because it was discovered so recently, the function of sulfiredoxin is not yet fully known. Sulfiredoxin knockout mice is available in Dr. Qiou Wei's lab at University of Kentucky and mice are found normal under normal circumstances. On treatment of these mice with carcinogens, Srx knockout mice were found to be less prone to few cancer types compared to wildtype mice. It shows the critical role of Srx in carcinogenesis of human tumors.

References

* * * * Findlay, V. J., Townsend, D. M., Morris, T. E., Fraser, J. P., He, L. and Tew, K. D. (2006) A novel role for human sulfiredoxin in the reversal of glutathionylation. ''Cancer Res.'' 66, 6800-6806 *Sun, Y., Hegamyer, G. and Colburn, N. H. (1994) Molecular cloning of five messenger RNAs differentially expressed in preneoplastic or neoplastic JB6 mouse epidermal cells: one is homologous to human tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-3. ''Cancer Res.'' 54, 1139–1144 *Kwak, M. K., Wakabayashi, N., Itoh, K., Motohashi, H., Yamamoto, M. and Kensler, T. W. (2003) Modulation of gene expression by cancer chemopreventive dithiolethiones through the Keap1-Nrf2 pathway. Identification of novel gene clusters for cell survival. ''J. Biol. Chem.'' 278, 8135-8145 *Wimmer, U., Wang, Y., Georgiev, O. and Schaffner, W. (2005) Two major branches of anti-cadmium defense in the mouse: MTF-1/metallothioneins and glutathione. ''Nucleic Acids Res'' 33, 5715-5727 *Welch, K. D., Reilly, T. P., Bourdi, M., Hays, T., Pise-Masison, C. A., Radonovich, M. F., Brady, J. N., Dix, D. J. and Pohl, L. R. (2006) Genomic identification of potential risk factors during acetaminophen-induced liver disease in susceptible and resistant strains of mice. ''Chem Res Toxicol'' 19, 223-233 *Edwards, M. G., Sarkar, D., Klopp, R., Morrow, J. D., Weindruch, R. and Prolla, T. A. (2003) Age-related impairment of the transcriptional responses to oxidative stress in the mouse heart. ''Physiol Genomics'' 13, 119-127 {{Portal bar, Biology, border=no EC 1.8.98 Enzymes of unknown structure