Gamma-glutamyl hydrolase is an
enzyme
An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...
that
catalyses the following
chemical reaction
A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the chemistry, chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. When chemical reactions occur, the atoms are rearranged and the reaction is accompanied by an Gibbs free energy, ...
:
:
Hydrolysis
Hydrolysis (; ) is any chemical reaction in which a molecule of water breaks one or more chemical bonds. The term is used broadly for substitution reaction, substitution, elimination reaction, elimination, and solvation reactions in which water ...
of a gamma-glutamyl bond
This
lysosomal
A lysosome () is a membrane-bound organelle that is found in all mammalian cells, with the exception of red blood cells (erythrocytes). There are normally hundreds of lysosomes in the cytosol, where they function as the cell’s degradation cent ...
or secreted,
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 grou ...
-dependent
peptidase
A protease (also called a peptidase, proteinase, or proteolytic enzyme) is an enzyme that catalyzes proteolysis, breaking down proteins into smaller polypeptides or single amino acids, and spurring the formation of new protein products. They do ...
, most active at
acidic
An acid is a molecule or ion capable of either donating a proton (i.e. hydrogen cation, H+), known as a Brønsted–Lowry acid, or forming a covalent bond with an electron pair, known as a Lewis acid.
The first category of acids are the ...
pH.
In humans, gamma-glutamyl hydrolase is encoded by the ''GGH''
gene
In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...
.
This gene catalyzes the hydrolysis of folylpoly-gamma-glutamates and antifolylpoly-gamma-glutamates by the removal of gamma-linked polyglutamates and glutamate.
Nomenclature
Gamma-glutamyl hydrolase is also known as conjugase, folate conjugase, lysosomal gamma-glutamyl carboxypeptidase, gamma-Glu-X carboxypeptidase, pteroyl-poly-gamma-glutamate hydrolase, carboxypeptidase G, folic acid conjugase, poly(gamma-glutamic acid) endohydrolase, polyglutamate hydrolase, poly(glutamic acid) hydrolase II, pteroylpoly-gamma-glutamyl hydrolase.
Interactive pathway map
References
Further reading
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External links
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EC 3.4.19