Search

Recent investigations have shown that multiple d-amino acids are present in mammals and these compounds have distinctive physiological functions. Free d-glutamate is present in various mammalian tissues and cells and in particular, it is presumably correlated with cardiac function, and much interest is growing in its unique metabolic pathways. Recently, we first identified d-glutamate cyclase as its degradative enzyme in mammals, whereas its biosynthetic pathway in mammals is unclear. Glutamate racemase is a most probable candidate, which catalyzes interconversion between d-glutamate and l-glutamate. Here, we identified the cDNA encoding l-serine dehydratase-like (SDHL) as the first mammalian clone with glutamate racemase activity. This rat SDHL had been deposited in mammalian databases as a protein of unknown function and its amino acid sequence shares ∼60% identity with that of l-serine dehydratase. Rat SDHL was expressed in Escherichia coli, and the enzymatic properties of the recombinant were characterized. The results indicated that rat SDHL is a multifunctional enzyme with glutamate racemase activity in addition to l-serine/l-threonine dehydratase activity. This clone is hence abbreviated as STDHgr. Further experiments using cultured mammalian cells confirmed that d-glutamate was synthesized and l-serine and l-threonine were decomposed. It was also found that SDHL (STDHgr) contributes to the homeostasis of several other amino acids.

Major isoenzymes of androsterone-sulphating sulphotransferase (AD-ST) were isolated from liver cytosols of weanling and young adult female rats and their isoelectric properties were compared. On chromatofocusing the enzyme activity of young adults was eluted over a wider range of pH than was that of weanling rats. The activity at pH 7.8-7.2 (fraction I) is obvious at both ages, whereas the activity eluted over the pH 6.6-5.5 range (fraction II) is much lower in weanlings than in young adults. The AD-ST activities eluted in fractions I and II were separately purified by 3′-phosphoadenosine 5′-phosphate-agarose affinity chromatography at both ages. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of the isolated enzyme revealed several subunits with distinct pI values, but with the same molecular mass, namely 30 kDa. The relative levels of the pI 6.7 and pI 7.2 subunits are high and the relative level of the pI 6.1 is low in fraction I. In fraction II, the levels of pI 6.1 and pI 6.7 subunits are high and the level of the pI 7.2 subunit is low. There is no significant difference in the relative levels of the pI variants in each fraction between weanlings and young adults. The N-terminal amino acid sequences of the pI variants are identical within the area determined, irrespective of animal age or pI values. These results demonstrate that the pI variants of AD-ST are derived from the same precursor by post-translational modification or that they are products of closely related, but distinct, genes. The pI 6.1 and 6.7 subunits presumably increased during the development from the weanling stage to adulthood, resulting in the increase in acidic form(s) of AD-ST (fraction II) in adult females.