Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-22-2012

Abstract

Lipoxygenases (LOXs) are a key part of several signaling pathways that lead to inflammation and cancer. Yet, the mechanisms of substrate binding and allosteric regulation by the various LOX isoforms remain speculative. Here we report the 2.47-Å resolution crystal structure of the arachidonate 11R-LOX from Gersemia fruticosa, which sheds new light on the mechanism of LOXcatalysis. Our crystallographic and mutational studies suggest that the aliphatic tail of the fatty acid is bound in a hydrophobic pocket with two potential entrances. We speculate that LOXs share a common T-shaped substrate channel architecture that gives rise to the varying positional specificities. A general allosteric mechanism is proposed for transmitting the activity-inducing effect of calcium binding from the membrane-targeting PLAT (polycystin-1/ lipoxygenase/α-toxin) domain to the active site via a conserved π-cation bridge. © 2012 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Journal of Biological Chemistry

First Page

22377

Last Page

22386

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