Carbonyl reductase purified from rabbit liver is not the product of a carbonyl reductase gene (RCBR5 or RCBR6) cloned from the rabbit liver cDNA library.

Abstract

Six peptides were obtained by the digestion of carbonyl reductase purified from rabbit liver. The amino acid sequences of the six peptides were virtually identical to the corresponding regions in amino acid sequences deduced from two cloned carbonyl reductase genes (RCBR5 and RCBR6). However, there was a difference of one amino acid residue between the sequences of peptides from the purified enzyme and the corresponding region in the amino acid sequences deduced from the two cDNAs. The purified carbonyl reductase was confirmed to exhibit no reactivity towards menadione, even though the transient expression of the two cDNA for rabbit liver carbonyl reductase has been reported to cause a marked increase of menadione reductase activity in COS7 cells. The enzyme purified from rabbit liver was inactivated by thiol-specific reagents, 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid) and sodium tetrathionate, suggesting that menadione probably interacts with the functional cysteine residue(s), and cannot serve as a substrate of the purified enzyme. Based on these results, it is concluded that the carbonyl reductase purified from rabbit liver is not the product of cloned carbonyl reductase gene (RCBR5 or RCBR6).