Serine carboxypeptidases. A review

Abstract

Carboxypeptidases are proteolytic enzymes which only cleave the C-terminal peptide bond in polypeptides. Those characterized until now can, dependent on their catalytic mechanism, be classified as either metallo carboxypeptidases or as serine carboxypeptidases. Enzymes from the latter group are found in the vacuoles of higher plants and fungi and in the lysosomes of animal cells. Many fungi, in addition, excrete serine carboxypeptidases. Apparently, bacteria do not employ this group of enzymes. Most serine carboxypeptidases presumably participate in the intracellular turnover of proteins and some of them, in addition, release amino acids from extracellular proteins and peptides. However, prolyl carboxypeptidase which cleaves the C-terminal peptide bond of angiotensin II and III is a serine carboxypeptidase with a more specific function. Serine carboxypeptidases are usually glycoproteins with subunit molecular weights of 40,000–75,000. Those isolated from fungi apparently contain only a single peptide chain while those isolated from higher plants and animals in most cases contain two peptide chains linked by disulfide bridges. However, a number of the enzymes aggregate forming dimers and oligomers. It is probable that the well-known catalytic mechanism of the serine endopeptidases is also employed by the serine carboxypeptidases but presumably with the difference that the pKa of the catalytically essential histidyl residue is somewhat lower in the carboxypeptidases than in the endopeptidases. However, the leaving group specificity of these two groups of enzymes differ since the carboxypeptidases only release C-terminal amino acids from peptides (peptidase activity) and not longer peptide fragments. In addition, they release C-terminal amino acid amides (peptidyl amino acid amide hydrolase activity) or ammonia (amidase activity) from peptide amides and alcohols from peptide esters (esterase activity) and this property they share with the serine endopeptidases. Like other proteolytic enzymes the serine carboxypeptidases contain binding sites which secure the interaction between enzyme and substrate. In this laboratory, the properties of these have been studied for three serine carboxypeptidases, i.e. carboxypeptidase Y from yeast and malt carboxypeptidases I and II, by means of kinetic studies, chemical modifications of amino acid side-chains located at these binding sites and exchange of such amino acid residues by site-directed mutagenesis. Serine carboxypeptidases, such as carboxypeptidase Y and malt carboxypeptidase II which are available in large quantities, can be applied for several purposes. Their broad specificity and ability to release amino acids from the C-terminus of a peptide chain can be employed in determination of amino acid sequences, and their ability to catalyze transpeptidation reactions and aminolysis of peptide esters can be employed to exchange C-terminal amino acid residues in peptides and in step-wise synthesis of polypeptides, respectively. The type of reactions catalyzed by these enzymes is limited by their specificities but, fortunately, some of the derivatives of carboxypeptidase Y with changed specificity due to chemical modifications and genetic substitutions of amino acid side-chains located at binding sites can be employed with advantage. These modified enzymes are examples on how the different activities of an enzyme can be perturbed by “protein engineering”, hence rendering the enzyme particularly suitable for certain processes.