Levels Of Phenylalanine Hydroxylase Research Articles

Deubiquitinase USP19 extends the residual enzymatic activity of phenylalanine hydroxylase variants

Phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) is a key enzyme in mammals that maintains the phenylalanine (Phe) concentration at an appropriate physiological level. Some genetic mutations in the PAH gene lead to destabilization of the PAH enzyme, leading to phenylketonuria (PKU). Destabilized PAH variants can have a certain amount of residual enzymatic activity that is sufficient for metabolism of Phe. However, accelerated degradation of those variants can lead to insufficient amounts of cellular PAH protein. The optimal protein level of PAH in cells is regulated by a balancing act between E3 ligases and deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs). In this work, we analyzed the protein expression and stability of two PKU-linked PAH protein variants, R241C and R243Q, prevalent in the Asian population. We found that the tested PAH variants were highly ubiquitinated and thus targeted for rapid protein degradation. We demonstrated that USP19, a DUB that interacts with both PAH variants, plays a regulatory role by extending their half-lives. The deubiquitinating activity of USP19 prevents protein degradation and increases the abundance of both PAH protein variants. Thus, our study reveals a novel mechanism by which deubiquitinating activity of USP19 extends the residual enzymatic activity of PAH variants.

Dysregulated Phenylalanine Catabolism Plays a Key Role in the Trajectory of Cardiac Aging.

Aging myocardium undergoes progressive cardiac hypertrophy and interstitial fibrosis with diastolic and systolic dysfunction. Recent metabolomics studies shed light on amino acids in aging. The present study aimed to dissect how aging leads to elevated plasma levels of the essential amino acid phenylalanine and how it may promote age-related cardiac dysfunction. We studied cardiac structure and function, together with phenylalanine catabolism in wild-type (WT) and p21-/- mice (male; 2-24 months), with the latter known to be protected from cellular senescence. To explore phenylalanine's effects on cellular senescence and ectopic phenylalanine catabolism, we treated cardiomyocytes (primary adult rat or human AC-16) with phenylalanine. To establish a role for phenylalanine in driving cardiac aging, WT male mice were treated twice a day with phenylalanine (200 mg/kg) for a month. We also treated aged WT mice with tetrahydrobiopterin (10 mg/kg), the essential cofactor for the phenylalanine-degrading enzyme PAH (phenylalanine hydroxylase), or restricted dietary phenylalanine intake. The impact of senescence on hepatic phenylalanine catabolism was explored in vitro in AML12 hepatocytes treated with Nutlin3a (a p53 activator), with or without p21-targeting small interfering RNA or tetrahydrobiopterin, with quantification of PAH and tyrosine levels. Natural aging is associated with a progressive increase in plasma phenylalanine levels concomitant with cardiac dysfunction, whereas p21 deletion delayed these changes. Phenylalanine treatment induced premature cardiac deterioration in young WT mice, strikingly akin to that occurring with aging, while triggering cellular senescence, redox, and epigenetic changes. Pharmacological restoration of phenylalanine catabolism with tetrahydrobiopterin administration or dietary phenylalanine restriction abrogated the rise in plasma phenylalanine and reversed cardiac senescent alterations in aged WT mice. Observations from aged mice and human samples implicated age-related decline in hepatic phenylalanine catabolism as a key driver of elevated plasma phenylalanine levels and showed increased myocardial PAH-mediated phenylalanine catabolism, a novel signature of cardiac aging. Our findings establish a pathogenic role for increased phenylalanine levels in cardiac aging, linking plasma phenylalanine levels to cardiac senescence via dysregulated phenylalanine catabolism along a hepatic-cardiac axis. They highlight phenylalanine/PAH modulation as a potential therapeutic strategy for age-associated cardiac impairment.

E3 Ubiquitin Ligase APC/CCdh1 Regulation of Phenylalanine Hydroxylase Stability and Function.

Phenylketonuria (PKU) is an autosomal recessive metabolic disorder caused by the dysfunction of the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH). Alterations in the level of PAH leads to the toxic accumulation of phenylalanine in the blood and brain. Protein degradation mediated by ubiquitination is a principal cellular process for maintaining protein homeostasis. Therefore, it is important to identify the E3 ligases responsible for PAH turnover and proteostasis. Here, we report that anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome-Cdh1 (APC/C)Cdh1 is an E3 ubiquitin ligase complex that interacts and promotes the polyubiquitination of PAH through the 26S proteasomal pathway. Cdh1 destabilizes and declines the half-life of PAH. In contrast, the CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout of Cdh1 stabilizes PAH expression and enhances phenylalanine metabolism. Additionally, our current study demonstrates the clinical relevance of PAH and Cdh1 correlation in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Overall, we show that PAH is a prognostic marker for HCC and Cdh1 could be a potential therapeutic target to regulate PAH-mediated physiological and metabolic disorders.

Phenylalanine hydroxylase variants interact with the co-chaperone DNAJC12.

DNAJC12, a type III member of the HSP40/DNAJ family, has been identified as the specific co-chaperone of phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) and the other aromatic amino acid hydroxylases. DNAJ proteins work together with molecular chaperones of the HSP70 family to assist in proper folding and maintenance of intracellular stability of their clients. Autosomal recessive mutations in DNAJC12 were found to reduce PAH levels, leading to hyperphenylalaninemia (HPA) in patients without mutations in PAH. In this work, we investigated the interaction of normal wild-type DNAJC12 with mutant PAH in cells expressing several PAH variants associated with HPA in humans, as well as in the Enu1/1 mouse model, homozygous for the V106A-Pah variant, which leads to severe protein instability, accelerated PAH degradation and mild HPA. We found that mutant PAH exhibits increased ubiquitination, instability, and aggregation compared with normal PAH. In mouse liver lysates, we showed that DNAJC12 interacts with monoubiquitin-tagged PAH. This form represented a major fraction of PAH in the Enu1/1 but was also present in liver of wild-type PAH mice. Our results support a role of DNAJC12 in the processing of misfolded ubiquitinated PAH by the ubiquitin-dependent proteasome/autophagy systems and add to the evidence that the DNAJ proteins are important players both for proper folding and degradation of their clients.

Survival of Primary Human Hepatocytes and Death of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells in Media Lacking Glucose and Arginine

BackgroundTumorigenicity is an associated risk for transplantation of hepatocytes differentiated from human induced pluripotent stem (hiPS) cells. Hepatocytes express the enzymes galactokinase and ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) to aid in their own survival. However, hiPS cells do not express these enzymes, and therefore, are not be expected to survive in a medium containing galactose and ornithine and lacking glucose and arginine.Materials and MethodsReal-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed to analyze the expression of galactokinase 1 (GALK1)1 and GALK2, ornithine carbamyltransferase, and phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH). The hiPS cell line 201B7 was cultured in hepatocyte selection medium (HSM), which lacks glucose and arginine but contains galactose and ornithine. Furthermore, microscopic analysis of the cultured cells was performed after hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL). The hiPS cells were immunostained to assess their pluripotency in HSM. In addition, the primary human hepatocytes were cultured with or without hiPS cells in HSM.ResultsThe expression levels of GALK1, GALK2, OTC, and PAH in 201B7 were 22.2±5.0 (average ± standard deviation), 14.2% ±1.1%, 1.2% ±0.2%, and 8.4% ±0.7% respectively, compared with those in the adult liver. The hiPS cell population diminished when cultured in HSM and completely disappeared after 3 days. The cultured cells showed condensation or fragmentation of their nuclei, thereby suggesting apoptosis. TUNEL staining confirmed that the cells had undergone apoptosis. The 201B7 cells were positive for Nanog, SSEA-4, and TRA-1-60. The primary human hepatocytes survived when cultured alone in HSM and when co-cultured with hiPS cells.ConclusionTherefore, HSM is and ideal medium for eliminating hiPS cells and purifying hepatocytes without inducing any damage.

Glucocorticoid stimulation of tetrahydrobiopterin levels and phenylalanine hydroxylase activity in rat hepatoma cells.

Incubation of H4-II-E-C3 rat hepatoma cells with either hydrocortisone or dexamethasone resulted in 3- to 5-fold increases in the levels of both phenylalanine hydroxylase and its essential cofactor, tetrahydrobiopterin. Maximum elevation of phenylalanine hydroxylase was noted after 24 h of incubation, whereas significant increases in tetrahydrobiopterin were found only after 48 h exposure of the cells to glucocorticoids. Removal of hormone from the culture medium resulted in rapid loss of cell tetrahydrobiopterin, but a much slower decline in the level of phenylalanine hydroxylase. Thus, although the levels of both phenylalanine hydroxylase and tetrahydrobiopterin in rat hepatoma cells are regulated by glucocorticoids, this regulation is apparently not strictly coordinated. Nevertheless, control of cellular tetrahydrobiopterin levels may be an important regulator of hepatic phenylalanine catabolism since significant increases in the ability of intact rat liver cells to hydroxylate phenylalanine were observed only after 48 h exposure to glucocorticoids, in correlation with increases in cell tetrahydrobiopterin content.

Phenylalanine hydroxylase levels in diabetic rats

Phenylalanine hydroxylase levels in diabetic rats

Regulation by glucocorticoids of rat-liver phenylalanine hydroxylase In Vivo

Phenylalanine hydroxylase, a liver-associated enzyme, is induced markedly by glucocorticoids in two permanent rat-hepatoma cell lines. In order to gain evidence that this phenomenon also occurs in vivo, we examined the effect of adrenalectomy and/or hormone supplementation on the levels of phenylalanine hydroxylase in the livers of adult rats: glucocorticoid administration increases, and adrenal ablation reduces, the activity of the hepatic enzyme, and the diminution occurring in the latter instance is entirely prevented by concurrent hormone replacement. These results thus corroborate earlier findings from a single experiment and are consistent with the hypothesis that adrenal corticosteroid hormones participate in modulating phenylalanine-hydroxylase levels within the diploid hepatocyte.

Measurement of phenylalanine hydroxylase turnover in cultured hepatoma cells.

A substantially new method has been developed to measure protein turnover. Its basis is the notion that in labeling experiments a secreted protein can be used to determine the specific radioactivity of the intracellular amino acid precursor pool. To measure protein turnover in the Reuber hepatoma H4 cell line, cultures were labeled with [3H]leucine for specified periods after which phenylalanine hydroxylase was isolated and its leucine specific radioactivity determined. Serum albumin secreted by the cultures was also isolated and used to estimate the leucine precursor pool specific radioactivity. The protein half-life of phenylalanine hydroxylase could them be calculated. Experiments performed at long and short labeling times and with high and low concentrations of leucine in the medium yielded equivalent results. Phenylalanine hydroxylase half-life in the H4 cells was investigated under both normal and hydrocortisone-induced growth conditions. Average half-lives of 7.4 and 8.2 h were found for induced and uninduced cultures, respectively. Although these measured enzyme half-lives were not essentially different, the steady state level of phenylalanine hydroxylase was increased 6.2-fold upon hydrocortisone induction, from 0.076 to 0.47 microgram/10(6) cells. The results demonstrated that hydrocortisone induces phenylalanine hydroxylase in the H4 cells by causing an increase in the rate of enzyme synthesis.

Epigenetic activation of phenylalanine hydroxylase in mouse erythroleukemia cells by the cytoplast of rat hepatoma cells.

Friend mouse erythroleukemia cells do not synthesize detectable levels of phenylalanine hydroxylase [phenylalanine 4-monooxygenase; L-phenylalanine, tetrahydropteridine:oxygen oxidoreductase (4-hydroxylating), EC 1.14.16.1] and hence are unable to grow in medium totally lacking tyrosine. These cells were fused with the cytoplasts of rat hepatoma cells that synthesize phenylalanine hydroxylase constitutively. Cytoplasmic hybrids [cybrids, Bunn, C. L., Douglas, C. W. & Eisenstadt, J. M. (1974) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 71, 1681--1685] were selecte in medium without tyrosine. Cybrid clones expressed phenylalanine hydroxylase enzyme, which was of mouse type as determined by immunotitration and isoelectric focusing. This phenotype has been mainta ined even in the absence of any selective pressure. In contrast, in whole cell hybrids derived between the same parents, the expression of the phenylalanine hydroxylase gene was totally extinguished. One interpretation of these results is that the cytoplasm of rat hepatoma cells contain a positively acting factor(s) for the phenylalanine hydroxylase gene that brings about the activation of this gene in erythroleukemia cells.

HYPERPHENYLALANINEMIA DUE TO PHENYLALANINE HYDROXYLASE COFACTOR DEFICIENCY

A child with phenylketonuria diagnosed early developed severe hypotonia with minimal signs of spasticlty and retardation in all developmental patterns despite adequate dietary management. At 4 years of age, a liver biopsy was performed and the components of the phenylalanine hydroxylase system were measured in vitro. Normal levels of phenylalanine hydroxylase, dihydropteridine reductase and dihydrofolate reductase were found. However, there was only 5% of the normal level of active phenylalanine hydroxylase cofactor. This cofactor deficiency was also demonstrable in plasma and urine. Since the phenylalanine hydroxylase cofactor (tetrahydrobiopterin) is probably also necessary for the hydroxylation of tyrosine and tryptophan, the rate limiting steps in the biosynthesis of dopamine and norepinephrine and serotonin, this child may be suffering from a lack of these neurotransmitters.The child's phenylalanine hydroxylase activity has also been measured with a new in vivo method. In this procedure, hydroxylase activity is assayed by following the rate of formation of tritiated water from ring tritium labelled phenylalanine. Phenylalanine hydroxylase activity 1-5% of normal was detected in vivo confirming the incomplete block in the conversion of phenylalanine to tyrosine predicted by the in vitro assays on the liver biopsy.

Properties of phenylalanine hydroxylase of cultured hepatoma cells.

The kinetic and immunologic properties of phenylalanine hydroxylase of adult rat liver were compared to the properties of the similar enzyme present in cultured H4-II-E-C3 hepatoma cells. The enzymes from the two sources could not be distinguished by the Km values for either phenylalanine or 6,7-dimethyltetrahydropterin. Analysis by double immunodiffusion showed that phenylalanine hydroxylase from the two sources had identical immunologic determinants, but immunotitrations revealed a small but significant difference between the enzyme of the normal adult rat liver and the enzyme of cultured hepatoma cells. The results of double immunodiffusion and immunotitration experiments indicated also that the increased levels of phenylalanine hydroxylase seen in the hepatoma cells grown in the presence of hydrocortisone resulted from the accumulation of enzyme protein, but it could not be decided whether this accumulation resulted from an increased rate of synthesis or decreased rate of degradation.

Effect of serum on phenylalanine hydroxylase levels in cultured hepatoma cells.

Continued high levels of phenylalanine hydroxylase in cultured H4-II-E-C3 rat hepatoma cells require either serum or glucocorticoids in the culture medium. Upon withdrawal of serum, cellular phenylalanine hydroxylase levels decay exponentially with a half-life of 22 hours for about 60 hours, after which time a low, constant enzyme content persists for at least 96 hours. This decline of phenylalanine hydroxylase is fully reversible; normal enzyme levels are restored in a time- and dosage-dependent fashion upon addition of serum to basal cultures. The serum factor is nondialyzable and moderately heat-stable. The stimulation by serum of the phenylalanine hydroxylas content of basal cultures is blocked by 3-[2-(3,5-dimethyl-2-oxocyclohexyl)-2-hydroxyethyl]glutarimide and requires ongoing cellular protein synthesis. When added to the enzyme-assay mixture in vitro, serum does not alter the phenylalanine hydroxylase activity of extracts from basal cultures. Three lines of evidence suggest that serum contains a nonsteroidal phenylalanine hydroxylase stimulatory components(s): (a) glucocorticoid antagonists inhibit less than one-half of the biological activity of serum; (b) exhaustive extraction of endogenous serum glucocorticoids with charcoal reduces the activity of serum to about one-half of control values; and (c) the stimulatory effects of charcoal reduces the values; and (c) the stimulatory effects of charcoal-extracted serum and hydrocortisone are additive. The phenylalanine hydroxylase stimulatory activities of the charcoal-extracted sera from four mammalian species and from three stages in development in one mammalian species are comparable. A survey of partially purified preparations of a number of known hormones failed to reveal any one capable of elevating the phenylalanine hydroxylas levels of basal cultures in a manner comparable to that of charcoal-extracted serum.

A tyrosine-free medium for the selective growth of cells expressing phenylalanine hydroxylase activity

Tyrosine-free modified Ham's F-12 medium supplemented with charcoal-extracted serum permits the exclusive propagation of cultured cells containing detectable levels of phenylalanine hydroxylase. The selective properties of this medium have been verified with two phenylalanine hydroxylase-positive (H4-II-E-C3 and MH 1C 1) and two phenylalanine hydroxylase-negative (HTC and BRL) cell lines. Although cocultivation experiments revealed that BRL cells could replicate slowly in the selective medium in the presence of sufficient numbers of H4-II-E-C3 cells, the former cells did not survive subcultivation in this medium at low cell inoculum (< 10 3 cells per 60 × 15-mm Petri dish). This tyrosine-free medium should be particularly effective in selecting for phenylalanine hydroxylase-positive somatic-cell hybrids under conditions of double selection where the phenylalanine hydroxylase-positive parental cell would not survive.

The effect of population density on phenylalanine hydroxylase activity in rat-hepatoma cells in culture

The expression of phenylalanine hydroxylase activity in rat-hepatoma cells in culture (line H4-II-E-C3) is a function of culture density: under normal growth conditions in the presence or in the absence of exogenously added hydrocortisone, the levels of this enzyme are low in subconfluent cell populations, but increase steeply as cultures attain confluency. This phenomenon (i) is not an artifact of the subcultivation process and (ii) is not produced by some alteration in the growth medium effected by high-density cultures. The levels of phenylalanine hydroxylase in high-density cultures of H4-II-E-C3 cells in the presence of serum plus added hydrocortisone are at least 80% of those seen in adult-rat liver. It is concluded that this density-associated phenomenon is the result of an intrinsic property of H4-II-E-C3 cells and possibly constitutes a form of epigenetic control governing the sensitivity of these cells to stimulation by serum or by serum plus hydrocortisone.

Phenylalanine Hydroxylase in Cultured Hepatocytes: I. HORMONAL CONTROL OF ENZYME LEVELS

Abstract The presence of phenylalanine hydroxylase as a constitutive enzyme in two clonal cell lines (H4-II-E-C3 and MH1C1) derived from rat hepatomas and cultured in vitro is described; eight other clonal cell strains originating from rat or rabbit liver did not contain detectable amounts of this enzyme. The levels of phenylalanine hydroxylase in the two hepatoma cell lines were stimulated by hydrocortisone, corticosterone, dexamethasone or N6-O2'-dibutyryl-3',5'-cyclic adenosine monophosphate. The stimulation of the levels of the enzyme by hydrocortisone in the H4-II-E-C3 line was shown to depend on de novo protein synthesis as it was inhibited by cycloheximide. It is postulated that the hepatoma cell lines are probably good models for studying the factors regulating the expression of the phenylalanine hydroxylase gene.

Mode of action of p-chlorophenylalanine on Pseudomonas species (11299a)

The action of p-chloro- dl-phenylalanine on Pseudomonas sp. (11299a) was investigated. This amino acid analog inhibited the growth of the organism on phenylalanine and tyrosine but not on asparagine. In order to determine its mode of action, experiments on phenylalanine hydroxylase levels and activity, amino acid transport, and protein synthesis in Pseudomonas sp. were carried out. The data strongly suggest that the growth inhibition is due to competitive inhibition of an induced aromatic amino acid transport system by p-chloro- dl-phenylalanine.

Phenylketonuria in the rat associated with decreased temporal discrimination learning.

IN the course of other investigations1 in which tyrosine was injected intraperitoneally it was noted that the level of phenylalanine hydroxylase in the liver of rats was diminished to about one-third the normal value. Since tyrosine added in vitro does not inhibit this enzyme activity2, the results were taken as evidence of product inhibition of enzyme synthesis. It was reasoned that added dietary tyrosine would decrease the enzyme formation and therefore lower the amount of phenylalanine being oxidized to tyrosine; the excess phenylalanine would then be transaminated to phenylpyruvate. Other workers3 had already shown that phenylalanine added to liver slices would also inhibit the oxidation of tyrosine to acetoacetate and fumarate. It seemed worth while therefore to feed various combinations of tyrosine and phenylalanine in order to evaluate metabolic alterations in the rat. Initial experiments with Commercial rat food plus 5 per cent L-tyrosine and 5 per cent DL-phenylalanine resulted in the death of newborn or suckling animals when this diet was fed to the pre-parturient and lactating mothers. The same diet caused death when fed to 21-day-old animals, although animals of the same age grew normally when fed 5 per cent of either amino-acid alone. Reduction of the levels to 2.5 per cent of each amino-acid (and in a later experiment to 3.75 per cent each) caused no difficulty since animals fed this diet gained weight at a rate comparable to that of rats on the commercial diet alone. The methods used for the amino-acid analyses and for enzyme assays have been previously listed1. The urinary and blood data are given in Table 1, and the enzymatic data concerned with phenylalanine and tyrosine metabolism are given in Table 2.