Expression and characterization of the Trypanosoma cruzi dihydrofolate reductase domain

We have cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli a 702-base pair gene coding for the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) domain of the bifunctional dihydrofolate reductase-thymidylate synthase (DHFR-TS) from Trypanosoma cruzi. The DHFR domain was purified to homogeneity by methotrexate-Sepharose chromato...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Reche Gallardo, Pedro Antonio, Arrebola, R, Santi, D V, González-Pacanowska, D., Ruiz Pérez, Luis Miguel
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:1995
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/58260
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/58260
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:612.017
577.2
Trypanosoma cruzi
Dihydrofolate reductase
Protozoal enzyme
Heterologous expression
Folate metabolism
Bioquímica (Biología)
Microbiología (Biología)
Biología molecular (Biología)
2302 Bioquímica
2414 Microbiología
2415 Biología Molecular
Descripción
Sumario:We have cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli a 702-base pair gene coding for the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) domain of the bifunctional dihydrofolate reductase-thymidylate synthase (DHFR-TS) from Trypanosoma cruzi. The DHFR domain was purified to homogeneity by methotrexate-Sepharose chromatography followed by an anion-exchange chromatography step in a mono Q column, and displayed a single 27-kDa band on SDS-PAGE. Gel filtration showed that the catalytic domain was expressed as a monomer. Kinetic parameters were similar to those reported for the wild-type bifunctional enzyme with Km values of 0.75 microM for dihydrofolate and 16 microM for NADPH and a kcat value of 16.5 s-1. T. cruzi DHFR is poorly inhibited by trimethoprim and pyrimethamine and the inhibition constants were always lower for the bifunctional enzyme. The binding of methotrexate was characteristic of a class of inhibitors that form an initial complex which isomerizes slowly to a tighter complex and are referred to as 'slow, tight-binding' inhibitors. While the slow-binding step of inhibition was apparently unaffected in the individually expressed DHFR domain, the overall inhibition constant was two-fold higher as a consequence of the superior inhibition constant value obtained for the initial inhibitory complex.