Structural and functional characterisation of human carboxylesterases

<p>Carboxylesterases are glycosylated general detoxification enzymes belonging to the serine esterase superfamily and play a critical role in the hydrolysis of numerous ester- and amide- containing molecules, including active metabolites, drugs and prodrugs. Three functionally active carboxyl...

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Main Author: De Souza, V
Other Authors: Owens, R
Format: Thesis
Published: 2014
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author De Souza, V
author2 Owens, R
author_facet Owens, R
De Souza, V
author_sort De Souza, V
collection OXFORD
description <p>Carboxylesterases are glycosylated general detoxification enzymes belonging to the serine esterase superfamily and play a critical role in the hydrolysis of numerous ester- and amide- containing molecules, including active metabolites, drugs and prodrugs. Three functionally active carboxyleterases have been identified in man (CES1-3), which all show differential tissue expression and critically overlapping, yet specific substrate selectivities. Elucidating the basis of their exact substrate preference would help facilitate the design of clinical prodrugs which are activated by carboxylesterases. Because of their widespread applications, carboxylesterases have attracted much attention in recent years, with CES1 being the most extensively studied human carboxylesterase to date.</p> <p>The work presented here addresses the structure-function relationship of the three human carboxylesterases using a combination of X-ray crystallography, kinetic analysis and biophysical techniques. Recombinant proteins were successfully produced using a mammalian expression system in high yield (5.0 – 84.0 mg/ L cell culture). Analytic ultracentrifugation and size-exclusion chromatography coupled to multi-angle laser light scattering were used to investigate the proteins in solution. These results showed CES1 exists primarily in a trimeric arrangement, whilst CES2 and CES3 are monomeric. Interestingly, atypical mechanisms of substrate inhibition, positive cooperativity and biphasic kinetics were observed for both CES1 and CES2.</p> <p>Three structures of CES1 were solved: wild type, an aglycosylated form and a catalytically inactive form, to 1.48, 1.86 and 2.01 Å respectively. The novel structure of CES2 was solved to 2.04 Å, which revealed that the enzyme forms a strand exchange dimer in contrast to the trimeric CES1.</p> <p>To summarise, this thesis documents a platform that has been generated for the production, characterisation and crystallization of human carboxylesterases. This will aid future structural work for protein ligand binding studies.</p>
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spelling oxford-uuid:e22e172a-ac84-4e28-92a3-4dad42e753452022-03-27T09:59:15ZStructural and functional characterisation of human carboxylesterasesThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:e22e172a-ac84-4e28-92a3-4dad42e75345ORA Deposit2014De Souza, VOwens, RWalsh, M<p>Carboxylesterases are glycosylated general detoxification enzymes belonging to the serine esterase superfamily and play a critical role in the hydrolysis of numerous ester- and amide- containing molecules, including active metabolites, drugs and prodrugs. Three functionally active carboxyleterases have been identified in man (CES1-3), which all show differential tissue expression and critically overlapping, yet specific substrate selectivities. Elucidating the basis of their exact substrate preference would help facilitate the design of clinical prodrugs which are activated by carboxylesterases. Because of their widespread applications, carboxylesterases have attracted much attention in recent years, with CES1 being the most extensively studied human carboxylesterase to date.</p> <p>The work presented here addresses the structure-function relationship of the three human carboxylesterases using a combination of X-ray crystallography, kinetic analysis and biophysical techniques. Recombinant proteins were successfully produced using a mammalian expression system in high yield (5.0 – 84.0 mg/ L cell culture). Analytic ultracentrifugation and size-exclusion chromatography coupled to multi-angle laser light scattering were used to investigate the proteins in solution. These results showed CES1 exists primarily in a trimeric arrangement, whilst CES2 and CES3 are monomeric. Interestingly, atypical mechanisms of substrate inhibition, positive cooperativity and biphasic kinetics were observed for both CES1 and CES2.</p> <p>Three structures of CES1 were solved: wild type, an aglycosylated form and a catalytically inactive form, to 1.48, 1.86 and 2.01 Å respectively. The novel structure of CES2 was solved to 2.04 Å, which revealed that the enzyme forms a strand exchange dimer in contrast to the trimeric CES1.</p> <p>To summarise, this thesis documents a platform that has been generated for the production, characterisation and crystallization of human carboxylesterases. This will aid future structural work for protein ligand binding studies.</p>
spellingShingle De Souza, V
Structural and functional characterisation of human carboxylesterases
title Structural and functional characterisation of human carboxylesterases
title_full Structural and functional characterisation of human carboxylesterases
title_fullStr Structural and functional characterisation of human carboxylesterases
title_full_unstemmed Structural and functional characterisation of human carboxylesterases
title_short Structural and functional characterisation of human carboxylesterases
title_sort structural and functional characterisation of human carboxylesterases
work_keys_str_mv AT desouzav structuralandfunctionalcharacterisationofhumancarboxylesterases