1. Division of Biophysics,
2. Division of Chemistry 2, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics
3. Structural Genomics Consortium, Karolinska Institutet, 17177 Stockholm, Sweden
4. Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
5. European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Grenoble outstation, 6 Rue Jules Horowitz, 38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France

Correspondence to: Said Eshaghi¹Jesper Z. Haeggström²Pär Nordlund^1,3 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to J.Z.H. (Email: jesper.haeggstrom@ki.se), S.E. (Email: said.eshaghi@ki.se) and P.N. (Email: par.nordlund@ki.se).

Abstract

Cysteinyl leukotrienes are key mediators in inflammation and have an important role in acute and chronic inflammatory diseases of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, in particular bronchial asthma. In the biosynthesis of cysteinyl leukotrienes, conversion of arachidonic acid forms the unstable epoxide leukotriene A₄ (LTA₄). This intermediate is conjugated with glutathione (GSH) to produce leukotriene C₄ (LTC₄) in a reaction catalysed by LTC₄ synthase¹: this reaction is the key step in cysteinyl leukotriene formation. Here we present the crystal structure of the human LTC₄ synthase in its apo and GSH-complexed forms to 2.00 and 2.15 Å resolution, respectively. The structure reveals a homotrimer, where each monomer is composed of four transmembrane segments. The structure of the enzyme in complex with substrate reveals that the active site enforces a horseshoe-shaped conformation on GSH, and effectively positions the thiol group for activation by a nearby arginine at the membrane–enzyme interface. In addition, the structure provides a model for how the -end of the lipophilic co-substrate is pinned at one end of a hydrophobic cleft, providing a molecular 'ruler' to align the reactive epoxide at the thiol of glutathione. This provides new structural insights into the mechanism of LTC₄ formation, and also suggests that the observed binding and activation of GSH might be common for a family of homologous proteins important for inflammatory and detoxification responses.

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