Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

NMR structures of phospholipase A2 reveal conformational changes during interfacial activation

Abstract

It has long been proposed that the higher activity of phospholipase A2 (PLA2) for substrates presented as multimolecular aggregates compared to dispersed molecules (interfacial activation) arises due to a conformational change in the enzyme. X-ray studies have, however, failed to identify any such change. Here we report the solution structures of porcine pancreatic PLA2 both free and as a ternary complex with micelles and a competitive inhibitor. Important differences between these structures indicate that conformational changes may play an important role in the mechanism of interfacial activation in PLA2s.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Dennis, E.A. Phospholipase A2 mechanism: Inhibition and role in arachidonic acid release. Drug. Dev. Res. 10, 205–220 (1987).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Irvine, R.F. How is the level of free arachidonic acid controlled in mammalian cells? Biochem. J. 204, 3–16 (1982).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Dennis, E.A. Regulation of eicosanoid production: role of phospholipases and inhibitors. Biotech. 5, 1294–1300 (1987).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Snyder, F. Chemical and biochemical aspects or “platelet activating factor”, a novel class of actylated ether-linked choline-phospholipids. Med. Res. Rev. 5, 107–140 (1985).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Verger, R. & de Haas, G. H. Interfacial enzyme kinetics of lipolysis. A. Rev. Biophys. Bioeng. 5, 77–119 (1976).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Volwerk, J.J. & de Haas, G. H., Molecular Biology of Lipid-proteininteractions (eds. Griffith, O.H. & Jost, P.C.) 69–149 (Wiley, New York; 1982).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Dijkstra, B.W., Renetseder, R., Kalk, K.H., Hol, W.G.J. & Drenth,J. Structure of porcine pancreatic phospholipase A2 at 2.6 Å resolution and comparison with bovine phospholipase A2 . J. molec. Biol. 168, 163–179 (1983).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Thunnissen, M.M.G.M. et al. X-ray structure of phospholipase A2 complexed with a substrate-derived inhibitor. Nature 374, 689–691 (1990).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Scott, D.L., White, S.P., Otwinowski, Z., Yuan, K., Gelb, M.H. & Sigler, P.B. Interfacial catalysis: the mechanism of phospholipase A2 . Science 250, 1541–1546 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Scott, D.L., Otwinowski, Z., Gelb, M.H. & Sigler, P.B. Crystal structure of a bee-venom phospholipase A2 in a complex with a transition-state analogue. Science 250, 1563–1566 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. White, S.P., Scott, D.L., Otwinowski, Z., Gelb, M.H. & Sigler, P.B. Crystal structure of cobra-venom phospholipase A2 in a complex with a transition-state analogue. Science 250, 1560–1563 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Yu, L. & Dennis, E.A. Critical role of a hydrogen bond in the interaction of phospholipase A2 with transition-state and substrate analogues. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 88, 9325–9329 (1991).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Finzel, B.C., Ohlendorf, D.H., Weber, P.C. & Salemme, F.R. independent crystallographic refinement of porcine pancreatic phospholipase A2 at 2.4 Å resolution. Acta crystallogr. B47, 558–559 (1991).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Brunie, S., Bolin, J., Gewirth, D. & Sigler, P.B. The refined crystal structure of dimeric phospholipase A2 at 2.5 Å. J. biol. Chem. 260, 9742 9749 (1985).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Renetseder, R., Brunie, S., Dijkstra, B.W., Drenth, J. & Sigler, P.B. A comparison of the crystal structures of phospholipase A2 from bovine pancreas and Crotalus atrox snake venom.J. biol. Chem. 260, 11627–11634 (1985).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Dijkstra, B.W., Kalk, K.H., Hoi, W.G.J. & Drenth, J. tructure of bovine pancreatic phospholipase A2 at 1.7 Å resolution. J. molec. Biol. 147, 97–123 (1981).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Dijkstra, B.W., van Nes, G.J.H., Kalk, K.H., Brandenburg, N.P., Hol, W.G.J. & Drenth, J. The structure of bovine prophospholipase A2 at 3.0 Å resolution. Acta crystallogr. B38, 793–799 (1982).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Dijkstra, B.W., Kalk, K.H., Drenth, J., de Haas, G H., Egmond, M.R., & Slotboom, A.J. Role of the N-terminus in the interaction of pancreatic phospholipase A2 with aggregated substrates. Properties and crystal structure of transaminated phospholipase A2 . Biochemistry 23, 2759–2766 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Slotboom, A.J. & de Haas, G H. Specific transformations at the N-terminal region of phospholipase A2 . Biochemistry 14, 5394–5399 (1975).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Verheij, H.M., Egmond, M.R. & de Haas, G. H. Chemical modification of the α-amino group in snake venom phospholipases A2 . Biochemistry 20, 94–99 (1981).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Peters, A.R. et al. Conformational changes in phospholipase A2 upon binding to micellar interfaces in the absence and presence of competitive inhibitors. A1H and 15N NMR study. Biochemistry 31, 10024–10030 (1992).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Sarda, L. & Desnuelle, P. Action de la lipase pancreatique sur les esters en emulsion. Biochim. biophys. Acta 30, 513–520 (1958).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Brady, I. et al. A serine protease triad forms the catalytic centre of a triacylglycerol lipase. Nature 343, 767–770 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Brzozowski, A.M. et al. A model for interfacial activation in lipases from the structure of a fungal lipase-inhibitor complex. Nature 351, 491–494 (1991).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. van Tilbeurgh, H., Egloff, M.-P., Martinez, C., Rugani, N., Verger, R. & Cambillau, C. Interfacial activation of the lipase-procolipase complex by mixed micelles revealed by X-ray crystallography. Nature 362, 814–820 (1993).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Senn, H., Werner, B., Messerle, B.A., Weber, C., Traber, R. & Wuthrich, K. Stereospecific assignment of the methyl 1H NMR lines of valine and leucine in polypeptides by nonrandom 13C labelling. FEBS Letts 249, 113–118 (1989).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Kay, L.E. & Bax, A. New methods for the measurement of NH-CαH coupling constants in 15N-labeled proteins. J. magn. Res. 86, 110–126 (1989).

    Google Scholar 

  28. Pardi, A., Billeter, M. & Wüthrich, K. Calibration of the angular dependence of the amide proton-Cα proton coupling constants, 3JHNα, in a globular protein. J. molec. Biol. 180, 741–747 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Havel, T.F. An evaluation of computational strategies for use in the determination of protein structure from distance constraints obtained by nuclear magnetic resonance. Prog. Biophys. molec. Biol. 56, 43–78 (1991).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. de Haas, G.H., Dijkman, R., Ransac, S. & Verger, R. Competitive inhibition of lipolytic enzymes . IV. Structural details of acylamino phospholipid analogues important for the potent inhibitory effects on pancreatic phospholipase A2 . Biochim. biophys. Acta 1046, 249–257 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Kraulis, P.J. Molscript: a program to produce both detailed and schematic plots for protein structures. J. appl. Crystallogr. 24, 946–950 (1991).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Morris, A.L., MacArthur, M.W., Hutchinson, G.E. & Thornton, J.M. Stereochemical quality of protein structure coordinates. Proteins 12, 345–364 (1992).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

den Berg, B., Tessari, M., Boelens, R. et al. NMR structures of phospholipase A2 reveal conformational changes during interfacial activation. Nat Struct Mol Biol 2, 402–406 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsb0595-402

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nsb0595-402

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing