Allosteric regulation of an essential trypanosome polyamine biosynthetic enzyme by a catalytically dead homolog.

ABSTRACT: African sleeping sickness is a fatal disease that is caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei. Polyamine biosynthesis is an essential pathway in the parasite and is a validated drug target for treatment of the disease. S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (AdoMetDC) catalyzes a key step in polyamine biosynthesis. Here, we show that trypanosomatids uniquely contain both a functional AdoMetDC and a paralog designated prozyme that has lost catalytic activity. The T. brucei prozyme forms a high-affinity heterodimer with AdoMetDC that stimulates its activity by 1,200-fold. Both genes are expressed in T. brucei, and analysis of AdoMetDC activity in T. brucei extracts supports the finding that the heterodimer is the functional enzyme in vivo. Thus, prozyme has evolved to be a catalytical

SUBMITTER: Willert EK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1895940 | biostudies-literature | 2007 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature