Irreversible inactivation of soybean lipoxygenase-1 by hydrophobic thiols

Soybean lipoxygenase-1 is inactivated by micromolar concentrations of the following hydrophobic thiols: 1-octanethiol, 12(S)-mercapto-9(Z)-octadecenoic acid (S-12-HSODE), 12(R)-mercapto-9(Z)-octadecenoic acid (R-12-HSODE), and 12-mercaptooctadecanoic acid (12-HSODA). In each case, inactivation is time-dependent and not reversed by dilution or dialysis. Inactivation requires 13-hydroperoxy-9(Z),11(E)-octadecadienoic acid (13-HPOD), which suggests that it is specific for the ferric form of the enzyme. Lipoxygenase catalyzes an oxygenation reaction on each of the aforementioned thiols, as judged by the consumption of O(2). These reactions also require 13-HPOD. 1-Octanethiol is converted to 1-octanesulfonic acid, which was identified by GC/MS of its methyl ester. The rates of oxygen uptake for R- and S-12-HODE are about 5- and 2.5-fold higher than the rate with 1-octanethiol. The stoichiometries of inactivation imply that inactivation occurs on approximately 1 in 18 turnovers for 12-HSODA, 1 in 48 turnovers for 1-octanethiol, 1 in 63 turnovers for S-12-HSODE, and 1 in 240 turnovers for R-12-HSODE. These data imply that close resemblance to lipoxygenase substrates is not a crucial requirement for either oxidation or inactivation. Under the conditions of our experiments, inactivation was not observed with several more polar thiols: mercaptoethanol, dithiothreitol, L-cysteine, glutathione, N-acetylcysteamine, and captopril. The results imply that hydrophobic thiols irreversibly inactivate soybean lipoxygenase by a mechanism that involves oxidation at sulfur.