Dityrosine formation is impaired by tyrosine phosphorylation

Using pure tyrosine and phosphotyrosine we have recently shown that phosphotyrosine is unable to form peroxidase catalyzed dimers (1989, FEBS Lett. 255, 395-397). In the present report, the effect of phosphotyrosine residues within a protein structure on dityrosine formation was studied using casein as a model protein. Dephosphorylation of casein resulted in a dose and time dependent increased synthesis of dityrosines following treatment with peroxidase/H2O2. The extent of crosslink formation was inversely related to the amount of phosphorylated tyrosine residues as quantitated by immunoblotting. Thus, phosphorylation of tyrosine residues could play a regulatory role in protein-crosslinking where dityrosine bonds are involved.