Gly188Arg substitution eliminates substrate inhibition in arachidonate 11R-lipoxygenase

Lipoxygenases (LOXs) are dioxygenases that catalyze the oxygenation of polyunsaturated fatty acids to hydroperoxyl derivates. These products are precursors for different lipid mediators which are associated with pathogenesis of various diseases such as asthma, atherosclerosis and cancer. Several LOXs suffer from substrate inhibition, a potential regulatory mechanism, yet it is unclear what is the cause of this phenomenon. One such enzyme is the coral 11R-LOX which displays a significant decrease in turnover rate at arachidonic acid concentrations above 30 μM. In this report, site-directed mutagenesis and inhibition assays were employed to shed light on the mechanism of substrate inhibition in 11R-LOX. We found that introduction of a positive charge to the active site entrance with Gly188Arg substitution completely eliminates the slow-down at higher substrate concentrations. Inhibition of 11R-LOX by its catalysis product, 11(R)-hydroperoxyeicosatetraenoic acid, suggests an uncompetitive mechanism. We reason that substrate inhibition in 11R-LOX is due to additional fatty acid binding by the enzyme:substrate complex at an allosteric site situated in the very vicinity of the active site entrance.