Aspartic acid 320 is required for optimal activity of rat pancreatic cholesterol esterase

The acidic amino acid residue required for the catalytic activity of rat pancreatic cholesterol esterase has been identified in this study by sequence comparison with other serine esterases and by site-directed mutagenesis experiments. The sequence comparison studies identified 3 acidic residues in homologous domains between cholesterol esterase, acetylcholinesterase, cholinesterase, and Geotrichum candida lipase that may potentially be the catalytic acidic residue in these proteins. The role of Glu78, Asp79, and Asp320 in the catalytic activity of rat cholesterol esterase was then addressed by mutagenesis and expression of the cDNA. Results showed that replacement of Glu78 or Asp79 with alanine has no effect on the ability of the cholesterol esterase to hydrolyze the artificial water-soluble substrate p-nitrophenyl butyrate. In contrast, the Asp320-->Ala320 substitution abolished the enzyme activity of the cholesterol esterase. The specific requirement of Asp320 for optimal enzyme activity was demonstrated by substitution of the aspartic acid with glutamic acid, thus retaining the charge unit at this position. The Asp320-->Glu320 substitution resulted in an enzyme that displayed normal interaction with bile salt. However, catalytic activity of this mutagenized protein was reduced by approximately 50%. These results strongly suggested that aspartic acid 320 is an important component of the catalytic triad of pancreatic cholesterol esterase. The specific requirement of aspartic acid, instead of glutamic acid, for optimal activity is different from that of other members of the serine esterase gene family.