Urate oxidase (EC 1.7.3.3 or UOX) catalyzes the conversion of uric acid and gaseous molecular oxygen to 5-hydroxyisourate and hydrogen peroxide, in the absence of cofactor or particular metal cation. The functional enzyme is a homo-tetramer with four active sites located at dimeric interfaces.
The catalytic mechanism was investigated through a ternary complex formed between the enzyme, uric acid, and cyanide that stabilizes an intermediate state of the reaction. When uric acid is replaced by a competitive inhibitor, no complex with cyanide is formed.
The X-ray structure of this compulsory ternary complex led to a number of mechanistic evidences that support a sequential mechanism in which the two reagents, dioxygen and a water molecule, process through a common site located 3.3 Å above the mean plane of the ligand. This site is built by the side chains of Asn 254, and Thr 57, two conserved residues belonging to two different subunits of the homo-tetramer. The absence of a ternary complex between the enzyme, a competitive inhibitor, and cyanide suggests that cyanide inhibits the hydroxylation step of the reaction, after the initial formation of a hydroperoxyde type intermediate.
尿酸氧化酶(EC 1.7.3.3或UOX)在缺乏辅因子或特定金属阳离子的情况下,催化尿酸和气态分子氧的转化为5-羟基异尿酸和过氧化氢。功能性酶是一个由四个活性位点位于二聚界面的同源四聚体。
通过形成酶、尿酸和氰化物的三元复合物来研究催化机制,从而稳定反应的中间态。当使用竞争性抑制剂替换尿酸时,不会形成与氰化物的复合物。
这种强制性三元复合物的X射线结构提供了一些机械证据,支持顺序机制,其中两种试剂,双氧水和一个水分子,通过位于配体平均平面上方3.3Å的共同位点进行处理。该位点由Asn 254和Thr 57的侧链构建,这是属于同源四聚体的两个不同亚基的保守残基。酶、竞争性抑制剂和氰化物之间缺乏三元复合物表明,氰化物在反应的羟化步骤之后抑制反应,这是在形成过氧化氢类中间体之后的初始步骤。
Sex chromosomes have been repeatedly implicated in the process of speciation of black flies and other nemotocerans. Arguments are presented here against the case that frequent differences between species in their sex chromosomes are based on (i) different average rates of differentiation of sex-linked and autosomal loci or (ii) the fact that the X and Y chromosomes are less numerous than autosomal chromosomes and so are more subject to the effects of drift and the random fixation of chromosome rearrangements. The argument is made that speciation in black flies and many other groups is an adaptive process and that differentiated sex-chromosome systems play a role in this process.Key words: black flies, sex chromosomes, speciation, evolution.