INACTIVATION OF MOUSE-LIVER GLUTATHIONE-S-TRANSFERASE YFYF (PI CLASS) BY ETHACRYNIC-ACID AND 5,5'-DITHIOBIS-(2-NITROBENZOIC ACID)

Mouse liver glutathione S-transferase YfYf (Pi class) reacts with [C-14]ethacrynic acid to form a covalent adduct with a stoichiometry of 1 mol per mol of subunit. Proteolytic digestion of the enzyme-[C-14]ethacrynic acid adduct with V8 protease produced an 11 kDa fragment containing radioactivity. Sequencing revealed this to be an N-terminal peptide (minus the first 15 residues, terminating at Glu-112) which contains only one cysteine residue (Cys-47). This is tentatively identified as the site of ethacrynic attachment. Kinetic studies reveal that glutathione S-conjugates protect against inactivation by ethacrynic acid, but the level of protection is not consistent with their potency as product inhibitors. A model is proposed in which glutathione S-conjugates and ethacrynic acid compete for the free enzyme, and a second molecule of ethacrynic acid reacts covalently with the enzyme-ethacrynic acid complex. The native protein contains one thiol reactive with 5,5'-dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid) at neutral pH. The resultant mixed disulphide, like the ethacrynic acid adduct, is inactive, but treatment with cyanide (which incorporates on a mol for mol basis) restores activity to 35% of that of the native enzyme.