Sequence similarity of mammalian epoxide hydrolases to the bacterial haloalkane dehalogenase and other related proteins Implication for the potential catalytic mechanism of enzymatic epoxide hydrolysis

Direct comparison of the amino acid sequences of microsomal and soluble epoxide hydrolase superficially indicates that these enzymes are unrelated. Both proteins, however, share significant sequence similarity to a bacterial haloalkane dehalogenase that has earlier been shown to belong to the alpha/beta hydrolase fold family of enzymes. The catalytic mechanism for the dehalogenase has been elucidated in detail [Verschueren et al. (1993) Nature 363, 693-698] and proceeds via an ester intermediate where the substrate is covalently bound to the enzyme. From these observations we conclude (i) that microsomal and soluble epoxide hydrolase are distantly related enzymes that have evolved from a co…

Differential subcellular localization of endogenous and transfected soluble epoxide hydrolase in mammalian cells: evidence for isozyme variants

AbstractEndogenous, constitutive soluble epoxide hydrolase in mice 3T3 cells was localized via immunofluorescence microscopy exclusively in peroxisomes, whereas transiently expressed mouse soluble epoxide hydrolase (from clofibrate-treated liver) accumulated only in the cytosol of 3T3 and HeLa cells. When the C-terminal Ile of mouse soluble epoxide hydrolase was mutated to generate a prototypic putative type 1 PTS (-SKI to -SKL), the enzyme targeted to peroxisomes. The possibility that soluble epoxide hydrolase-SKI was sorted slowly to peroxiosmes from the cytosol was examined by stably expressing rat soluble epoxide hydrolase-SKI appended to the green fluorescent protein. Green fluorescent…

The enzymatic mechanism of epoxide hydrolysis

Isolation of a Putative Hydroxyacyl Enzyme Intermediate of an Epoxide Hydrolase

A putative covalent, alpha-hydroxyacyl intermediate was isolated by the brief exposure of murine soluble epoxide hydrolase to its substrate. The reaction was reversed by time and blocked by competitive inhibitors. The formation of the intermediate was dependent upon the concentration of the enzyme and was increased by incubation under acidic conditions. The structure of the intermediate was supported by microchemical methods.