Alpha-class Glutathione Transferases from Pig: a Comparative Study

Abstract: Glutathione transferases (GSTs, EC 2.5.1.18) possess multiple functions and have potential applications in biotechnology. This thesis contributes to knowledge about glutathione transferases from Sus scrofa (pig). The study is needed for better understanding of biochemical processes in this species and is desirable for drug development, for food industry research and in medicine.A primary role of GSTs is detoxication of electrophilic compounds. Our study presents porcine GST A1-1 as a detoxication enzyme expressed in many tissues, in particular adipose tissue, liver and pituitary gland. Based on comparison of activity and expression profiles, this enzyme can be expected to function in vivo similarly to human GST A2-2 (Paper II).In addition to its protective function, human GST A3-3 is an efficient steroid isomerase and contributes to the biosynthesis of steroid hormones in vivo. We characterized a porcine enzyme, pGST A2-2, displaying high steroid-isomerase activity and resembling hGST A3-3 in other properties as well. High levels of pGST A2-2 expression were found in ovary, testis and liver. The properties of porcine enzyme strengthen the notion that particular GSTs play an important role in steroidogenesis (Paper I).Combination of time-dependent and enzyme concentration-dependent losses of activity as well as the choice of the organic solvent for substrates were found to cause irreproducibility of activity measurements of GSTs. Enzyme adsorption to surfaces was found to be the main explanation of high variability of activity values of porcine GST A2-2 and human Alpha-class GSTs reported in the literature. Several approaches to improved functional comparison of highly active GSTs were proposed (Paper III).