Calcium modulates membrane association, positional specificity, and product distribution in dual positional specific maize lipoxygenase-1.

This study investigates how calcium modulates the properties of dual positional specific maize lipoxygenase-1, including its interaction with substrate, association with subcellular membrane and alteration of product distribution. Bioinformatic analyses identified Asp(38), Glu(127) and Glu(201) as putative calcium binding residues and Leu(37) as a flanking hydrophobic residue also potentially involved in calcium-mediated binding of the enzyme to subcellular membranes. Asp(38) and Leu(37) were shown to be important but not essential for calcium-mediated association of maize lipoxygenase-1 to subcellular membranes in vitro. Kinetic studies demonstrate that catalytic efficiency (Vmax/Km) shows a bell-shaped dependence on log of the molar ratio of substrate to unbound calcium. Calcium also modulates product distribution of the maize lipoxygenase-1 reaction, favoring 13-positional specificity and increasing the relative amount of (E,Z)-isomeric products. The results suggest that calcium regulates the maize lipoxygenase-1 reaction by binding to substrate, and by promoting binding of substrate to enzyme and association of maize lipoxygenase-1 to subcellular membranes.