Polyol specificity of recombinant Arabidopsis thaliana sorbitol dehydrogenase studied by enzyme kinetics and in silico modeling

© 2015 Aguayo, Cáceres, Fuentealba, Muñoz, Stange, Cabrera and Handford. Polyols are enzymatically-produced plant compounds which can act as compatible solutes during periods of abiotic stress. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide+-dependent SORBITOL DEHYDROGENASE (SDH, E. C. 1.1.1.14) from Arabidopsis thaliana L. sorbitol dehydrogenase (AtSDH) is capable of oxidizing several polyols including sorbitol, ribitol, and xylitol. In the present study, enzymatic assays using recombinant AtSDH demonstrated a higher specificity constant for xylitol compared to sorbitol and ribitol, all of which are C2 (S) and C4 (R) polyols. Enzyme activity was reduced by preincubation with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, indicating a requirement for zinc ions. In humans, it has been proposed that sorbitol becomes part of a pentahedric coordination sphere of the catalytic zinc during the reaction mechanism. In order to determine the validity of this pentahedric coordination model in a plant SDH, homology modeli