NOX-like ROS production by glutathione reductase

Julia M Diaz; Xinying Shi

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.105093

NOX-like ROS production by glutathione reductase

iScience. 2022 Sep 8;25(10):105093. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105093. eCollection 2022 Oct 21.

Authors

Julia M Diaz¹, Xinying Shi¹

Affiliation

¹ Geosciences Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.

Abstract

In organisms from bacteria to mammals, NADPH oxidase (NOX) catalyzes the production of beneficial reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as superoxide (O₂ ^-). However, our previous research implicated glutathione reductase (GR), a canonical antioxidant enzyme, as a source of extracellular superoxide in the marine diatom Thalassiosira oceanica. Here, we expressed and characterized the two GR isoforms of T. oceanica. Both coupled the oxidation of NADPH, the native electron donor, to oxygen reduction, giving rise to superoxide in the absence of glutathione disulfide, the native electron acceptor. Superoxide production by ToGR1 exhibited similar kinetics as representative NOX enzymes, and inhibition assays agreed with prior organismal studies, supporting a physiological role. ToGR is similar to GR from human, yeast, and bacteria, suggesting that NOX-like ROS production by GR could be widespread. Yet unlike NOX, GR-mediated ROS production is independent of iron, which may provide an advantageous way of making ROS under micronutrient stress.

Keywords: Biocatalysis; Bioengineering; Earth sciences; Microbiology; Oceanography.