Introduction
This enzyme belongs to the family of oxidoreductases, specifically those acting on single donors with O2 as oxidant and incorporation of two atoms of oxygen into the substrate (oxygenases). The oxygen incorporated need not be derived from O2. This family of enzymes includes tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase (TDO, also known as tryptophan oxygenase and L-tryptophan pyrrolase) and indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO, also known as tryptophan pyrrolase). These two enzymes are oxidoreductase enzymes that contain one noncovalently bound iron–protoporphyrin IX per monomer. These enzymes catalyze the dioxygenation of L-tryptophan (L-Trp) to N-formyl-L-kynurenine in the first and rate-limiting step of the kynurenine pathway.
The same family of enzymes also includes sIDO from Shewanella oneidensis and PrnB, the second enzyme in the pyrrolnitrin biosynthesis pathway from Pseudomonas fluorescens, although dioxygenase activity has not been demonstrated for either as yet. Recently, a new enzyme with the ability to catalyze L-tryptophan dioxygenation, INDOL1, was identified.
Tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase was initially discovered in the 1930s and is found in both eukaryotes (human, rat, and rabbit) and prokaryotes (Xanthomonas campestris, and P. fluorescens) Expression of tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase in mammals is normally restricted to the liver, but it has been identified in the brain and epididymis of some species, and, in some tissues, its production can be induced in response to stimuli.
Read more about this topic: Tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase
Famous quotes containing the word introduction:
“Such is oftenest the young man’s introduction to the forest, and the most original part of himself. He goes thither at first as a hunter and fisher, until at last, if he has the seeds of a better life in him, he distinguishes his proper objects, as a poet or naturalist it may be, and leaves the gun and fish-pole behind. The mass of men are still and always young in this respect.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The role of the stepmother is the most difficult of all, because you can’t ever just be. You’re constantly being tested—by the children, the neighbors, your husband, the relatives, old friends who knew the children’s parents in their first marriage, and by yourself.”
—Anonymous Stepparent. Making It as a Stepparent, by Claire Berman, introduction (1980, repr. 1986)
“For better or worse, stepparenting is self-conscious parenting. You’re damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.”
—Anonymous Parent. Making It as a Stepparent, by Claire Berman, introduction (1980, repr. 1986)