Multiple pathways for the formation of the g glutamyl peptides g glutamyl valine and g glutamyl valyl glycine in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
The role of glutathione (GSH) in eukaryotic cells is well known. The biosynthesis of this g glutamine tripeptide is well studied. However, other g glutamyl peptides were found in various sources, and the pathways of their formation were not always clear. The aim of the present study was to determine whether Saccharomyces cerevisiae can produce g glutamyl tripeptides other than GSH and to identify the pathways associated with the formation of these peptides. The tripeptide g Glu Val Gly (g EVG) was used as a model. Wild type yeast cells were shown to produce this peptide during cultivation in minimal synthetic medium. Two different biosynthetic pathways for this peptide were identified. The first pathway consisted of two steps. In the first step, g Glu Val (g EV) was produced from glutamate and valine by the glutamate cysteine ligase (GCL) Gsh1p or by the transfer of the g glutamyl group from GSH to valine by the g glutamyltransferase (GGT) Ecm38p or by the (Dug2p Dug3p)2 complex. In the next step, g EV was combined with glycine by the glutathione synthetase (GS) Gsh2p. The second pathway consisted of transfer of the g glutamyl residue from GSH to the dipeptide Val Gly (VG) This reaction was carried out mainly by the (Dug2p Dug3p)2 complex, whereas the GGT Ecm38p did not participate in this reaction. The contribution of each of these two pathways to the intracellular pool of g EVG was dependent on cultivation conditions. In this work, we also found that Dug1p, previously identified as a Cys Gly dipeptidase, played an essential role in the hydrolysis of the dipeptide VG in yeast cells. It was also demonstrated that g EV and g EVG could be effectively imported from the medium and that g EVG was imported by Opt1p, known to be a GSH importer. Our results demonstrated that g glutamyl peptides, particularly g EVG, are produced in yeast as products of several physiologically important reactions and are therefore natural components of yeast cells.
PloS one