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Renalase is a recently discovered secretory protein involved in the regulation of blood pressure. Cells synthesize all known isoforms of human renalase (1 and 2) as flavoproteins. Accommodation of FAD in the renalase protein requires the presence of its N-terminal peptide. However, in secretory proteins, such peptides are usually cleaved during their export from the cell. In the present study, we have isolated human renalase from urinary samples of healthy volunteers and human recombinant renalases 1 and 2 expressed in Escherichia coli cells. In these proteins, we investigated the presence of the renalase N-terminal peptide and the FAD cofactor and performed computer-aided molecular analysis of the renalase crystal structure to evaluate possible consequences of removal of the N-terminal peptide. In contrast to human recombinant renalase isoforms 1 and 2 containing non-covalently bound FAD and clearly detectable N-terminal peptide, renalase purified from human urine lacks both the N-terminal signal peptide and FAD. The computer-aided analysis indicates that the removal of this peptide results in inability of the truncated renalase to bind the FAD cofactor. Thus, our results indicate that human renalase secreted in urine lacks its N-terminal peptide, and therefore catalytic activities of urinary renalase reported in the literature cannot be attributed to FAD-dependent mechanisms. We suggest that FAD-dependent catalytic functions are intrinsic properties of intracellular renalases, whereas extracellular renalases act in FAD- and possibly catalytic-independent manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protoporphyrinogen IX oxidase (PPO), the last common enzyme of haem and chlorophyll biosynthesis, catalyses the oxidation of protoporphyrinogen IX to protoporphyrin IX. The membrane-embedded flavoprotein is the target of a large class of herbicides. In humans, a defect in PPO is responsible for the dominantly inherited disease variegate porphyria. Here we present the crystal structure of mitochondrial PPO from tobacco complexed with a phenyl-pyrazol inhibitor. PPO forms a loosely associated dimer and folds into an FAD-binding domain of the p-hydroxybenzoate-hydrolase fold and a substrate-binding domain that enclose a narrow active site cavity beneath the FAD and an a-helical membrane-binding domain. The active site architecture suggests a specific substrate-binding mode compatible with the unusual six-electron oxidation. The membrane-binding domains can be docked onto the dimeric structure of human ferrochelatase, the next enzyme in haem biosynthesis, embedded in the opposite side of the membrane. This modelled transmembrane complex provides a structural explanation for the uncoupling of haem biosynthesis observed in variegate porphyria patients and in plants after inhibiting PPO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]