Glutaminase
Glutaminase
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Glutaminase

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Glutaminase

Glutaminase (EC 3.5.1.2, glutaminase I, L-glutaminase, glutamine aminohydrolase) is an amidohydrolase enzyme that generates glutamate from glutamine. Glutaminase has tissue-specific isoenzymes. Glutaminase has an important role in glial cells.

Glutaminase catalyzes the following reaction:

It is useful in the food industry, as it converts free glutamine into the umami-tasting free glutamate.

Glutaminase is expressed and active in periportal hepatocytes, where it generates ammonium for urea synthesis, as does glutamate dehydrogenase. Glutaminase is also expressed in the epithelial cells of the renal tubules, where the produced ammonia is excreted as ammonium ions. This excretion of ammonium ions is an important mechanism of renal acid-base regulation. During chronic acidosis, glutaminase is induced in the kidney, which leads to an increase in the amount of ammonium ions excreted. Glutaminase can also be found in the intestines, whereby hepatic portal ammonia can reach as high as 0.26 mM (compared to an arterial blood ammonia of 0.02 mM).

One of the most important roles of glutaminase is found in the axonal terminals of neurons in the central nervous system. Glutamate is the most abundantly used excitatory neurotransmitter in the CNS. After being released into the synapse for neurotransmission, glutamate is rapidly taken up by nearby astrocytes, which convert it to glutamine. This glutamine is then supplied to the presynaptic terminals of the neurons, where glutaminases convert it back to glutamate for loading into synaptic vesicles. Although both "kidney-type" (GLS1) and "liver-type" (GLS2) glutaminases are expressed in brain, GLS2 has been reported to exist only in cellular nuclei in CNS neurons.

ADP is the strongest adenine nucleotide activator of glutaminase. Studies have also suggested ADP lowered the Km for glutamine and increased the Vmax. They found that these effects were increased even more when ATP was present.

The end product of the glutaminase reaction, glutamate, is a strong inhibitor of the reaction. Changes in glutamate dehydrogenase, which converts glutamate to 2-oxoglutarate and thereby decreases intramitochondrial glutamate levels, are thereby an important regulatory mechanism of glutaminase activity.

Phosphate-activated mitochondrial glutaminase (GLS1) is suggested to be linked with elevated metabolism, decreased intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, and overall decreased DNA oxidation in both normal and stressed cells. It is suggested that GLS2's control of ROS levels facilitates "the ability of p53 to protect cells from accumulation of genomic damage and allows cells to survive after mild and repairable genotoxic stress."

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