Coral allene oxide synthase (cAOS), a fusion protein with 8R-lipoxygenase in Plexaura homomalla, is a hemoprotein with sequence similarity to catalases. cAOS reacts rapidly with the oxidant peracetic acid to form heme compound I and intermediate II. Concomitantly, an electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) signal with tyrosyl radical-like features, centered at a g-value of 2.004-2.005, is formed. The radical is identified as tyrosyl by changes in EPR spectra when deuterated tyrosine is incorporated in cAOS. The radical location in cAOS is determined by mutagenesis of Y193 and Y209. Upon oxidation, native cAOS and mutant Y209F exhibit the same radical spectrum, but no significant tyrosine radical forms in mutant Y193H, implicating Y193 as the radical site in native cAOS. Estimates of the side chain torsion angles for the radical at Y193, based on the β-proton isotropic EPR hyperfine splitting, A iso , are θ 1 = 21 to 30° and θ 2 = −99 to −90°. The results show that cAOS can cleave nonsubstrate hydroperoxides by a heterolytic path, although a homolytic course is likely taken in converting the normal substrate, 8R-hydroperoxyeicosatetraenoic acid (8R-HpETE), to product. Coral AOS achieves specificity for the allene oxide formed by selection of the homolytic pathway normally, while it inactivates by the heterolytic path with nonoptimal substrates. Accordingly, with the nonoptimal substrate, 13R-hydroperoxyoctadecadienoic acid (13R-HpODE), mutant Y193H is inactivated after turning over significantly fewer substrate molecules than required to inactivate native cAOS or the Y209F mutant because it cannot absorb oxidizing equivalents by forming a radical at Y193. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) 1 are rapidly converted to cell signaling molecules in multistep syntheses involving an initial lipoxygenase or prostaglandin synthase step, followed by further enzymatic conversions (1-3). These multistep syntheses are regulated by localization of the enzymes in subcellular compartments and by protein-protein associations. Examples include synthesis of leukotriene C 4 at the nuclear envelope of leukocytes (4) and synthesis of jasmonic acid by steps which are thought to begin in chloroplasts and to be completed in peroxisomes of green plant cells (5). A fusion protein identified in the coral Plexaura homomalla represents a third mode of regulation, in which an N-terminal catalaselike domain is fused to an 8R-lipoxygenase domain (6). The N-terminal domain (44 kDa) has allene oxide synthase (cAOS) activity with the 8R-hydroperoxide of arachidonic acid (8R- † This research was supported by National Institutes of Health Grant GM36232 (to B.J.G.).* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Phone: (850) 644-8547. Fax: (850) 644-8547. E-mail: gaffney@bio.fsu.edu.. ‡ These authors contributed equally.1 Abbreviations: cAOS, coral allene oxide synthase; BLC, bovine liver catalase; BSA, bovine serum albumin; CYP, cytochrome P450; DES, divinyl ether synthase; EPR, electron paramagnetic resonance; 8R-HpETE, 8R-hydroperoxy-9E,11Z-ei...