The further conversion of an arachidonic acid hydroperoxide to a leukotriene A (LTA) type epoxide by specific lipoxygenase (LOX) enzymes constitutes a key step in inflammatory mediator biosynthesis. Whereas mammalian 5-LOX transforms its primary product (5S-hydroperoxyeicosatetraenoic acid; 5S-HPETE) almost exclusively to LTA 4 , the model enzyme, soybean LOX-1, normally produces no detectable leukotrienes and instead further oxygenates its primary product 15S-HPETE to 5,15-and 8,15-dihydroperoxides. Mammalian 15-LOX-1 displays both types of activity. We reasoned that availability of molecular oxygen within the LOX active site favors oxygenation, whereas lack of O 2 promotes LTA epoxide synthesis. To test this, we reacted 15S-HPETE with soybean LOX-1 under anaerobic conditions and identified the products by high pressure liquid chromatography, UV, mass spectrometry, and NMR. Among the products, we identified a pair of 8,15-dihydroxy diastereomers with all-transconjugated trienes that incorporated 18 O from H 2 18 O at C-8, indicative of the formation of 14,15-LTA 4 . A pair of 5,15-dihydroxy diastereomers containing two trans,trans-conjugated dienes (6E,8E,11E,13E) and that incorporated 18 O from H 2 18 O at C-5 was deduced to arise from hydrolysis of a novel epoxide containing a cyclopropyl ring, 14,15-epoxy-[9,10,11-cyclopropyl]-eicosa-5Z,7E,13E-trienoic acid. Also identified was the ␦-lactone of the 5,15-diol, a derivative that exhibited no 18 O incorporation due to its formation by intramolecular reaction of the carboxyl anion with the proposed epoxide intermediate. Our results support a model in which access to molecular oxygen within the active site directs the outcome from competing pathways in the secondary reactions of lipoxygenases.
Lipoxygenases (LOX)2 are named for their oxygenase activity with polyunsaturated fatty acids, yet they also catalyze other types of reaction. One of the most important in a biological context is leukocyte 5-LOX-catalyzed further conversion of the hydroperoxide product 5S-HPETE to leukotriene A 4 (LTA 4 ) (1). LTA 4 , an unstable epoxide, will then be subject to metabolism of downstream enzymes in the pathway to more stable and biologically active LTs, including the dihydroxy LTB 4 and the peptidyl LTC 4 , LTD 4 , and LTE 4 (2). Parallels of the LTA synthase activity of 5-LOX also exist in some other LOX enzymes. Mammalian 15-LOX-1, for example, can further convert 15S-HPETE to a structural analogue of LTA 4 , named 14,15-LTA 4 based on the position of the epoxide group between C-14 and C-15 (3,4). This 14,15-epoxide was recently given the name of eoxin A 4 on account of its production by eosinophils and its further transformation, analogous to LTA 4 , to a series of biologically active peptidyl derivatives, 14,15-LTC 4 , -LTD 4 , and -LTE 4 (eoxins C 4 , D 4 , and E 4 ) (5).Despite the general parallels between leukocyte 5-LOX and mammalian 15-LOX-1 within the physiological context, the two enzymes exhibit notable differences in their reactions toward 5S-HPETE and 15S-HPETE...