Human chymase and rat chymase-1 are mast cell serine proteases involved in angiotensin II (Ang II) formation and degradation, respectively. Previous studies indicate that both these enzymes have similar P 1 and P 2 preferences, which are the major determinants of specificity. Surprisingly, despite the occurrence of optimal P 2 and P 1 residues at the Phe 82 . The overall effect of this P 1 Ile interaction on catalytic efficiency, however, is influenced by the structure of the acyl group and that of the other leaving group residues. For human chymase, the P 1 Ile interaction is not productive. Thus, specificity for Ang II formation versus Ang II degradation by these chymases is produced through synergistic interactions between acyl or leaving group residues as well as between the acyl and leaving groups. These observations indicate that nonadditive interactions between the extended substrate binding site of human chymase or rat chymase-1 and the substrate are best explained if the entire binding site is taken as an entity rather than as a collection of distinct subsites.
Chymases1 are a family of mast cell serine proteinases involved in such diverse functions as inflammation (1), parasite expulsion (2), and peptide hormone processing (3-5). These serine proteinases are synthesized as inactive precursors but are stored in secretory granules as active enzymes (6). Recent phylogenetic evidence indicates that mammalian chymases occur as two distinct isoenzyme groups, ␣ and  (7). ␣-Chymases include human chymase, dog chymase, mouse chymase-5, rat chymase-3, and gerbil chymase-2 (7, 8). -Chymases include rat chymase-1 and -2, mouse chymase-1, -2, -4, and -L, and gerbil chymase-1 (7,8 . Early comparative studies on chymase specificities by Powers et al. (11) using peptide 4-nitroanilide substrates indicated that the S 1 to S 4 subsites 3 of human chymase and rat chymase-1 are similar. In both human chymase and rat chymase-1, the key features for optimal acyl group interactions are a P 1 hydrophobic aromatic residue, a P 2 hydrophobic residue or Pro, and a P 3 hydrophobic residue. S 4 subsite interactions are less restrictive. Thus, these studies could not explain why human chymase is an Ang II-forming enzyme and rat chymase-1 is an angiotensinase (3, 5) and suggested to us that enzyme-substrate interactions other than those occurring at the S 1 to S 4 subsites of these enzymes could be important for determining specificity. In a previous paper we explored the S 1 subsite as well as the SЈ 1 to SЈ 2 subsites of human chymase using decapeptide Ang I analogs. We showed that a P 1 hydrophobic aromatic residue was necessary but that several non-* This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grant HL44201. The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.‡ To whom correspondence should be addressed: Dept. of Molecular Cardiology, FF30,...