Studies on the mechanism of the iodination of tyrosine by lactoperoxidase.

Studies with lactoperoxidase showed that a highly reactive intermediate is produced (on the enzyme) from I- and H2O2 which then diffuses from the enzyme and very rapidly and indiscriminately iodinates any Tyr or peptides containing Tyr which are in the same solution. The evidence supporting these conclusions follows. 1) The rate followed the Michaelis-Menten pattern with I- and H2O2 while the concentration of Tyr peptides had no measurable effect on the rate; 2) the rates of reaction were independent of the type of peptide in which Tyr was located; 3) the amount of iodination which had occurred after the reaction had gone to completion and the amounts of monoiodination and diiodination after completion of the reaction were independent of the peptide type, the pH, the solvent polarity, or the ionic strength; 4) competition for reaction by two very different Tyr peptides depended only on their initial concentrations; and 5) iodination of a large protein occurred through a dialysis membrane. Free Tyr was iodinated at the same rate as Tyr peptides by lactoperoxidase, but monoiodotyrosine and m-fluorotyrosine were iodinated at one-half that rate. The results also showed that one can choose ratios of [peptide] to [H2O2] such that monoiodination is maximized relative to diiodination. It was also found that the iodination capacity of a mixture of I- and H2O2 with lactoperoxidase (when Tyr was absent) was only slowly dissipated. Finally, the results showed that lactoperoxidase can be used to brominate and chlorinate Tyr peptides at a slow rate.