Temperature adaptation of lactate dehydrogenase. Structural, functional and genetic aspects.

Comparison of the primary structures of thermophilic, mesophilic and psychrophilic lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) reveals a multitude of temperature-related amino acid substitutions. In the substitutions amino acid residues occurring preferentially in thermophilic, mesophilic (psychrophilic) LDH were found. On this basis, amino acid residues could be classified in an order from typical thermophilic (thermostabilizing) to typical mesophilic (thermolabilizing, increasing dynamics of the enzyme molecule) residues. The temperature-dependent ratio between thermostabilizing and thermolabilizing amino acid residues forms the basis for the specific structural and functional properties of thermophilic or mesophilic LDH. It is interesting that there appears to be a relationship between this order from thermophilic to mesophilic amino acid residues and the type of bases coding for these individual residues in the translation step of protein biosynthesis. Temperature-related amino acid substitutions are based on temperature-related base substitutions. A possible mechanism of temperature adaptation of LDH through alternative selection of thermophilic and mesophilic amino acid residues at the level of tRNA (anticodon)-mRNA (codon) interactions is discussed. These temperature-adaptation processes are evolutionary events in which the evolution and structure of the genetic code are involved.