2-methylacyl racemase: a coupled assay based on the use of pristanoyl-CoA oxidase/peroxidase and reinvestigation of its subcellular distribution in rat and human liver.

Because of the 2S-methyl-stereospecificity of the acyl-CoA oxidases acting on the CoA esters of 2-methyl-branched fatty carboxylates such as pristanic acid and the side chain of trihydroxycoprostanic acid (Van Veldhoven P.P., Croes K., Asselberghs S., Herdewijn P. and Mannaerts G.P. (1996) FEBS Lett. 388, 80-84), naturally occurring 2R-pristanic acid and 25R- (corresponding to 2R in the side chain) trihydroxycoprostanic acid, after activation to their CoA-esters, need to be racemized to the S-isomers before they can be degraded by peroxisomal beta-oxidation. A coupled assay to measure 2-methyl-acyl racemases was developed by using purified rat pristanoyl-CoA oxidase. Upon incubation of rat and human liver homogenates with 2R-methyl-pentadecanoyl-CoA, the formed 2S-methyl isomer was desaturated by an excess of added oxidase and the concomitant production of hydrogen peroxide was monitored by means of peroxidase in the presence of a suitable hydrogen donor. Application of this assay to subcellular fractions of rat liver revealed the presence of racemase activity not only in mitochondria, as described by Schmitz W., Albers C., Fingerhut R. and Conzelmann E. (Eur. J. Biochem. (1995) 231, 815-822), but also in peroxisomes and cytosol. A similar distribution was seen in human liver. In rat the highest activities were found in liver, followed by Harderian gland, kidney and intestinal mucosa.