Protein–protein interactions of human glyoxalase II: findings of a reliable docking protocol

Glyoxalase II (GlxII) is an antioxidant glutathione-dependent enzyme, which catalyzes the hydrolysis of S-D-lactoylglutathione to form D-lactic acid and glutathione (GSH). The last product is the most important thiol reducing agent present in all eukaryotic cells that have mitochondria and chloroplasts. It is generally known that GSH plays a crucial role not only in the cellular redox state but also in various cellular processes. One of them is protein S-glutathionylation, a process that can occur through an oxidation reaction of proteins’ thiol groups by GSH. Changes in protein S-glutathionylation have been associated with a range of human diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. Within a major project aimed at elucidating the role of GlxII in the mechanism of S-glutathionylation, a reliable computational protocol consisting of a protein–protein docking approach followed by atomistic Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations was developed and it was applied to the prediction of molecular associations between human GlxII (in the presence and absence of GSH) and some proteins that are known to be S-glutathionylated in vitro, such as actin, malate dehydrogenase (MDH) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). The computational results show a high propensity of GlxII to interact with actin and MDH through its active site and a high stability of the GlxII–protein systems when GSH is present. Moreover, close proximities of GSH with actin and MDH cysteine residues have been found, suggesting that GlxII could be able to perform protein S-glutathionylation by using the GSH molecule present in its catalytic site.