A new colorimetric assay for glutathione transferase-catalyzed halogen ion release for high-throughput screening

Glutathione transferases (GSTs; EC 2.5.1.18) form a group of multifunctional enzymes catalyzing the conjugation of a broad range of toxicologically important halogenated compounds to the tripeptide glutathione (GSH) with concomitant halogen ion release. In the present work, a rapid quantitative screening method for GSTs based on colorimetric measurement of halogen ions released from halogenated xenobiotics was developed. The assay is based on the color formation resulting from the reaction of Hg(SCN)2 with the released halogen ion of the substrate in the presence of Fe3+. The color intensity is proportional to the extent of the catalytic reaction, allowing a quantitative measurement of the GST catalytic activity. The assay can be performed using purified recombinant enzyme (the isoenzyme GmGSTU4-4 from Glycine max) or crude recombinant Escherichia coli cell lysates in 96-well microtiter plates. The suitability of the colorimetric assay for screening mutant GST variants derived from a directed evolution library was successfully evaluated. In addition, the assay was also used for screening GST synthetic inhibitors. It was concluded that the proposed colorimetric assay is selective and sensitive and allows the screening of large numbers of samples within a few minutes.