Homo- and hetero-dimerization of human UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 2B7 (UGT2B7) wild type and its allelic variants affect zidovudine glucuronidation activity

Most human UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT; EC 2.4.1.17) genes contain non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs) which cause amino acid substitutions. Allelic variants caused by nsSNPs may exhibit absent or reduced enzyme activity. UGT2B7 is one of the most important UGTs that glucuronidates abundant endobiotics and xenobiotics, such as estriol, morphine, and anticancer drugs. Three nsSNPs, UGT2B7*71S (211G>T), UGT2B7*2 (802C>T) and UGT2B7*5 (1192G>A) are observed in the UGT2B7 gene, and they code for allozymes UGT2B7*71S (A71S), UGT2B7*2 (H268Y), and UGT2B7*5 (D398N). UGT2B7 has been observed to form oligomers that affect its enzymatic activity and in this study, we investigated protein-protein interactions among UGT2B7 allozymes wild type (WT), A71S, H268Y and D398N, by performing a systematic quantitative fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) analysis in combination with co-immunoprecipitation assay. Quantitative FRET analysis revealed that UGT2B7 allozymes formed homo- and hetero-dimers and showed distinct features in donor-acceptor distances. Both codon 71 and codon 268 in the N-terminal domain were involved in the dimeric interaction. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments also proved that UGT2B7 allozymes formed stable dimers. The glucuronidation activities of homo- and hetero-dimers were further tested with zidovudine as the substrate. An increase in activity was observed when WT hetero-dimerized with A71S compared with homo-dimers, while both H268Y and D398N impaired the activity of WT and A71S by forming hetero-dimers. In addition, zidovudine glucuronidation activity is associated with FRET distance. These findings provide insights into the consequences of amino acid substitution in UGT2B7 on zidovudine glucuronidation and the association between protein-protein interaction and glucuronidation activity.