D-Amino acid oxidase (DAAO) is a FAD-containing flavoenzyme that catalyzes the oxidative deamination of D-isomers of neutral and polar amino acids. This enzymatic activity has been identified in most eukaryotic organisms, the only exception being plants. In the various organisms in which it does occur, DAAO fulfills distinct physiological functions: from a catabolic role in yeast cells, which allows them to grow on D-amino acids as carbon and energy sources, to a regulatory role in the human brain, where it controls the levels of the neuromodulator D-serine. Since 1935, DAAO has been the object of an astonishing number of investigations and has become a model for the dehydrogenase-oxidase class of flavoproteins. Structural and functional studies have suggested that specific physiological functions are implemented through the use of different structural elements that control access to the active site and substrate/product exchange. Current research is attempting to delineate the regulation of DAAO functions in the contest of complex biochemical and physiological networks.

Human genes coding for pLG72 and D-amino acid oxidase have recently been linked to the onset of schizophrenia. pLG72 was proposed as an activator of the human FAD-containing flavoprotein D-amino acid oxidase (hDAAO). In the brain this oxidizes D-serine, a potent activator of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor. We have investigated the mechanistic regulation of hDAAO by pLG72. Immunohistochemical analyses revealed that hDAAO and pLG72 are both expressed in astrocytes of the human cortex, where they most likely interact, considering their partial overlapping subcellular distribution and their coimmunoprecipitation. We demonstrated that the specific in vitro interaction of the two proteins yields a complex composed of 2 hDAAO homodimers and 2 pLG72 molecules. Binding of pLG72 did not affect the kinetic properties and FAD binding ability of hDAAO; instead, a time-dependent loss of hDAAO activity in the presence of an excess of pLG72 was found. The binding affects the tertiary structure of hDAAO, altering the amount of the active form. We finally demonstrated that overexpression of hDAAO in glioblastoma cells decreases the levels of D-serine, an effect that is null when pLG72 is coexpressed. These data indicate that pLG72 acts as a negative effector of hDAAO. Therefore, a decrease in the synaptic concentration of D-serine as the result of an anomalous increase in hDAAO activity related to hypoexpression of pLG72 may represent a molecular mechanism by which hDAAO and pLG72 are involved in schizophrenia susceptibility.Schizophrenia is one of the most widely spread psychiatric disorders; it is a complex disease or, more likely, a group of related illnesses to which an individual has a strong genetic predisposition (1). Among the identified schizophrenia susceptibility genes (2), the gene G72 encodes for several splicing isoforms; pLG72 represents the longest open reading frame (153 amino acids), which is mainly expressed in brain (3). G72 is present only in primates: there are no homologues of this gene in databases nor has sequence analysis of the putative open reading frame revealed any likely function (2, 3). Yeast twohybrid experiments using pLG72 as bait identified D-amino acid oxidase (EC 1.4.3.3, DAAO 4 ) on 12q24 as a putative interacting partner, and preliminary functional measurements showed that pLG72 should function as an in vitro activator of pig kidney DAAO (pkDAAO) (3). DAAO is a FAD-containing flavoenzyme that catalyzes the oxidative deamination of D-amino acids to the corresponding ␣-keto acids, hydrogen peroxide and ammonia (4, 5).Based on current findings we can hypothesize that in brain, the physiological role of DAAO is to modulate the levels of D-serine, an important glial-derived messenger that acts as the endogenous allosteric modulator of the glutamatergic NMDA receptor subtype (6 -8). D-and L-serine can be reversibly isomerized in astrocytic glia, which unsheathes synapses, by serine racemase. Compelling evidence has indicated that glutamate neurotransmission hypofunction is associated with symptoms...

D D-Amino acid oxidase (DAAO) has been proposed to be involved in the oxidation of D D-serine, an allosteric activator of the NMDA-type glutamate receptor in the brain, and to be associated with the onset of schizophrenia. The recombinant human DAAO was expressed in Escherichia coli and was isolated as an active homodimeric flavoenzyme. It shows the properties of the dehydrogenase-oxidase class of flavoproteins, possesses a low kinetic efficiency, and follows a ternary complex (sequential) kinetic mechanism. In contrast to the other known DAAOs, the human enzyme is a stable homodimer even in the apoprotein form and weakly binds the cofactor in the free form.

Flavin is one of the most versatile redox cofactors in nature and is used by many enzymes to perform a multitude of chemical reactions. D-Amino acid oxidase (DAAO), a member of the flavoprotein oxidase family, is regarded as a key enzyme for the understanding of the mechanism underlying flavin catalysis. The very highresolution structures of yeast DAAO complexed with D-alanine, D-trifluoroalanine, and L-lactate (1.20, 1.47, and 1.72 Å) provide strong evidence for hydride transfer as the mechanism of dehydrogenation. This is inconsistent with the alternative carbanion mechanism originally favored for this type of enzymatic reaction. The step of hydride transfer can proceed without involvement of amino acid functional groups. These structures, together with results from site-directed mutagenesis, point to orbital orientation͞steering as the major factor in catalysis. A diatomic species, proposed to be a peroxide, is found at the active center and on the Re-side of the flavin. These results are of general relevance for the mechanisms of flavoproteins and lead to the proposal of a common dehydrogenation mechanism for oxidases and dehydrogenases. D-Amino acid oxidase (DAAO) was one of the first enzymes to be described and the second flavoprotein to be discovered in the mid 1930s (1, 2). It catalyzes the dehydrogenation of D-amino acids to their imino counterparts via the Michaelis complexes M1 and the reduced flavin-product complex M2 (Fig. 1). The reduced flavin is then (re)oxidized by dioxygen to yield FAD ox and H 2 O 2 , whereas the imino acid spontaneously hydrolyzes to the keto acid and NH 4 ϩ . Although DAAO is present in most organisms and mammalian tissues, its physiological role in vertebrates has been unclear (3). Most recently, however, a specific role of DAAO in the degradation of the neurotransmitter D-serine in brain has been proposed (4), consistent with a role in the regulation of neurotransmission.The dehydrogenation, catalyzed by the class of flavoprotein oxidases and dehydrogenases, as exemplified by DAAO, is a fundamental biochemical reaction. Despite this, its molecular mechanism is still a matter of dispute and has evoked several contrasting proposals over the years. In 1971, Walsh et al. (5) discovered that pig kidney DAAO (pkDAAO) catalyzes the elimination of halide from ␤-halogenated amino acids. This led to the seemingly reasonable conclusion, found in most biochemistry textbooks, that catalysis involves abstraction of the amino acid ␣H as H ϩ via the so-called ''carbanion mechanism,'' a process that requires an active site base. This concept was challenged in 1975, based on work with pkDAAO reconstituted with the artificial cofactor 5-deazaFAD by Hersh and SchumanJorns (6), who favored a hydride mechanism proceeding via transfer of the substrate ␣COH to the flavin N (5). These mechanisms, the carbanion and the hydride transfer, represent the two extremes under consideration for such a chemical oxidation reaction.Recently the three-dimensional structure of pkDAAO complexed with benzoate,...