Characterization of the Omega class glutathione transferases

The Omega class of glutathione transferases (GST) has been discovered by an alysis of the expressed sequence tag database and sequence alignment. In hu mans, GSTO 1-1 is expressed in most tissues and exhibits glutathione-depend ent thiol transferase and dehydroascorbate reductase activities characteris tic of the glutaredoxins. The crystal structure indicates that GSTO 1-1 has a characteristic GST fold. Unlike other mammalian glutathione transferases , GSTO 1-1 appears to have an active site cysteine that call form a disulfi de bond with glutathione. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.