Enzyme Activity Measurement for Factor-Independent Urate Hydroxylase

Creative Enzymes is proud to provide the enzyme activity assay service of high-grade for factor-independent urate hydroxylase. We are committed to being the most reliable service provider for enzyme activity measurement in the global market. Today, Creative Enzymes relies on its own expert team and is constantly developing robust activity analysis to satisfy the customer’s request.

Factor-independent urate hydroxylase (EC 1.7.3.3; urate:oxygen oxidoreductase) is an essential enzyme that catalyzes the enzymatic oxidation of uric acid into a metastable product identified as the 5-hydroxyisourate, concomitant with the reduction of molecular oxygen to hydrogen peroxide. This reaction is crucial for the purine degradation pathway. Once released in solution, 5-hydroxyisourate decays spontaneously to allantoin, a process independent of oxygen and associated with the release of CO₂. In vivo, 5-hydroxyisourate is rapidly catalyzed by two specific enzymes to form allantoin. Factor-independent urate hydroxylase is an endogenous enzyme found in most species but is absent in human and higher apes. This phenomenon may emphasize an evolutionary advantage since it was suggested that uric acid is a powerful scavenger of free radicals and plays a pivotal role in protecting hominoids from oxidative damage, and human would have less free radicals, so less cancer owing to aging. As a consequence, the level of uric acid in plasma is quite elevated and a higher pathological level may be fatal. Note that factor-independent urate hydroxylase was previously considered to be a copper protein, but it is now proved that the enzymes from soy bean, the mould Aspergillus flavus and Bacillus subtilis contain neither copper nor any other transition-metal ions. 

Figure: The crystal structure of factor-independent urate hydroxylase from Aspergillus flavus.
PDB: 3PJK

Factor-independent urate hydroxylase has attracted considerable interest from medical research and pharmaceutical industries. For example, this enzyme has been used as a peroxisomal marker and is potentially a good tool for studying protein sorting into peroxisomes. Additionally, this enzyme is used for determining the levels of uric acid in biological fluids for diagnosis of hyperuricemia, since the highly specific reaction of factor-independent urate hydroxylase allows the simple colorimetric detection of uric acid. The thermal, chemical and long-time stability of factor-independent urate hydroxylase plays a significant role in its application to enzymatic analysis and medical treatment for hyperuricemia and gout. Therefore, it could be seen that factor-independent urate hydroxylase is a crucial enzyme which should receive more and more attention, especially through its catalytic activity quantification. Creative Enzymes is honored to be one of the few companies in the world which have enough ability to offer the enzyme activity assay for factor-independent urate hydroxylase. Owning to the superb technology, advanced equipment, and the best customer care, Creative Enzymes stands out of other competitors in the global market, and becomes your best choice for any research and development activities involving factor-independent urate hydroxylase.