Protein Information

ID 88
Name Acetylcholinesterase
Synonyms ACHE; ACHE protein; AChE; ARACHE; AcChoEase; Acetylcholine acetylhydrolase; Acetylcholinesterase; Acetylcholinesterase isoform E4 E6 variant…

Compound Information

ID 230
Name phorate
CAS

Reference

PubMed Abstract RScore(About this table)
15294458 Henderson MC, Krueger SK, Siddens LK, Stevens JF, Williams DE: S-oxygenation of the thioether organophosphate insecticides phorate and disulfoton by human lung flavin-containing monooxygenase 2. Biochem Pharmacol. 2004 Sep 1;68(5):959-67.
Phorate and disulfoton are organophosphate insecticides containing three oxidizable sulfurs, including a thioether. Previous studies have shown that only the thioether is oxygenated by flavin-containing monooxygenase (FMO) and the sole product is the sulfoxide with no oxygenation to the sulfone. The major FMO in lung of most mammals, including non-human primates, is FMO2. The FMO2*2 allele, found in all Caucasians and Asians genotyped to date, codes for a truncated, non-functional, protein (FMO2.2A). Twenty-six percent of individuals of African descent and 5% of Hispanics have the FMO2*1 allele, coding for full-length, functional protein (FMO2.1). We have here demonstrated that the thioether-containing organophosphate insecticides, phorate and disulfoton, are substrates for expressed human FMO2.1 with Km of 57 and 32 microM, respectively. LC/MS confirmed the addition of oxygen and formation of a single polar metabolite for each chemical. MS/MS analysis confirmed the metabolites to be the respective sulfoxides. Co-incubations with glutathione did not reduce yield, suggesting they are not highly electrophilic. As the sulfoxide of phorate is a markedly less effective acetylcholinesterase inhibitor than the cytochrome P450 metabolites (oxon, oxon sulfoxide or oxon sulfone), humans possessing the FMO2*1 allele may be more resistant to organophosphate-mediated toxicity when pulmonary metabolism is an important route of exposure or disposition.
31(0,1,1,1)