AUTHOR=Pollegioni Loredano , Sacchi Silvia , Murtas Giulia TITLE=Human D-Amino Acid Oxidase: Structure, Function, and Regulation JOURNAL=Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences VOLUME=5 YEAR=2018 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/molecular-biosciences/articles/10.3389/fmolb.2018.00107 DOI=10.3389/fmolb.2018.00107 ISSN=2296-889X ABSTRACT=
D-Amino acid oxidase (DAAO) is an FAD-containing flavoenzyme that catalyzes with absolute stereoselectivity the oxidative deamination of all natural D-amino acids, the only exception being the acidic ones. This flavoenzyme plays different roles during evolution and in different tissues in humans. Its three-dimensional structure is well conserved during evolution: minute changes are responsible for the functional differences between enzymes from microorganism sources and those from humans. In recent years several investigations focused on human DAAO, mainly because of its role in degrading the neuromodulator D-serine in the central nervous system. D-Serine is the main coagonist of N-methyl D-aspartate receptors, i.e., excitatory amino acid receptors critically involved in main brain functions and pathologic conditions. Human DAAO possesses a weak interaction with the FAD cofactor; thus,