The enzymic reaction of amino acids with glutathione

It has been shown that kidney extracts will bring about the exchange of L-amino acids for cysteinyl- glycine in reduced glutathione (GSH) to form the corresponding y-glutamyl peptides (Hanes, Hird & Isherwood, 1950, 1952). The enzymic reaction of an amino acid, e.g. L-alanine with GSH, and the products formed in the system studied can be represented diagrammatically as follows: y-Glutamylcysteinylglycine + L-Alanine y-Glutamyl transferase y-Glutamyl-L-Alanine + Cysteinylglycine Peptidase Cysteine + Glycine