In the course of the reaction of EC 1.11.1.15, peroxiredoxin, its cysteine residue is alternately oxidized to the sulfenic acid, S-hydroxycysteine, and reduced back to cysteine. Occasionally the S-hydroxycysteine residue is further oxidized to the sulfinic acid S-hydroxy-S-oxocysteine, thereby inactivating the enzyme. The reductase provides a mechanism for regenerating the active form of peroxiredoxin, i.e. the peroxiredoxin-(S-hydroxycysteine) form. Apparently the reductase first catalyses the phosphorylation of the -S(O)-OH group by ATP to give -S(O)-O-P, which is attached to the peroxiredoxin by a cysteine residue, forming an -S(O)-S- link between the two enzymes. Attack by a thiol splits this bond, leaving the peroxiredoxin as the sulfenic acid and the reductase as the thiol.
