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Comment by pcrh | Hacker News Reader

Just for your information, the mechanism of organophosphate nerve agent toxicity does not involve serine hydrolyases. It involves acetylcholinesterase.

https://chemm.nlm.nih.gov/nerveagents.htm

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...which is a serine hydrolase.

I stand corrected... I was thinking of serine hydrolyases more generally, most of which are not significantly affected by organophosphate neurotoxins.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serine_hydrolase

No, pretty much all serine hydrolases are affected by organophosphates (assuming they can reach the active site). For example, the compounds IDFP[0] and MAFP[1] can both be used to inhibit serine hydrolase activity in vitro. Diisopropyl fluorophosphate can also be used, although that one actually is pretty much a nerve agent (it's volatile).

The only reason the wholesale disruption of hydrolases is not the thing that kills you with nerve agents is that acetylcholinesterase is particularly susceptible to organophosphates (wide open active site) and essential to nerve signal conduction. Thus although sarin (for example) will wreck most hydrolases in your body, this won't really matter when you'll be dead in a few minutes from your nervous system being unable to tell your lungs to breathe.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDFP

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methoxy_arachidonyl_fluorophos...

"The dose makes the poison". It would be too broad to claim that all serine hydrolyases are susceptible to all organophosphate compounds.

For example many pesticides are organophosphates, yet have little effect on humans.

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