A.A. Alekseeva

A comparative study of the thermal stability of formate dehydrogenases from microorganisms and plants

A comparative study of the thermostability of NAD+-dependent formate dehydrogenases (FDHs; EC 1.2.1.2) from both methylotrophic bacteria Pseudomonas sp. 101 and Moraxella sp. C1, the methane-utilizing yeast Candida boidinii, and plants Arabidopsis thaliana and Glycine max (soybean) was performed. All the enzymes studied were produced by expression in E. coli cells. The enzymes were irreversibly inactivated in one stage according to first-order reaction kinetics. The FDH from Pseudomonas sp. 101 appeared as the most thermostable enzyme; its counterpart from Glycine max exhibited the lowest stability. The enzymes from Moraxella sp. C1, C. boidinii, and Arabidopsis thaliana showed similar thermostability profiles. The temperature dependence of the inactivation rate constant of A. thaliana FDH was studied. The data of differential scanning calorimetry was complied with the experimental results on the inactivation kinetics of these enzymes. Values of the melting heat were determined for all the enzymes studied.

Stabilization of plant formate dehydrogenase by rational design

Recombinant formate dehydrogenase (FDH, EC 1.2.1.2) from soy Glycine max (SoyFDH) has the lowest values of Michaelis constants for formate and NAD+ among all studied formate dehydrogenases from different sources. Nevertheless, it also has the lower thermal stability compared to enzymes from bacteria and yeasts. The alignment of full sequences of FDHs from different sources as well as structure of apo- and holo-forms of SoyFDH has been analyzed. Ten mutant forms of SoyFDH were obtained by site-directed mutagenesis. All of them were purified to homogeneity and their thermal stability and substrate specificity were studied. Thermal stability was investigated by studying the inactivation kinetics at different temperatures and by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). As a result, single-point (Ala267Met) and double mutants (Ala267Met/Ile272Val) were found to be more stable than the wild-type enzyme at high temperatures. The stabilization effect depends on temperature, and at 52°C it was 3.6- and 11-fold, respectively. These mutants also showed higher melting temperatures in DSC experiments — the differences in maxima of the melting curves (Tm) for the single and double mutants were 2.7 and 4.6°C, respectively. For mutations Leu24Asp and Val127Arg, the thermal stability at 52°C decreased 5- and 2.5-fold, respectively, and the Tm decreased by 3.5 and 1.7°C, respectively. There were no differences in thermal stability of six mutant forms of SoyFDH — Gly18Ala, Lys23Thr, Lys109Pro, Asn247Glu, Val281Ile, and Ser354Pro. Analysis of kinetic data showed that for the enzymes with mutations Val127Arg and Ala267Met the catalytic efficiency increased 1.7- and 2.3-fold, respectively.

Determination of the concentration of active sites and the catalytic rate constant of recombinant formate dehydrogenase from Glycine max

The analysis of a formate dehydrogenase (FDH) structure in the apo form and in a complex with nicotinamide (NAD+) and azide ion has shown a high probability of efficient fluorescence quenching during the formation of such a triple complex. The excitation and fluorescence spectra indicated that the enzyme fluorescence is determined by tryptophan residues. The dependence of FDH fluorescence quenching on the NAD+ and azide concentrations was studied. The obtained data were used to determine the concentration of active sites and the catalytic rate constant of recombinant FDH from Glycine max.

Inactivation of formate dehydrogenase at pH 8

The first-order inactivation rate constant as a function of the phosphate buffer concentration has been studied for recombinant formate dehydrogenases from plants Arabidopsis thaliana and soybean and for mutant formate dehydrogenase from bacterium Pseudomonas sp. 101 (PseFDH GAV). Both stabilization and destabilization of the enzyme can be observed depending on the ionic strength of the buffer.