Christian H. Kjaergaard

Copper Active Sites in Biology

Based on its generally accessible I/II redox couple and bioavailability, copper plays a wide variety of roles in nature that mostly involve electron transfer (ET), O2 binding, activation and reduction, NO2− and N2O reduction and substrate activation. Copper sites that perform ET are the mononuclear blue Cu site that has a highly covalent CuII-S(Cys) bond and the binuclear CuA site that has a Cu2S(Cys)2 core with a Cu-Cu bond that keeps the site delocalized (Cu(1.5)2) in its oxidized state. In contrast to inorganic Cu complexes, these metalloprotein sites transfer electrons rapidly often over long distances, as has been previously reviewed.1–4 Blue Cu and CuA sites will only be considered here in their relation to intramolecular ET in multi-center enzymes. The focus of this review is on the Cu enzymes (Figure 1). Many are involved in O2 activation and reduction, which has mostly been thought to involve at least two electrons to overcome spin forbiddenness and the low potential of the one electron reduction to superoxide (Figure 2).5,6 Since the Cu(III) redox state has not been observed in biology, this requires either more than one Cu center or one copper and an additional redox active organic cofactor. The latter is formed in a biogenesis reaction of a residue (Tyr) that is also Cu catalyzed in the first turnover of the protein. Recently, however, there have been a number of enzymes suggested to utilize one Cu to activate O2 by 1e− reduction to form a Cu(II)-O2•− intermediate (an innersphere redox process) and it is important to understand the active site requirements to drive this reaction. The oxidases that catalyze the 4e−reduction of O2 to H2O are unique in that they effectively perform this reaction in one step indicating that the free energy barrier for the second two-electron reduction of the peroxide product of the first two-electron step is very low. In nature this requires either a trinuclear Cu cluster (in the multicopper oxidases) or a Cu/Tyr/Heme Fe cluster (in the cytochrome oxidases). The former accomplishes this with almost no overpotential maximizing its ability to oxidize substrates and its utility in biofuel cells, while the latter class of enzymes uses the excess energy to pump protons for ATP synthesis. In bacterial denitrification, a mononuclear Cu center catalyzes the 1e- reduction of nitrite to NO while a unique µ4S2−Cu4 cluster catalyzes the reduction of N2O to N2 and H2O, a 2e− process yet requiring 4Cu’s. Finally there are now several classes of enzymes that utilize an oxidized Cu(II) center to activate a covalently bound substrate to react with O2. Figure 1 Copper active sites in biology. Figure 2 Latimer Diagram for Oxygen Reduction at pH = 7.0 Adapted from References 5 and 6. This review presents in depth discussions of all these classes of Cu enzymes and the correlations within and among these classes. For each class we review our present understanding of the enzymology, kinetics, geometric structures, electronic structures and the reaction mechanisms these have elucidated. While the emphasis here is on the enzymology, model studies have significantly contributed to our understanding of O2 activation by a number of Cu enzymes and are included in appropriate subsections of this review. In general we will consider how the covalency of a Cu(II)–substrate bond can activate the substrate for its spin forbidden reaction with O2, how in binuclear Cu enzymes the exchange coupling between Cu’s overcomes the spin forbiddenness of O2 binding and controls electron transfer to O2 to direct catalysis either to perform two e− electrophilic aromatic substitution or 1e− H-atom abstraction, the type of oxygen intermediate that is required for H-atom abstraction from the strong C-H bond of methane (104 kcal/mol) and how the trinuclear Cu cluster and the Cu/Tyr/Heme Fe cluster achieve their very low barriers for the reductive cleavage of the O-O bond. Much of the insight available into these mechanisms in Cu biochemistry has come from the application of a wide range of spectroscopies and the correlation of spectroscopic results to electronic structure calculations. Thus we start with a tutorial on the different spectroscopic methods utilized to study mononuclear and multinuclear Cu enzymes and their correlations to different levels of electronic structure calculations.

Copper Dioxygen (Bio)Inorganic Chemistry

Cu/O2 intermediates in biological, homogeneous, and heterogeneous catalysts exhibit unique spectral features that reflect novel geometric and electronic structures that make significant contributions to reactivity. This review considers how the respective intermediate electronic structures overcome the spin-forbidden nature of O2 binding, activate O2 for electrophilic aromatic attack and H-atom abstraction, catalyze the 4 e- reduction of O2 to H2O, and discusses the role of exchange coupling between Cu ions in determining reactivity.

Spectroscopic and computational insight into the activation of O2 by the mononuclear Cu center in polysaccharide monooxygenases

Significance Activation of the O-O bond in dioxygen is difficult but fundamental in biology. Nature has evolved several strategies to achieve this, often including copper as an enzyme cofactor. Copper-dependent enzymes usually use more than one metal to activate O2 by multielectron reduction, but recently it was discovered that cellulose and chitin degrading polysaccharide monooxygenase enzymes use only a single Cu center for catalysis, in a reaction that is of great interest to the biofuel industries. To understand this reactivity, we have determined the solution structures of both the reduced and oxidized Cu site, and determined experimentally and computationally how this site is capable of facile O2 activation by a thermodynamically difficult one-electron reduction, via an inner-sphere Cu-superoxide intermediate. Strategies for O2 activation by copper enzymes were recently expanded to include mononuclear Cu sites, with the discovery of the copper-dependent polysaccharide monooxygenases, also classified as auxiliary-activity enzymes 9–11 (AA9-11). These enzymes are finding considerable use in industrial biofuel production. Crystal structures of polysaccharide monooxygenases have emerged, but experimental studies are yet to determine the solution structure of the Cu site and how this relates to reactivity. From X-ray absorption near edge structure and extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopies, we observed a change from four-coordinate Cu(II) to three-coordinate Cu(I) of the active site in solution, where three protein-derived nitrogen ligands coordinate the Cu in both redox states, and a labile hydroxide ligand is lost upon reduction. The spectroscopic data allowed for density functional theory calculations of an enzyme active site model, where the optimized Cu(I) and (II) structures were consistent with the experimental data. The O2 reactivity of the Cu(I) site was probed by EPR and stopped-flow absorption spectroscopies, and a rapid one-electron reduction of O2 and regeneration of the resting Cu(II) enzyme were observed. This reactivity was evaluated computationally, and by calibration to Cu-superoxide model complexes, formation of an end-on Cu-AA9-superoxide species was found to be thermodynamically favored. We discuss how this thermodynamically difficult one-electron reduction of O2 is enabled by the unique protein structure where two nitrogen ligands from His1 dictate formation of a T-shaped Cu(I) site, which provides an open coordination position for strong O2 binding with very little reorganization energy.

Systematic Perturbation of the Trinuclear Copper Cluster in the Multicopper Oxidases: The Role of Active Site Asymmetry in its Reduction of O2 to H2O

The multicopper oxidase Fet3p catalyzes the four-electron reduction of dioxygen to water, coupled to the one-electron oxidation of four equivalents of substrate. To carry out this process, the enzyme utilizes four Cu atoms: a type 1, a type 2, and a coupled binuclear, type 3 site. Substrates are oxidized at the T1 Cu, which rapidly transfers electrons, 13 A away, to a trinuclear copper cluster composed of the T2 and T3 sites, where dioxygen is reduced to water in two sequential 2e(-) steps. This study focuses on two variants of Fet3p, H126Q and H483Q, that perturb the two T3 Cus, T3alpha and T3beta, respectively. The variants have been isolated in both holo and type 1 depleted (T1D) forms, T1DT3alphaQ and T1DT3betaQ, and their trinuclear copper clusters have been characterized in their oxidized and reduced states. While the variants are only mildly perturbed relative to T1D in the resting oxidized state, in contrast to T1D they are both found to have lost a ligand in their reduced states. Importantly, T1DT3alphaQ reacts with O(2), but T1DT3betaQ does not. Thus loss of a ligand at T3beta, but not at T3alpha, turns off O(2) reactivity, indicating that T3beta and T2 are required for the 2e(-) reduction of O(2) to form the peroxide intermediate (PI), whereas T3alpha remains reduced. This is supported by the spectroscopic features of PI in T1DT3alphaQ, which are identical to T1D PI. This selective redox activity of one edge of the trinuclear cluster demonstrates its asymmetry in O(2) reactivity. The structural origin of this asymmetry between the T3alpha and T3beta is discussed, as is its contribution to reactivity.

Bilirubin oxidase from Bacillus pumilus: A promising enzyme for the elaboration of efficient cathodes in biofuel cells

A CotA multicopper oxidase (MCO) from Bacillus pumilus, previously identified as a laccase, has been studied and characterized as a new bacterial bilirubin oxidase (BOD). The 59 kDa protein containing four coppers, was successfully over-expressed in Escherichia coli and purified to homogeneity in one step. This 509 amino-acid enzyme, having 67% and 26% sequence identity with CotA from Bacillus subtilis and BOD from Myrothecium verrucaria, respectively, shows higher turnover activity towards bilirubin compared to other bacterial MCOs. The current density for O(2) reduction, when immobilized in a redox hydrogel, is only 12% smaller than the current obtained with Trachyderma tsunodae BOD. Under continuous electrocatalysis, an electrode modified with the new BOD is more stable, and has a higher tolerance towards NaCl, than a T. tsunodae BOD modified electrode. This makes BOD from B. pumilus an attractive new candidate for application in biofuel cells (BFCs) and biosensors.

Molecular origin of rapid versus slow intramolecular electron transfer in the catalytic cycle of the multicopper oxidases.

Kinetic measurements on single-turnover processes in laccase established fast type-1 Cu to trinuclear Cu cluster (TNC) intramolecular electron transfer (IET) in the reduction of the native intermediate (NI), the fully oxidized form of the enzyme formed immediately after O-O bond cleavage in the mechanism of O2 reduction. Alternatively, slow IET kinetics was observed in the reduction of the resting enzyme, which involves proton-coupled electron transfer on the basis of isotope measurements. The >10(3) difference between the IET rates for these two processes confirms that the NI, rather than the resting enzyme that has been defined by crystallography, is the fully oxidized form of the TNC in catalytic turnover. Computational modeling showed that reduction of NI is fast because of the larger driving force associated with a more favorable proton affinity of its μ3-oxo moiety generated by reductive cleavage of the O-O bond. This defines a unifying mechanism in which reductive cleavage of the O-O bond is coupled to rapid IET in the multicopper oxidases.

Mechanism of the reduction of the native intermediate in the multicopper oxidases: insights into rapid intramolecular electron transfer in turnover.

The multicopper oxidases (MCOs) are the family of enzymes that catalyze the 4-electron reduction of O2 to H2O coupled to the four 1-electron oxidations of substrate. In the catalytic cycle electrons are transferred intramolecularly over ∼13 Å from a Type 1 (T1) Cu site that accepts electrons from substrate to a trinuclear Cu cluster (TNC) where O2 is reduced to H2O at rapid rates consistent with turnover (560 s–1). The oxygen reduction mechanism for the MCOs is well-characterized, whereas the rereduction is less understood. Our initial study of Rhus vernicifera Laccase (Heppner et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc.2013, 135, 12212) experimentally established that the native intermediate (NI), the species formed upon O–O bond cleavage, is reduced with an IET rate >700 s–1 and is the catalytically relevant fully oxidized form of the enzyme, rather than the resting state. In this report, we present kinetic and spectroscopic results coupled to DFT calculations that evaluate the mechanism of the 3 e–/3 H+ reduction of NI, where all three catalytically relevant intramolecular electron transfer (IET) steps are rapid and involve three different structural changes. These three rapid IET processes reflect the sophisticated mechanistic control of the TNC to enable rapid turnover. All three IET processes are fast due to the associated protonation of the bridging oxo and hydroxo ligands, generated by O–O cleavage, to form water products that are extruded from the TNC upon full reduction, thereby defining a unifying mechanism for oxygen reduction and rapid IET by the TNC in the catalytic cycle of the MCOs.

Two-electron Reduction versus One-electron Oxidation of the Type 3 Pair in the Multicopper Oxidases

Multicopper oxidases (MCOs) utilize an electron shuttling Type 1 Cu (T1) site in conjunction with a mononuclear Type 2 (T2) and a binuclear Type 3 (T3) site, arranged in a trinuclear copper cluster (TNC), to reduce O2 to H2O. Reduction of O2 occurs with limited overpotential indicating that all the coppers in the active site can be reduced via high-potential electron donors. Two forms of the resting enzyme have been observed in MCOs: the alternative resting form (AR), where only one of the three TNC Cus is oxidized, and the resting oxidized form (RO), where all three TNC Cus are oxidized. In contrast to the AR form, we show that in the RO form of a high-potential MCO, the binuclear T3 Cu(II) site can be reduced via the 700 mV T1 Cu. Systematic spectroscopic evaluation reveals that this proceeds by a two-electron process, where delivery of the first electron, forming a high energy, metastable half reduced T3 state, is followed by the rapid delivery of a second energetically favorable electron to fully reduce the T3 site. Alternatively, when this fully reduced binuclear T3 site is oxidized via the T1 Cu, a different thermodynamically favored half oxidized T3 form, i.e., the AR site, is generated. This behavior is evaluated by DFT calculations, which reveal that the protein backbone plays a significant role in controlling the environment of the active site coppers. This allows for the formation of the metastable, half reduced state and thus the complete reductive activation of the enzyme for catalysis.

Mechanism of Chloride Inhibition of Bilirubin Oxidases and Its Dependence on Potential and pH

Bilirubin oxidases (BODs) belong to the multi-copper oxidase (MCO) family and efficiently reduce O2 at neutral pH and in physiological conditions where chloride concentrations are over 100 mM. BODs were consequently considered to be Cl- resistant contrary to laccases. However, there has not been a detailed study on the related effect of chloride and pH on the redox state of immobilized BODs. Here, we investigate by electrochemistry the catalytic mechanism of O2 reduction by the thermostable Bacillus pumilus BOD immobilized on carbon nanofibers in the presence of NaCl. The addition of chloride results in the formation of a redox state of the enzyme, previously observed for different BODs and laccases, which is only active after a reductive step. This behavior has not been previously investigated. We show for the first time that the kinetics of formation of this state is strongly dependent on pH, temperature, Cl- concentration and on the applied redox potential. UV-visible spectroscopy allows us to correlate the inhibition process by chloride with the formation of the alternative resting form of the enzyme. We demonstrate that O2 is not required for its formation and show that the application of an oxidative potential is sufficient. In addition, our results suggest that the reactivation may proceed thought the T3 β.

Modified Reactivity toward O2 in First Shell Variants of Fet3p: Geometric and Electronic Structure Requirements for a Functioning Trinuclear Copper Cluster

Multicopper oxidases (MCOs) carry out the most energy efficient reduction of O2 to H2O known, i.e., with the lowest overpotential. This four-electron process requires an electron mediating type 1 (T1) Cu site and an oxygen reducing trinuclear Cu cluster (TNC), consisting of a binuclear type 3 (T3)- and a mononuclear type 2 (T2) Cu center. The rate-determining step in O2 reduction is the first two-electron transfer from one of the T3 Cus (T3β) and the T2 Cu, forming a bridged peroxide intermediate (PI). This reaction has been investigated in T3β Cu variants of the Fet3p, where a first shell His ligand is mutated to Glu or Gln. This converts the fast two-electron reaction of the wild-type (WT) enzyme to a slow one-electron oxidation of the TNC. Both variants initially react to form a common T3β Cu(II) intermediate that converts to the Glu or Gln bound resting state. From spectroscopic evaluation, the nonmutated His ligands coordinate linearly to the T3β Cu in the reduced TNCs in the two variants, in contrast to the trigonal arrangement observed in the WT enzyme. This structural perturbation is found to significantly alter the electronic structure of the reduced TNC, which is no longer capable of rapidly transferring two electrons to the two perpendicular half occupied π*-orbitals of O2, in contrast to the WT enzyme. This study provides new insight into the geometric and electronic structure requirements of a fully functional TNC for the rate determining two-electron reduction of O2 in the MCOs.