David N. Silverman

Entrapment of carbon dioxide in the active site of carbonic anhydrase II

The visualization at near atomic resolution of transient substrates in the active site of enzymes is fundamental to fully understanding their mechanism of action. Here we show the application of using CO2-pressurized, cryo-cooled crystals to capture the first step of CO2 hydration catalyzed by the zinc-metalloenzyme human carbonic anhydrase II, the binding of substrate CO2, for both the holo and the apo (without zinc) enzyme to 1.1Å resolution. Until now, the feasibility of such a study was thought to be technically too challenging because of the low solubility of CO2 and the fast turnover to bicarbonate by the enzyme (Liang, J. Y., and Lipscomb, W. N. (1990) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 87, 3675–3679). These structures provide insight into the long hypothesized binding of CO2 in a hydrophobic pocket at the active site and demonstrate that the zinc does not play a critical role in the binding or orientation of CO2. This method may also have a much broader implication for the study of other enzymes for which CO2 is a substrate or product and for the capturing of transient substrates and revealing hydrophobic pockets in proteins.

Catalytic Properties of Human Manganese Superoxide Dismutase

The depletion of superoxide catalyzed by human manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) was observed spectrophotometrically by measuring the absorbance of superoxide at 250-280 nm following pulse radiolysis and by stopped-flow spectrophotometry. Catalysis showed an initial burst of activity lasting approximately 1 ms followed by the rapid emergence of a greatly inhibited catalysis of zero-order rate. These catalytic properties of human MnSOD are qualitatively similar to those reported for MnSOD from Thermus thermophilus (Bull, C., Niederhoffer, E. C., Yoshida, T., and Fee, J. A. (1991) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 113, 4069-4076). However, there are significant quantitative differences; the emergence of the inhibited form is approximately 30-fold more rapid for human MnSOD. The turnover number for human MnSOD at pH 9.4 and 20°C was kcat = 4 × 104 s−1 and kcat/Km = 8 × 108 M−1 s−1, determined by a simulated fit of the model of Bull et al. (1991) to the pulse radiolysis data. We also report that the maximum of the visible absorption spectrum of human MnSOD (ε480 = 525 M−1 cm−1) showed a strong dependence on pH that could be described by an ionization of pKa 9.4 ± 0.1 with a maximum at low pH.

A short, strong hydrogen bond in the active site of human carbonic anhydrase II.

The crystal structure of human carbonic anhydrase II (HCA II) obtained at 0.9 A resolution reveals that a water molecule, termed deep water, Dw, and bound in a hydrophobic pocket of the active site forms a short, strong hydrogen bond with the zinc-bound solvent molecule, a conclusion based on the observed oxygen-oxygen distance of 2.45 A. This water structure has similarities with hydrated hydroxide found in crystals of certain inorganic complexes. The energy required to displace Dw contributes in significant part to the weak binding of CO(2) in the enzyme-substrate complex, a weak binding that enhances k(cat) for the conversion of CO(2) into bicarbonate. In addition, this short, strong hydrogen bond is expected to contribute to the low pK(a) of the zinc-bound water and to promote proton transfer in catalysis.

Marcus rate theory applied to enzymatic proton transfer.

The hydration of CO(2) and the dehydration of HCO(3)(-) catalyzed by the carbonic anhydrases is accompanied by the transfer of protons between solution and the zinc-bound water molecule in the active site. This transfer is facilitated by amino acid residues of the enzyme which act as intramolecular proton shuttles; variants of carbonic anhydrase lacking such shuttle residues are enhanced or rescued in catalysis by intermolecular proton transfer from donors such as imidazole in solution. The resulting rate constants for proton transfer when compared with the values of the pK(a) of the donor and acceptor give Bronsted plots of high curvature. These data are described by Marcus theory which shows an intrinsic barrier for proton transfer from 1 to 2 kcal/mol and work terms or thermodynamic contributions to the free energy of reaction from 4 to10 kcal/mol. The interpretation of these Marcus parameters is discussed in terms of the well-studied pathway of the catalysis and structure of the enzymes.

Neutron Structure of Human Carbonic Anhydrase II: Implications for Proton Transfer

Human carbonic anhydrase II (HCA II) catalyzes the reversible hydration of carbon dioxide to form bicarbonate and a proton. Despite many high-resolution X-ray crystal structures, mutagenesis, and kinetic data, the structural details of the active site, especially the proton transfer pathway, are unclear. A large HCA II crystal was prepared at pH 9.0 and subjected to vapor H-D exchange to replace labile hydrogens with deuteriums. Neutron diffraction studies were conducted at the Protein Crystallography Station at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The structure to 2.0 A resolution reveals several interesting active site features: (1) the Zn-bound solvent appearing to be predominantly a D(2)O molecule, (2) the orientation and hydrogen bonding pattern of solvent molecules in the active site cavity, (3) the side chain of His64 being unprotonated (neutral) and predominantly in an inward conformation pointing toward the zinc, and (4) the phenolic side chain of Tyr7 appearing to be unprotonated. The implications of these details are discussed, and a proposed mechanism for proton transfer is presented.

Elucidation of the Proton Transport Mechanism in Human Carbonic Anhydrase II

Human carbonic anhydrase II (HCA II) is one of the fastest known enzymes, which utilizes a rate-limiting proton transport (PT) step in its enzymatic reaction. To evaluate the PT event at an atomistic level, the multistate empirical valence bond (MS-EVB) method has been utilized in this work. It is observed that the PT event in HCA II exploits a transient active site water cluster to transport the excess proton between the catalytic zinc-bound water/hydroxide and the proton shuttling residue, His64. This PT event is found to be dependent on the enzymes ability to form and stabilize the active site water cluster in addition to its ability to orient His64 in a favorable conformation. Evaluation of the PT free energy barrier for different orientations of His64 reveals this residues vital role as a proton transporter and elucidates its direct effect on the barrier to PT through the active site water. It is suggested that the rate-limiting step oscillates between the active site water PT event to His64 and the de/protonation of His64 depending on the exogenous buffer concentration and the orientation of His64. In the absence of a PT acceptor/donor at position 64, it is found that the excess proton will utilize one of three distinct paths to enter/leave the active site. This latter result not only allows for an increased understanding of how enzymes capitalize on the protein/solvent interface to guide excess protons to/from areas of interest, it also provides valuable insight into the chemical rescue experiments on HCA II mutants.

The catalytic mechanism of mammalian carbonic anhydrases

The physiological reaction catalyzed by carbonic anhydrase (CA) involves only six atoms at the substrate level: CO2 + H2O ↔ HCO 3 – + H+ Despite this simplicity, some aspects of the catalytic mechanism have been elusive, and it is not until recently that a rather detailed picture has emerged of the molecular events taking place in the enzymic active site during a catalytic cycle. These advances are the results of the application of a combination of techniques, such as x-ray crystallography, site-specific mutagenesis, enzyme kinetics and computer simulations. Most of this work concerns the cytosolic high-activity isozyme, human CA II (HCA II), but available evidence indicates that all CAs of the animal type (α-CAs) share the same general mechanism, usually called the zinc-hydroxide mechanism (Silverman and Lindskog, 1988; Silverman, 1991; Lindskog and Liljas, 1993; Liljas et al., 1994; Lindskog 1997). Thus, it is believed that the central catalytic step in all a-CAs is a reaction between CO2 and a zinc-bound OH– ion yielding a coordinated HCO 3 – ion, which is displaced from the metal ion by a water molecule. The subsequent regeneration of OH– involves the transfer of H+ from this zinc-bound water molecule to the bulk solution. In this chapter, we will focus on these events as they occur in the active site of HCA II, but specific features of the mechanisms of other mammalian CA isozymes will also be discussed.

Proton Transfer in Catalysis and the Role of Proton Shuttles in Carbonic Anhydrase

The undisputed role of His64 in proton transfer during catalysis by carbonic anhydrases in the alpha class has raised questions concerning the details of its mechanism. The highly conserved residues Tyr7, Asn62, and Asn67 in the active-site cavity function to fine tune the properties of proton transfer by human carbonic anhydrase II (HCA II). For example, hydrophobic residues at these positions favor an inward orientation of His64 and a low pK(a) for its imidazole side chain. It appears that the predominant manner in which this fine tuning is achieved in rate constants for proton transfer is through the difference in pK(a) between His64 and the zinc-bound solvent molecule. Other properties of the active-site cavity, such as inward and outward conformers of His64, appear associated with the change in DeltapK(a); however, there is no strong evidence to date that the inward and outward orientations of His64 are in themselves requirements for facile proton transfer in carbonic anhydrase.

Characterization of the Product-inhibited Complex in Catalysis by Human Manganese Superoxide Dismutase

The reduction with excess H2O2 of human Mn(III) superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the active-site mutant Y34F Mn(III)SOD was measured by scanning stopped-flow spectrophotometry and revealed the presence of an intermediate in the reduction of the manganese. The visible absorption spectrum of this intermediate closely resembled that of the enzyme in the inhibited, zero-order phase of the catalyzed disproportionation of superoxide. The decay of the visible spectrum of this intermediate was 2-fold faster for the wild-type compared with the mutant Y34F Mn-SOD. This correlates with the enhanced product inhibition of Y34F during the catalysis of O⨪2 dismutation. The visible spectrum of the product-inhibited complex resembles that of the azide-Mn-SOD complex, suggesting that the inhibited complex has expanded geometry about the metal to octahedral. This study shows that the inhibited complex responsible for the zero-order phase in the catalysis by Mn-SOD of superoxide dismutation can be reached through both the forward (O⨪2) and reverse (H2O2) reactions, supporting a mechanism in which the zero-order phase results from product inhibition.

Chemical Rescue of Enzymes: Proton Transfer in Mutants of Human Carbonic Anhydrase II

In human carbonic anhydrase II (HCA II), the mutation of position 64 from histidine to alanine (H64A) disrupts the rate limiting proton transfer (PT) event, resulting in a reduction of the catalytic activity of the enzyme as compared to the wild-type. Potential of mean force (PMF) calculations utilizing the multistate empirical valence bond (MS-EVB) methodology for H64A HCA II yields a PT free energy barrier significantly higher than that found in the wild-type enzyme. This high barrier, determined in the absence of exogenous buffer and assuming no additional ionizable residues in the PT pathway, indicates the likelihood of alternate enzyme pathways that utilize either ionizable enzyme residues (self-rescue) and/or exogenous buffers (chemical rescue). It has been shown experimentally that the catalytic activity of H64A HCA II can be chemically rescued to near wild-type levels by the addition of the exogenous buffer 4-methylimidazole (4MI). Crystallographic studies have identified two 4MI binding sites, yet site-specific mutations intended to disrupt 4MI binding have demonstrated these sites to be nonproductive. In the present work, MS-EVB simulations show that binding of 4MI near Thr199 in the H64A HCA II mutant, a binding site determined by NMR spectroscopy, results in a viable chemical rescue pathway. Additional viable rescue pathways are also identified where 4MI acts as a proton transport intermediary from the active site to ionizable residues on the rim of the active site, revealing a probable mode of action for the chemical rescue pathway.