Joann Sanders-Loehr

Glyoxal Oxidase from Phanerochaete chrysosporium Is a New Radical-Copper Oxidase

A free radical-coupled copper complex has been identified as the catalytic structure in the active site of glyoxal oxidase from Phanerochaete chrysosporium based on a combination of spectroscopic and biochemical studies. The native (inactive) enzyme is activated by oxidants leading to the elimination of the cupric EPR signal consistent with formation of an antiferromagnetically coupled radical-copper complex. Oxidation also leads to the appearance of a substoichiometric free radical EPR signal with an average g value (gav = 2.0055) characteristic of phenoxyl π-radicals arising from a minority apoenzyme fraction. Optical absorption, CD, and spectroelectrochemical measurements on the active enzyme reveal complex spectra extending into the near IR and define the redox potential for radical formation (E1/2 = 0.64 V versus NHE, pH 7.0). Resonance Raman spectra have identified the signature of a modified (cysteinyl-tyrosine) phenoxyl in the vibrational spectra of the active complex. This radical-copper motif has previously been found only in galactose oxidase, with which glyoxal oxidase shares many properties despite lacking obvious sequence identity, and catalyzing a distinct reaction. The enzymes thus represent members of a growing class of free radical metalloenzymes based on the radical-copper catalytic motif and appear to represent functional variants that have evolved to distinct catalytic roles.

Activation of the iron-containing B2 protein of ribonucleotide reductase by hydrogen peroxide

The active form of protein B2, the small subunit of ribonucleotide reductase, contains two dinuclear Fe(III) centers and a tyrosyl radical. The inactive metB2 form also contains the same diferric complexes but lacks the tyrosyl radical. We now demonstrate that incubation of metB2 with hydrogen peroxide generates the tyrosyl radical. The reaction is optimal at 5.5 nM hydrogen peroxide, with a maximum of 25-30% tyrosyl radical being formed after approximately 1.5 hr of incubation. The activation reaction is counteracted by a hydrogen peroxide-dependent reduction of the tyrosyl radical. It is likely that the generation of the radical proceeds via a ferryl intermediate, as in the proposed mechanisms for cytochrome P-450 and the peroxidases.

Characterization of the Native Lysine Tyrosylquinone Cofactor in Lysyl Oxidase by Raman Spectroscopy

Lysine tyrosylquinone (LTQ) recently has been identified as the active site cofactor in lysyl oxidase by isolation and characterization of a derivatized active site peptide. Reported in this study is the first characterization of the underivatized cofactor in native lysyl oxidase by resonance Raman (RR) spectrometry. The spectrum is characterized by a unique set of vibrational modes in the 1200 to 1700 cm−1 region. We show that the RR spectrum of lysyl oxidase closely matches that of a synthetic LTQ model compound, 4-n-butylamino-5-ethyl-1,2-benzoquinone, in aqueous solutions but differs significantly from those of other topa quinone-containing amine oxidases under similar conditions. Furthermore, we have observed the same 18O shift of the C=O stretch in both the lysyl oxidase enzyme and the LTQ cofactor model compound. The RR spectra of different model compounds and their D shifts give additional evidence for the protonation state of LTQ cofactor in the enzyme. The overall similarity of these spectra and their shifts shows that the lysyl oxidase cofactor and the model LTQ compound have the same structure and properties. These data provide strong and independent support for the new cofactor structure, unambiguously ruling out the possibility that the structure originally reported had been derived from a spurious side reaction during the derivatization of the protein and isolation of the active site peptide.

The influence of conserved tyrosine 30 and tissue-dependent differences in sequence on ferritin function: use of blue and purple Fe(III) species as reporters of ferroxidation

Abstract Ferritins uniquely direct the vectorial transfer of hydrated Fe(II)/Fe(III) ions to a condensed ferric phase in the central cavity of the soluble protein. Secondary, tertiary and quaternary structure are conserved in ferritin, but only five amino acid residues are conserved among all known ferritins. The sensitivity of ferroxidation rates to small differences in primary sequence between ferritin subunits that are cell-specifically expressed or to the conservative replacement of the conserved tyrosine 30 residue was demonstrated by examining recombinant (frog) H-type (red blood cell predominant) and M-type subunit (liver predominant) proteins which are both fast ferritins; the proteins form two differently colored Fe(III)-protein complexes absorbing at 550 nm or 650 nm, respectively. The complexes are convenient reporters of Fe(III)-protein interaction because they are transient in contrast to the Fe(III)-oxy complexes measured in the past at 310–420 nm, which are stable because of contributions from the mineral itself. The A650-nm species formed 18-fold faster in the M-subunit protein than did the 550-nm species in H-subunit ferritin, even though all the ferroxidase residues are the same; the Vmax was fivefold faster but the Hill coefficents were identical (1.6), suggesting similar mechanisms. In H-subunit ferritin, substitution of phenylalanine for conserved tyrosine 30 (located in the core of the subunit four-helix bundle) slowed ferroxidation tenfold, whereas changing surface tyrosine 25 or tyrosine 28 had no effect. The Fe(III)-tyrosinate was fortunately not changed by the mutation, based on the resonance Raman spectrum, and remained a suitable reporter for Fe(III)-protein interactions. Thus, the A550/650 nm can also report on post-oxidation events such as transport through the protein. The impact of Y30F on rates of formation of Fe(III)-protein complexes in ferritin, combined with Mössbauer spectroscopic studies that showed the parallel formation of multiple Fe(III) postoxidation species (three dinuclear oxy and one trinuclear oxy species) (A. S. Periera et al., Biochemistry 36 : 7917–7927, 1997) and the loss of several of the multimeric Fe(III) post-oxidation species in a Y30F alteration of human recombinant H-ferritin (E. R. Bauminger et al., Biochem J. 296 : 709–719, 1993), indicate that at least one of the pathways for Fe oxidation/transfer in ferritin is through the center of the four-helix bundle and is influenced by structural features dependent on tyrosine 30.

The crystal structures of Phascolopsis gouldii wild type and L98Y methemerythrins: structural and functional alterations of the O2 binding pocket.

Reported are the X-ray crystal structures of recombinant Phascolopsis gouldii methemerythrin (1.8-Å resolution) and the structure of an O2-binding-pocket mutant, L98Y methemerythrin (2.1-Å resolution). The L98Y hemerythrin (Hr) has a greatly enhanced O2 affinity, a slower O2 dissociation rate, a larger solvent deuterium isotope effect on this rate, and a greater resistance to autoxidation relative to the wild-type protein. The crystal structures show that the hydrophobic binding pocket of Hr can accommodate substitution of a leucyl by a tyrosyl side chain with relatively minor structural rearrangements. UV/vis and resonance Raman spectra show that in solution L98Y methemerythrin contains a mixture of two diiron site structures differing by the absence or presence of an Fe(III)-coordinated phenolate. However, in the crystal, only one L98Y diiron site structure is seen, in which the Y98 hydroxyl is not a ligand, but instead forms a hydrogen bond to a terminal hydroxo/aqua ligand to the nearest iron. Based on this crystal structure, we propose that in the oxy form of L98Y hemerythrin the non-polar nature of the binding pocket favors localization of the Y98 hydroxyl near the O2 binding site, where it can donate a hydrogen bond to the hydroperoxo ligand. The stabilizing Y98OH-O2H– interaction would account for all of the altered O2 binding properties of L98Y Hr listed above.

Techniques for obtaining resonance Raman spectra of metalloproteins

Publisher Summary The focus of this chapter is pragmatic. It provides tested laboratory procedures that discuss the way resonance Raman spectra of metalloproteins are obtained and verified, the way active-site structural and/or mechanistic information is probed by isotopic labeling, and the way spectral data interpretation is initiated. The specific-methods approach given here discusses sample preparation and temperature control, choice of scattering geometries, data collection, data quality, and the initiation of data analysis. It describes common precautions and pitfalls, as well as criteria for judging sample integrity. It discusses the way one confirms the resonance Raman phenomenon and also discusses the utility of excitation profiles. The general theory of Raman spectroscopy and resonance Raman spectroscopy in particular, including a description of Raman instrumentation, laser sources, and general applications of the technique, is presented in this chapter. Raman scattering is a relatively weak phenomenon and therefore requires high sample concentrations, but samples may be studied in all phases of matter.

Azide adducts of stearoyl-ACP desaturase: a model for μ-1,2 bridging by dioxygen in the binuclear iron active site

Abstract The stearoyl-acyl carrier protein Δ9 desaturase (Δ9D) uses an oxo-bridged diiron center to catalyze the NAD(P)H– and O2–dependent desaturation of stearoyl-ACP. Δ9D, ribonucleotide reductase, and methane monooxygenase have substantial similarities in their amino acid primary sequences and the physical properties of their diiron centers. These three enzymes also appear to share common features of their reaction cycles, including the binding of O2 to the diferrous state and the subsequent generation of transient diferric-peroxo and diferryl species. In order to investigate the coordination environment of the proposed diferric-peroxo intermediate, we have studied the binding of azide to the diiron center of Δ9D using optical, resonance Raman (RR), and transient kinetic spectroscopic methods. The addition of azide results in the appearance of new absorption bands at 325 nm and 440 nm (kapp≈3.5 s–1 in 0.7 M NaN3, pH 7.8). RR experiments demonstrate the existence of two different adducts: an η1–terminal structure at pH 7.8 (14N3– asymmetric stretch at 2073 cm–1, resolved into two bands with 15N14N2–) and a μ-1,3 bridging structure at pH<7 (14N3– asymmetric stretch at 2100 cm–1, shifted as a single band with 15N14N2–). Both adducts also exhibit an Fe–N3 stretching mode at ≈380 cm–1, but no accompanying Fe–O–Fe stretching mode, presumably due to either protonation or loss of the oxo bridge. The ability to form a μ-1,3 bridging azide supports the likelihood of a μ-1,2 bridging peroxide as a catalytic intermediate in the Δ9D reaction cycle and underscores the adaptability of binuclear sites to different bridging geometries.

Cysteine ligand vibrations are responsible for the complex resonance Raman spectrum of azurin

Abstract In the redox center of azurin, the Cu(II) is strongly coordinated to one thiolate S from Cys 112 and two imidazole Ns from His 46 and 117. This site yields a complex resonance Raman (RR) spectrum with >20 vibrational modes between 200 and 1500 cm–1. We have investigated the effects of ligand-selective isotope replacements on the RR spectrum of Pseudomonas aeruginosa azurin to determine the relative spectral contribution from each of the copper ligands. Growth on 34S-sulfate labels the cysteine ligand and allows the identification of a cluster of bands with Cu–S(Cys) stretching character between 370 and 430 cm–1 whose frequencies are consistent with the trigonal or distorted tetrahedral coordination in type 1 sites. In type 2 copper-cysteinate sites, the lower ν (Cu–S) frequencies between 260 and 320 cm–1 are consistent with square-planar coordination. Addition of exogenous15N-labeled imidazole or histidine to the His117Gly mutant generates type 1 or type 2 sites, respectively. Because neither the above nor the His46Gly mutant reconstituted with 15N-imidazole exhibits significant isotope dependence, the histidine ligands can be ruled out as important contributors to the RR spectrum. Instead, a variety of evidence, including extensive isotope shifts upon global substitution with 15N, suggests that the multiple RR modes of azurin are due principally to vibrations of the cysteine ligand. These are resonance-enhanced through kinematic coupling with the Cu–S stretch in the ground state or through an excited-state A-term mechanism involving a Cu-cysteinate chromophore that extends into the peptide backbone.

Investigation of Type 1 Copper Site Geometry by Spectroscopy and Molecular Redesign

Resonance Raman (RR) spectra of type 1 Cu proteins (cupredoxins) show a multiplicity of vibrational fundamentals between 250 and 500 cm-1 that is ascribed to kinematic coupling of the Cu-S(Cys) stretch with deformations of the Cys and His ligand side chains. A similar set of vibrational frequencies is observed for 11 different cupredoxins. These findings suggest that all cupredoxins have a highly conserved Cu(His)2Cys geometry including (i) a trigonal planar array for the three Cu ligands and (ii) a coplanar arrangement of the Cu-S-C s-Cα-N atoms in the Cu-cysteinate moiety.

Oxygen activation by iron ribonucleotide reductase

The structure of the dinuclear iron center in the R2 subunit of E. coli ribonucleotide reductase has been elucidated by X-ray crystallography (Fi. re 1). In the active enzyme, the tyrosyl radical at position 122 is ormed during the reaction of the diferrous center