Palaniappa Arjunan

A Thiamin-bound, Pre-decarboxylation Reaction Intermediate Analogue in the Pyruvate Dehydrogenase E1 Subunit Induces Large Scale Disorder-to-Order Transformations in the Enzyme and Reveals Novel Structural Features in the Covalently Bound Adduct.

The crystal structure of the E1 component from the Escherichia coli pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex (PDHc) has been determined with phosphonolactylthiamin diphosphate (PLThDP) in its active site. PLThDP serves as a structural and electrostatic analogue of the natural intermediate α-lactylthiamin diphosphate (LThDP), in which the carboxylate from the natural substrate pyruvate is replaced by a phosphonate group. This represents the first example of an experimentally determined, three-dimensional structure of a thiamin diphosphate (ThDP)-dependent enzyme containing a covalently bound, pre-decarboxylation reaction intermediate analogue and should serve as a model for the corresponding intermediates in other ThDP-dependent decarboxylases. Regarding the PDHc-specific reaction, the presence of PLThDP induces large scale conformational changes in the enzyme. In conjunction with the E1-PLThDP and E1-ThDP structures, analysis of a H407A E1-PLThDP variant structure shows that an interaction between His-407 and PLThDP is essential for stabilization of two loop regions in the active site that are otherwise disordered in the absence of intermediate analogue. This ordering completes formation of the active site and creates a new ordered surface likely involved in interactions with the lipoyl domains of E2s within the PDHc complex. The tetrahedral intermediate analogue is tightly held in the active site through direct hydrogen bonds to residues His-407, Tyr-599, and His-640 and reveals a new, enzyme-induced, strain-related feature that appears to aid in the decarboxylation process. This feature is almost certainly present in all ThDP-dependent decarboxylases; thus its inclusion in our understanding of general thiamin catalysis is important.

A Dynamic Loop at the Active Center of the Escherichia coli Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex E1 Component Modulates Substrate Utilization and Chemical Communication with the E2 Component

Our crystallographic studies have shown that two active center loops (an inner loop formed by residues 401-413 and outer loop formed by residues 541-557) of the E1 component of the Escherichia coli pyruvate dehydrogenase complex become organized only on binding a substrate analog that is capable of forming a stable thiamin diphosphate-bound covalent intermediate. We showed that residue His-407 on the inner loop has a key role in the mechanism, especially in the reductive acetylation of the E. coli dihydrolipoamide transacetylase component, whereas crystallographic results showed a role of this residue in a disorder-order transformation of these two loops, and the ordered conformation gives rise to numerous new contacts between the inner loop and the active center. We present mapping of the conserved residues on the inner loop. Kinetic, spectroscopic, and crystallographic studies on some inner loop variants led us to conclude that charged residues flanking His-407 are important for stabilization/ordering of the inner loop thereby facilitating completion of the active site. The results further suggest that a disorder to order transition of the dynamic inner loop is essential for substrate entry to the active site, for sequestering active site chemistry from undesirable side reactions, as well as for communication between the E1 and E2 components of the E. coli pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex.

Glutamate 636 of the Escherichia coli pyruvate dehydrogenase-E1 participates in active center communication and behaves as an engineered acetolactate synthase with unusual stereoselectivity.

The residue Glu636 is located near the thiamine diphosphate (ThDP) binding site of the Escherichia coli pyruvate dehydrogenase complex E1 subunit (PDHc-E1), and to probe its function two variants, E636A and E636Q were created with specific activities of 2.5 and 26% compared with parental PDHc-E1. According to both fluorescence binding and kinetic assays, the E636A variant behaved according to half-of-the-sites mechanism with respect to ThDP. In contrast, with the E636Q variant a Kd,ThDP = 4.34 μm and Km,ThDP = 11 μm were obtained with behavior more reminiscent of the parental enzyme. The CD spectra of both variants gave evidence for formation of the 1′,4′-iminopyrimidine tautomer on binding of phosphonolactylthiamine diphosphate, a stable analog of the substrate-ThDP covalent complex. Rapid formation of optically active (R)-acetolactate by both variants, but not by the parental enzyme, was observed by CD and NMR spectroscopy. The acetolactate configuration produced by the Glu636 variants is opposite that produced by the enzyme acetolactate synthase and the Asp28-substituted variants of yeast pyruvate decarboxylase, suggesting that the active centers of the two sets of enzymes exhibit different facial selectivity (re or si) vis à vis pyruvate. The tryptic peptide map (mass spectral analysis) revealed that the Glu636 substitution changed the mobility of a loop comprising amino acid residues from the ThDP binding fold. Apparently, the residue Glu636 has important functions both in active center communication and in protecting the active center from undesirable “carboligase” side reactions.

Communication between Thiamin Cofactors in the Escherichia coli Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex E1 Component Active Centers: EVIDENCE FOR A “DIRECT PATHWAY” BETWEEN THE 4′-AMINOPYRIMIDINE N1′ ATOMS*

Kinetic, spectroscopic, and structural analysis tested the hypothesis that a chain of residues connecting the 4′-aminopyrimidine N1′ atoms of thiamin diphosphates (ThDPs) in the two active centers of the Escherichia coli pyruvate dehydrogenase complex E1 component provides a signal transduction pathway. Substitution of the three acidic residues (Glu571, Glu235, and Glu237) and Arg606 resulted in impaired binding of the second ThDP, once the first active center was filled, suggesting a pathway for communication between the two ThDPs. 1) Steady-state kinetic and fluorescence quenching studies revealed that upon E571A, E235A, E237A, and R606A substitutions, ThDP binding in the second active center was affected. 2) Analysis of the kinetics of thiazolium C2 hydrogen/deuterium exchange of enzyme-bound ThDP suggests half-of-the-sites reactivity for the E1 component, with fast (activated site) and slow exchanging sites (dormant site). The E235A and E571A variants gave no evidence for the slow exchanging site, indicating that only one of two active sites is filled with ThDP. 3) Titration of the E235A and E237A variants with methyl acetylphosphonate monitored by circular dichroism suggested that only half of the active sites were filled with a covalent predecarboxylation intermediate analog. 4) Crystal structures of E235A and E571A in complex with ThDP revealed the structural basis for the spectroscopic and kinetic observations and showed that either substitution affects cofactor binding, despite the fact that Glu235 makes no direct contact with the cofactor. The role of the conserved Glu571 residue in both catalysis and cofactor orientation is revealed by the combined results for the first time.

Active-site changes in the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex E1 apoenzyme component from Escherichia coli observed at 2.32 A resolution.

The first enzymatic component, E1 (EC 1.2.4.1), of the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex (PDHc) utilizes thiamine diphosphate (ThDP) and Mg(2+) as cofactors. The structure of a branched-chain-specific E1 apoenzyme from the heterotetrameric alpha(2)beta(2) E1 family was recently reported and showed that disorder-to-order transformations in two active-site loops take place upon cofactor binding. To ascertain what effect the absence of cofactor may have in the homodimeric alpha(2) Escherichia coli PDHc E1, the corresponding apoenzyme has been prepared and its three-dimensional structure determined and analyzed at 2.32 A by crystallographic methods. This represents the first reported apoenzyme structure for any E1 component from the homodimeric alpha(2) family. Electron-density features occurring in the region where the cofactor pyrimidine ring would normally be expected to bind are of size, shape and location compatible with water molecules that form a hydrogen-bonded linkage between residues Glu571 and Val192, which normally make conserved interactions with the ThDP cofactor. A histidine side chain that normally forms hydrogen bonds to ThDP is disordered in its absence and partially occupies two sites. Unlike in the reported heterotetrameric branched-chain apo-E1, no disorder/order loop transformations are evident in apo-PDHc E1 relative to the holo-E1 enzyme (PDHc E1-ThDP-Mg(2+)). Differences in the extent of hydrogen-bonding networks found in the apo-E1 enzyme, the holo-E1 enzyme and in an inhibitor complex with bound thiamine 2-thiazolone diphosphate (ThTDP), PDHc E1-ThTDP-Mg(2+), are described.

Novel Binding Motif and New Flexibility Revealed by Structural Analyses of a Pyruvate Dehydrogenase-Dihydrolipoyl Acetyltransferase Subcomplex from the Escherichia coli Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Multienzyme Complex

Background: The E. coli pyruvate dehydrogenase complex containing E1p, E2p, and E3 components converts pyruvate to acetyl-CoA. Results: The E1p-E2p subcomplex revealed a novel binding motif relative to the only other known example. Conclusion: Tethering of E1p to E2p depends on the α2 or α2β2 assembly of E1p. Significance: The new tethering mode should affect overall complex assembly in all such complexes from Gram-negative bacteria. The Escherichia coli pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex contains multiple copies of three enzymatic components, E1p, E2p, and E3, that sequentially carry out distinct steps in the overall reaction converting pyruvate to acetyl-CoA. Efficient functioning requires the enzymatic components to assemble into a large complex, the integrity of which is maintained by tethering of the displaced, peripheral E1p and E3 components to the E2p core through non-covalent binding. We here report the crystal structure of a subcomplex between E1p and an E2p didomain containing a hybrid lipoyl domain along with the peripheral subunit-binding domain responsible for tethering to the core. In the structure, a region at the N terminus of each subunit in the E1p homodimer previously unseen due to crystallographic disorder was observed, revealing a new folding motif involved in E1p-E2p didomain interactions, and an additional, unexpected, flexibility was discovered in the E1p-E2p didomain subcomplex, both of which probably have consequences in the overall multienzyme complex assembly. This represents the first structure of an E1p-E2p didomain subcomplex involving a homodimeric E1p, and the results may be applicable to a large range of complexes with homodimeric E1 components. Results of HD exchange mass spectrometric experiments using the intact, wild type 3-lipoyl E2p and E1p are consistent with the crystallographic data obtained from the E1p-E2p didomain subcomplex as well as with other biochemical and NMR data reported from our groups, confirming that our findings are applicable to the entire E1p-E2p assembly.