Yuh-Shyong Yang

The role of metal on imide hydrolysis: metal content and pH profiles of metal ion-replaced mammalian imidase

Imidase catalyzes the hydrolysis of a variety of imides. The removal of metal from imidase eliminates its activity but does not affect its tetrameric and secondary structure. The reactivation of the apoenzyme with transition metal ions Co(2+), Zn(2+), Mn(2+), and Cd(2+) shows that imidase activity is linearly dependent on the amount of metal ions added. Ni(2+) and Cu(2+) are also inserted, one per enzyme subunit, into the apoimidase, but do not restore imidase activity. Enzyme activity with different metal replaced imidase varies significantly. However, the changes of the metal contents do not appear to affect the pK(a)s obtained from the bell-shaped pH profiles of metal reconstituted imidase. The metal-hydroxide mechanism for imidase action is not supported based on the novel findings from this study. It is proposed that metal ion in mammalian imidase functions as a Lewis acid, which stabilizes the developing negative charge of imide substrate in transition state.

Effect of metal binding and posttranslational lysine carboxylation on the activity of recombinant hydantoinase.

Bacterial hydantoinase possesses a binuclear metal center in which two metal ions are bridged by a posttranslationally carboxylated lysine. How the carboxylated lysine and metal binding affect the activity of hydantoinase was investigated. A significant amount of iron was always found in Agrobacterium radiobacter hydantoinase purified from unsupplemented cobalt-, manganese-, or zinc-amended Escherichia coli cell cultures. A titration curve for the reactivation of apohydantoinase with cobalt indicates that the first metal was preferentially bound but did not give any enzyme activity until the second metal was also attached to the hydantoinase. The pH profiles of the metal-reconstituted hydantoinase were dependent on the specific metal ion bound to the active site, indicating a direct involvement of metal in catalysis. Mutation of the metal binding site residues, H57A, H59A, K148A, H181A, H237A, and D313A, completely abolished hydantoinase activity but preserved about half of the metal content, except for K148A, which lost both metals in its active site. However, the activity of K148A could be chemically rescued by short-chain carboxylic acids in the presence of cobalt, indicating that the carboxylated lysine was needed to coordinate the binuclear ion within the active site of hydantoinase. The mutant D313E enzyme was also active but resulted in a pH profile different from that of wild-type hydantoinase. A mechanism for hydantoinase involving metal, carboxylated K148, and D313 was proposed.

Purification of industrial hydantoinase in one chromatographic step without affinity tag

Hydantoinase is used in industry as a biocatalyst for the production of optically pure D- or L-amino acids. Previously, homogeneous hydantoinase was obtained by multi-chromatographic purification procedures. Here, we reported a process that contained only a single chromatographic step to purify a recombinant hydantoinase to homogeneity. Hydantoinase from Agrobacterium radiobacter NRRL B11291 was expressed in Escherichia coli. The recombinant enzyme was purified following heat treatments, high concentration alcohol precipitation, and chelating Sephacel chromatography. The recombinant hydantoinase did not contain any affinity tags from the plasmid. This simplified procedure provided a convenient way to obtain hydantoinase in high yield (71%) and high purity. It should be very useful for further industrial application and for the study of the structure-function of hydantoinase.

Crystal Structures of Vertebrate Dihydropyrimidinase and Complexes from Tetraodon nigroviridis with Lysine Carbamylation METAL AND STRUCTURAL REQUIREMENTS FOR POST-TRANSLATIONAL MODIFICATION AND FUNCTION

Background: Lysine carbamylation facilitates metal coordination for enzymatic activities. Results: Structures of dihydropyrimidinase as the apo- and holoenzyme with one and two metals and its substrate/product complexes are determined. Conclusion: The structures reveal four steps in the assembly of the holoprotein with the carbamylated lysine and two metal ions. Significance: The results illustrate how proteins exploit lysines and metals to accomplish lysine carbamylation and enzymatic functions. Lysine carbamylation, a post-translational modification, facilitates metal coordination for specific enzymatic activities. We have determined structures of the vertebrate dihydropyrimidinase from Tetraodon nigroviridis (TnDhp) in various states: the apoenzyme as well as two forms of the holoenzyme with one and two metals at the catalytic site. The essential active-site structural requirements have been identified for the possible existence of four metal-mediated stages of lysine carbamylation. Only one metal is sufficient for stabilizing lysine carbamylation; however, the post-translational lysine carbamylation facilitates additional metal coordination for the regulation of specific enzymatic activities through controlling the conformations of two dynamic loops, Ala69–Arg74 and Met158–Met165, located in the tunnel for the substrate entrance. The substrate/product tunnel is in the “open form” in the apo-TnDhp, in the “intermediate state” in the monometal TnDhp, and in the “closed form” in the dimetal TnDhp structure, respectively. Structural comparison also suggests that the C-terminal tail plays a role in the enzymatic function through interactions with the Ala69–Arg74 dynamic loop. In addition, the structures of the dimetal TnDhp in complexes with hydantoin, N-carbamyl-β-alanine, and N-carbamyl-β-amino isobutyrate as well as apo-TnDhp in complex with a product analog, N-(2-acetamido)-iminodiacetic acid, have been determined. These structural results illustrate how a protein exploits unique lysines and the metal distribution to accomplish lysine carbamylation as well as subsequent enzymatic functions.

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of thermophilic imidase from pig liver

Imidase is an enzyme, also known as dihydropyrimidinase (EC 3.5.2.2), hydantoinase, dihydropyrimidine hydrase or dihydropyrimidine amidohydrolase, that catalyzes the reversible hydrolysis of 5,6-dihydrouracil to 3-ureidopropionate and many other imides. Substrate specificity, metal content and amino-acid sequence all differ significantly between bacterial and mammalian imide-hydrolyzing enzymes. In this study, a thermophilic imidase was isolated from pig liver and crystallized. Two kinds of imidase crystals were grown by the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method using polyethylene glycol MME 5000 and 2-propanol as precipitants. One belongs to the triclinic P(1) space group, with unit-cell parameters a = 96.35, b = 96.87, c = 154.87 A, alpha = 82.10, beta = 72.54, gamma = 77.19 degrees, and the other belongs to the orthorhombic C222(1) space group, with unit-cell parameters a = 113.92, b = 157.22, c = 156.21 A.