The effect of electrostatic shielding on H tunneling in R67 dihydrofolate reductase

Temperature-Dependent Kinetic Isotope Effects in R67 Dihydrofolate Reductase from Path-Integral Simulations

Calculation of temperature-dependent kinetic isotope effects (KIE) in enzymes presents a significant theoretical challenge. Additionally, it is not trivial to identify enzymes with available experimental accurate intrinsic KIEs in a range of temperatures. In the current work, we present a theoretical study of KIEs in the primitive R67 dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) enzyme and compare with experimental work. The advantage of R67 DHFR is its significantly lower kinetic complexity compared to more evolved DHFR isoforms. We employ mass-perturbation-based path-integral simulations in conjunction with umbrella sampling and a hybrid quantum mechanics-molecular mechanics Hamiltonian. We obtain temperature-dependent KIEs in good agreement with experiments and ascribe the temperature-dependent KIEs primarily to zero-point energy effects. The active site in the primitive enzyme is found to be poorly preorganized, which allows excessive water access to the active site and results in loosely bound reacting ligands.

Evidence for proton tunneling and a transient covalent flavin-substrate adduct in choline oxidase S101A

The effect of temperature on the reaction of alcohol oxidation catalyzed by choline oxidase was investigated with the S101A variant of choline oxidase. Anaerobic enzyme reduction in a stopped-flow spectrophotometer was biphasic using either choline or 1,2-[²H₄]-choline as a substrate. The limiting rate constants k_lim1 and k_lim2 at saturating substrate were well separated (k_lim1/k_lim2>9), and were >15-fold slower than for wild-type choline oxidase. Solvent deuterium kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) ~4 established that k_lim1 probes the proton transfer from the substrate hydroxyl to a catalytic base. Primary substrate deuterium KIEs ≥7 demonstrated that k_lim2 reports on hydride transfer from the choline alkoxide to the flavin. Between 15°C and 39°C the k_lim1 and k_lim2 values increased with increasing temperature, allowing for the analyses of H⁺ and H^- transfers using Eyring and Arrhenius formalisms. Temperature-independent KIE on the k_lim1 value (^H2Ok_lim1/^D2Ok_lim1) suggests that proton transfer occurs within a highly reorganized tunneling-ready-state with a narrow distribution of donor-acceptor distances. Eyring analysis of the k_lim2 value gave lines with the slope_(choline)>slope_(D-choline), suggesting kinetic complexity. Spectral evidence for the transient occurrence of a covalent flavin-substrate adduct during the first phase of the anaerobic reaction of S101A CHO with choline is presented, supporting the notion that an important role of amino acid residues in the active site of flavin-dependent enzymes is to eliminate alternative reactions of the versatile enzyme-bound flavin for the reaction that needs to be catalyzed.