Metal centres of bacterioferritins or non-haem-iron-containing cytochromes b 557

Thiol, disulfide, and trisulfide complexes of Ru porphyrins: potential models for iron-sulfur bonds in heme proteins

Thirty-two Ru(porp)L(2) complexes have been synthesized, where porp = the dianion of meso-tetramesitylporphyrin (TMP) or meso-tetrakis(4-methylphenyl)porphyrin (H(2)T-pMe-PP), and L = a thiol, a sulfide, a disulfide, or a trisulfide. Species studied were with RSH [R = Me, Et, (n)Pr, (i)Pr, (t)Bu, Bn (benzyl), and Ph], RSR (R = Me, Bn), RSSR (R = Me, Et, (n)Pr, Bn) and MeSS(t)Bu, and RSSSR (R = Me, Bn). All the species except two, which were the isolated Ru(T-pMe-PP)((t)BuSH)(2) and Ru(TMP)(MeSSMe)(2), were characterized in situ. The disulfide complex was characterized by X-ray analysis. (1)H NMR data for the coordinated thiols are the first reported within metalloporphyrin systems, and are especially informative because of the upfield shifts of the axial sulfur-containing ligands due to the porphyrin π-ring current effect, which is also present in the di- and trisulfide species. The disulfide in the solid state structure of Ru(TMP)(MeSSMe)(2) is η(1)(end-on) coordinated, the first example of such bonding in a nontethered, acyclic dialkyl disulfide; (1)H-(1)H EXSY NMR data in solution show that the species undergoes 1,2-S-metallotropic shifts. Stepwise formation of the bis(disulfide) complex from Ru(TMP)(MeCN)(2) in solution occurs with a cooperativity effect, resembling behavior of Fe(II)-porphyrin systems where crystal field effects dominate, but ligand trans-effects are more likely in the Ru system. The η(1)(end-on) coordination mode is also favored for the trisulfide ligand. Discussed also are the remarkable linear correlations that exist between the ring-current shielding shifts for the axial ligand C(1) protons of Ru(porp)(RS(x)R)(2) and x (the number of S atoms). The Introduction briefly reviews literature on Ru- and Fe porphyrins (including heme proteins) with sulfur-containing ligands or substrates, and relationships between our findings and this literature are discussed throughout the paper.

Formation of protein-coated iron minerals

The ability of iron to cycle between Fe(2+) and Fe(3+) forms has led to the evolution, in different forms, of several iron-containing protein cofactors that are essential for a wide variety of cellular processes, to the extent that virtually all cells require iron for survival and prosperity. The redox properties of iron, however, also mean that this metal is potentially highly toxic and this, coupled with the extreme insolubility of Fe(3+), presents the cell with the significant problem of how to maintain this essential metal in a safe and bioavailable form. This has been overcome through the evolution of proteins capable of reversibly storing iron in the form of a Fe(3+) mineral. For several decades the ferritins have been synonymous with the function of iron storage. Within this family are subfamilies of mammalian, plant and bacterial ferritins which are all composed of 24 subunits assembled to form an essentially spherical protein with a central cavity in which the mineral is laid down. In the past few years it has become clear that other proteins, belonging to the family of DNA-binding proteins from starved cells (the Dps family), which are oligomers of 12 subunits, and to the frataxin family, which may contain up to 48 subunits, are also able to lay down a Fe(3+) mineral core. Here we present an overview of the formation of protein-coated iron minerals, with particular emphasis on the structures of the protein coats and the mechanisms by which they promote core formation. We show on the one hand that significant mechanistic similarities exist between structurally dissimilar proteins, while on the other that relatively small structural differences between otherwise similar proteins result in quite dramatic mechanistic differences.

Effect of phosphate on bacterioferritin-catalysed iron(II) oxidation

The iron(III) mineral cores of bacterioferritins (BFRs), as isolated, contain a significant component of phosphate, with an iron-to-phosphate ratio approaching 1:1 in some cases. In order to better understand the in vivo core-formation process, the effect of phosphate on in vitro core formation in Escherichia coli BFR was investigated. Iron cores reconstituted in the presence of phosphate were found to have iron-to-phosphate ratios similar to those of native cores, and possessed electron paramagnetic resonance properties characteristic of the phosphate-rich core. Phosphate did not affect the stoichiometry of the initial iron(II) oxidation reaction that takes place at the intrasubunit dinuclear iron-binding sites (phase 2 of core formation), but did increase the rate of oxidation. Phosphate had a more significant effect on subsequent core formation (the phase 3 reaction), increasing the rate up to five-fold at pH 6.5 and 25 degrees C. The dependence of the phase 3 rate on phosphate was complex, being greatest at low phosphate and gradually decreasing until the point of saturation at approximately 2 mM phosphate (for iron(II) concentrations <200 microM). Phosphate caused a significant decrease in the absorption properties of both phase 2 and phase 3 products, and the phosphate dependence of the latter mirrored the observed rate dependence, suggesting that distinct iron(III)-phosphate species are formed at different phosphate concentrations. The effect of phosphate on absorption properties enabled the observation of previously undetected events in the phase 2 to phase 3 transition period.

Stability of a 24-meric homopolymer: comparative studies of assembly-defective mutants of Rhodobacter capsulatus bacterioferritin and the native protein

The stability of Rhodobacter capsulatus bacterioferritin, a 24-meric homopolymer, toward denaturation on variation in pH and temperature, and increasing concentrations of urea and guanidine.HCl was investigated with native PAGE, and CD and fluorescence spectroscopies. With temperature and urea, the wild-type protein denatured without discernible intermediates in the equilibrium experiments, but with guanidine.HCl (Gnd.HCl) one or more intermediate species were apparent at relatively low Gnd.HCl concentrations. Dissociated subunit monomers, or aggregates smaller than 24-mers containing the high alpha-helical content characteristic of the native protein were not obtained at any pH without a high proportion of the 24-mer being present, and taken together with the other denaturation experiments and the construction of stable subunit dimers by site-directed mutagenesis, this observation indicates that folding of the bacterioferritin monomer could be coupled to its association into a dimer. Glu 128 and Glu 135 were replaced by alanine and arginine in a series of mutants to determine their role in stabilizing the 24-meric oligomer. The Glu128Ala, Glu135Ala and Glu135Arg variants retained a 24-meric structure, but the Glu128Ala/Glu135Ala and Glu128Arg/Glu135Arg variants were stable subunit dimers. CD spectra of the Glu135Arg, Glu128Ala/Glu135Ala, and Glu128Arg/Glu135Arg variants showed that they retained the high alpha-helical content of the wild-type protein. The 24-meric Glu135Arg variant was less stable than the wild-type protein (T(m), [Urea](50%) and [Gnd.HCl](50%) of 59 degrees C, 4.9 M and 3.2 M compared with 73 degrees C, approximately 8 M and 4.3 M, respectively), and the dimeric Glu128Arg/Glu135Arg variant was less stable still (T(m), [Urea](50%) and [Gnd.HCl](50%) of 43 degrees C, approximately 3.2 M and 1.8 M, respectively). The differences in stability are roughly additive, indicating that the salt-bridges formed by Glu 128 and Glu 135 in the native oligomer, with Arg 61 and the amino-terminal amine of neighboring subunits, respectively, contribute equally to the stability of the subunit assembly. The additivity and assembly states of the variant proteins suggest that the interactions involving Glu 128 and Glu 135 contribute significantly to stabilizing the 24-mer relative to the subunit dimer.

Iron detoxification properties of Escherichia coli bacterioferritin. Attenuation of oxyradical chemistry

Bacterioferritin (EcBFR) of Escherichia coli is an iron-mineralizing hemoprotein composed of 24 identical subunits, each containing a dinuclear metal-binding site known as the "ferroxidase center." The chemistry of Fe(II) binding and oxidation and Fe(III) hydrolysis using H(2)O(2) as oxidant was studied by electrode oximetry, pH-stat, UV-visible spectrophotometry, and electron paramagnetic resonance spin trapping experiments. Absorption spectroscopy data demonstrate the oxidation of two Fe(II) per H(2)O(2) at the ferroxidase center, thus avoiding hydroxyl radical production via Fenton chemistry. The oxidation reaction with H(2)O(2) corresponds to [Fe(II)(2)-P](Z) + H(2)O(2) --> [Fe(III)(2)O-P](Z) + H(2)O, where [Fe(II)(2)-P](Z) represents a diferrous ferroxidase center complex of the protein P with net charge Z and [Fe(III)(2)O-P](Z) a micro-oxo-bridged diferric ferroxidase complex. The mineralization reaction is given by 2Fe(2+) + H(2)O(2) + 2H(2)O --> 2FeOOH((core)) + 4H(+), where two Fe(II) are again oxidized by one H(2)O(2). Hydrogen peroxide is shown to be an intermediate product of dioxygen reduction when O(2) is used as the oxidant in both the ferroxidation and mineralization reactions. Most of the H(2)O(2) produced from O(2) is rapidly consumed in a subsequent ferroxidase reaction with Fe(II) to produce H(2)O. EPR spin trapping experiments show that the presence of EcBFR greatly attenuates the production of hydroxyl radical during Fe(II) oxidation by H(2)O(2), consistent with the ability of the bacterioferritin to facilitate the pairwise oxidation of Fe(II) by H(2)O(2), thus avoiding odd electron reduction products of oxygen and therefore oxidative damage to the protein and cellular components through oxygen radical chemistry.