Overexpression and feasible purification of thermostable L-2-halo acid dehalogenase of Pseudomonas sp. YL

DL-2-Haloacid dehalogenase from Pseudomonas sp. 113 is a new class of dehalogenase catalyzing hydrolytic dehalogenation not involving enzyme-substrate ester intermediate

DL-2-Haloacid dehalogenase from Pseudomonas sp. 113 (DL-DEX 113) catalyzes the hydrolytic dehalogenation of D- and L-2-haloalkanoic acids, producing the corresponding L- and D-2-hydroxyalkanoic acids, respectively. Every halidohydrolase studied so far (L-2-haloacid dehalogenase, haloalkane dehalogenase, and 4-chlorobenzoyl-CoA dehalogenase) has an active site carboxylate group that attacks the substrate carbon atom bound to the halogen atom, leading to the formation of an ester intermediate. This is subsequently hydrolyzed, resulting in the incorporation of an oxygen atom of the solvent water molecule into the carboxylate group of the enzyme. In the present study, we analyzed the reaction mechanism of DL-DEX 113. When a single turnover reaction of DL-DEX 113 was carried out with a large excess of the enzyme in H(2)(18)O with a 10 times smaller amount of the substrate, either D- or L-2-chloropropionate, the major product was found to be (18)O-labeled lactate by ionspray mass spectrometry. After a multiple turnover reaction in H(2)(18)O, the enzyme was digested with trypsin or lysyl endopeptidase, and the molecular masses of the peptide fragments were measured with an ionspray mass spectrometer. No peptide fragments contained (18)O. These results indicate that the H(2)(18)O of the solvent directly attacks the alpha-carbon of 2-haloalkanoic acid to displace the halogen atom. This is the first example of an enzymatic hydrolytic dehalogenation that proceeds without producing an ester intermediate.

Crystal structure of L-2-haloacid dehalogenase from Pseudomonas sp. YL. An alpha/beta hydrolase structure that is different from the alpha/beta hydrolase fold

L-2-Haloacid dehalogenase catalyzes the hydrolytic dehalogenation of L-2-haloalkanoic acids to yield the corresponding D-2-hydroxyalkanoic acids. The crystal structure of the homodimeric enzyme from Pseudomonas sp. YL has been determined by a multiple isomorphous replacement method and refined at 2.5 A resolution to a crystallographic R-factor of 19.5%. The subunit consists of two structurally distinct domains: the core domain and the subdomain. The core domain has an alpha/beta structure formed by a six-stranded parallel beta-sheet flanked by five alpha-helices. The subdomain inserted into the core domain has a four helix bundle structure providing the greater part of the interface for dimer formation. There is an active site cavity between the domains. An experimentally identified nucleophilic residue, Asp-10, is located on a loop following the amino-terminal beta-strand in the core domain, and other functional residues, Thr-14, Arg-41, Ser-118, Lys-151, Tyr-157, Ser-175, Asn-177, and Asp-180, detected by a site-directed mutagenesis experiment, are arranged around the nucleophile in the active site. Although the enzyme is an alpha/beta-type hydrolase, it does not belong to the alpha/beta hydrolase fold family, from the viewpoint of the topological feature and the position of the nucleophile.

Crystallization and preliminary x-ray crystallographic studies of L-2-haloacid dehalogenase from Pseudomonas sp. YL

The dimeric L-2-haloacid dehalogenase from Pseudomonas sp. YL, (subunit mass, 26179 Da), has been crystallized by vapor diffusion, supplemented by repetitive seeding, against a 50 mM potassium dihydrogenphosphate solution (pH 4.5) containing 15% (w/v) polyethylene glycol 8,000 and 1% (v/v) n-propanol. The crystals belong to the monoclinic space group C2 with unit cell dimensions of a = 92.21 angstrom, b = 62.78 angstrom, c = 50.84 angstrom, and beta = 122.4 degrees, and contain two dehalogenase dimers in the unit cell. They are of good quality and diffract up to 1.5 angstrom resolution.