Preparation and spectral characterization of the heme d1.apomyoglobin complex: an unusual protein environment for the substrate-binding heme of Pseudomonas cytochrome oxidase

NirN protein from Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a novel electron-bifurcating dehydrogenase catalyzing the last step of heme d1 biosynthesis

Heme d1 plays an important role in denitrification as the essential cofactor of the cytochrome cd1 nitrite reductase NirS. At present, the biosynthesis of heme d1 is only partially understood. The last step of heme d1 biosynthesis requires a so far unknown enzyme that catalyzes the introduction of a double bond into one of the propionate side chains of the tetrapyrrole yielding the corresponding acrylate side chain. In this study, we show that a Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 strain lacking the NirN protein does not produce heme d1. Instead, the NirS purified from this strain contains the heme d1 precursor dihydro-heme d1 lacking the acrylic double bond, as indicated by UV-visible absorption spectroscopy and resonance Raman spectroscopy. Furthermore, the dihydro-heme d1 was extracted from purified NirS and characterized by UV-visible absorption spectroscopy and finally identified by high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Moreover, we show that purified NirN from P. aeruginosa binds the dihydro-heme d1 and catalyzes the introduction of the acrylic double bond in vitro. Strikingly, NirN uses an electron bifurcation mechanism for the two-electron oxidation reaction, during which one electron ends up on its heme c cofactor and the second electron reduces the substrate/product from the ferric to the ferrous state. On the basis of our results, we propose novel roles for the proteins NirN and NirF during the biosynthesis of heme d1.

Observation of fast release of NO from ferrous d₁ haem allows formulation of a unified reaction mechanism for cytochrome cd₁ nitrite reductases

Cytochrome cd1 nitrite reductase is a haem-containing enzyme responsible for the reduction of nitrite into NO, a key step in the anaerobic respiratory process of denitrification. The active site of cytochrome cd1 contains the unique d1 haem cofactor, from which NO must be released. In general, reduced haems bind NO tightly relative to oxidized haems. In the present paper, we present experimental evidence that the reduced d1 haem of cytochrome cd1 from Paracoccus pantotrophus releases NO rapidly (k=65-200 s(-1)); this result suggests that NO release is the rate-limiting step of the catalytic cycle (turnover number=72 s(-1)). We also demonstrate, using a complex of the d1 haem and apomyoglobin, that the rapid dissociation of NO is largely controlled by the d1 haem cofactor itself. We present a reaction mechanism proposed to be applicable to all cytochromes cd1 and conclude that the d1 haem has evolved to have low affinity for NO, as compared with other ferrous haems.

d(1) haem biogenesis - assessing the roles of three nir gene products

The synthesis of the modified tetrapyrrole known as d(1) haem requires several dedicated proteins which are coded for by a set of genes that are often found adjacent to the structural gene, nirS, for cytochrome cd(1) nitrite reductase. NirE, the product of the first gene in the nir biogenesis operon, was anticipated to catalyse the conversion of uroporphyrinogen III into precorrin-2; this was confirmed, but it was shown that this enzyme is less sensitive to product inhibition than similar enzymes that function in other biosynthetic pathways. Sequence analysis suggesting that one of these proteins, NirN, is a c-type cytochrome, and has similarity to the part of cytochrome cd(1) that binds d(1), was validated by recombinant production and characterization of NirN. A NirN-d(1) haem complex was demonstrated to release the cofactor to a semi-apo form of cytochrome cd(1) from which d(1) was extracted, suggesting a role for NirN in the assembly of cytochrome cd(1) (NirS). However, inactivation of nirN surprisingly led to only a marginal attenuation of growth of Paracoccus pantotrophus under anaerobic denitrifying conditions. As predicted, NirC is a c-type cytochrome; it was shown in vitro to be an electron donor to the NirN-d(1) complex.

Y25S Variant of Paracoccus pantotrophus Cytochrome cd1 Provides Insight into Anion Binding by d1 Heme and a Rare Example of a Critical Difference between Solution and Crystal Structures

Tyr25 is a ligand to the active site d1 heme in as isolated, oxidized cytochrome cd1 nitrite reductase from Paracoccus pantotrophus. This form of the enzyme requires reductive activation, a process that involves not only displacement of Tyr25 from the d1 heme but also switching of the ligands at the c heme from bis-histidinyl to His/Met. A Y25S variant retains this bis-histidinyl coordination in the crystal of the oxidized state that has sulfate bound to the d1 heme iron. This Y25S form of the enzyme does not require reductive activation, an observation previously interpreted as meaning that the presence of the phenolate oxygen of Tyr25 is the critical determinant of the requirement for activation. This interpretation now needs re-evaluation because, unexpectedly, the oxidized as prepared Y25S protein, unlike the wild type, has different heme iron ligands in solution at room temperature, as judged by magnetic circular dichroism and electron spin resonance spectroscopies, than in the crystal. In addition, the binding of nitrite and cyanide to oxidized Y25S cytochrome cd1 is markedly different from the wild type enzyme, thus providing insight into the affinity of the oxidized d1 heme ring for anions in the absence of the steric barrier presented by Tyr25.

X-ray crystallographic study of cyanide binding provides insights into the structure-function relationship for cytochrome cd1 nitrite reductase from Paracoccus pantotrophus

We present a 1.59-A resolution crystal structure of reduced Paracoccus pantotrophus cytochrome cd(1) with cyanide bound to the d(1) heme and His/Met coordination of the c heme. Fe-C-N bond angles are 146 degrees for the A subunit and 164 degrees for the B subunit of the dimer. The nitrogen atom of bound cyanide is within hydrogen bonding distance of His(345) and His(388) and either a water molecule in subunit A or Tyr(25) in subunit B. The ferrous heme-cyanide complex is unusually stable (K(d) approximately 10(-6) m); we propose that this reflects both the design of the specialized d(1) heme ring and a general feature of anion reductases with active site heme. Oxidation of crystals of reduced, cyanide-bound, cytochrome cd(1) results in loss of cyanide and return to the native structure with Tyr(25) as a ligand to the d(1) heme iron and switching to His/His coordination at the c-type heme. No reason for unusually weak binding of cyanide to the ferric state can be identified; rather it is argued that the protein is designed such that a chelate-based effect drives displacement by tyrosine of cyanide or a weaker ligand, like reaction product nitric oxide, from the ferric d(1) heme.

Two enzymes with a common function but different heme ligands in the forms as isolated. Optical and magnetic properties of the heme groups in the oxidized forms of nitrite reductase, cytochrome cd1, from Pseudomonas stutzeri and Thiosphaera pantotropha

It is shown that, in the oxidized state, heme c of Pseudomonas stutzeri (ZoBell strain) cytochrome cd1 has histidine-methionine ligation as observed for cytochrome cd1 from Pseudomonas aeruginosa [Sutherland, J., Greenwood, C., Peterson, J., and Thomson, A. J. (1986) Biochem. J. 233, 893-898]. However, the X-ray structure of Thiosphaera pantotropha cytochrome cd1 reveals bis-histidine ligation for heme c. It is confirmed by EPR and near-infrared (NIR) MCD measurements that the bis-histidine coordination remains unaltered in the solution phase. Hence, the difference between the heme c ligation states defines two distinct classes of oxidized cytochromes cd1 as isolated. A weak feature in the T. pantotropha NIR MCD at 1900 nm suggests that a small population of heme c has histidine-methionine coordination. The ligation state of heme d1 cannot be defined with the same level of confidence, because the porphyrin-to-Fe(III) charge-transfer (CT) bands are less well characterized for this class of partially reduced porphyrin ring. However, variable temperature absorption and MCD spectra show that, in the T. pantotropha enzyme, heme d1 exists in a thermal low-spin/high-spin mixture with the low-spin as the ground state, whereas in P. stutzeri cytochrome cd1, and d1 heme is low-spin at all temperatures. A weak band, assigned as the heme d1 porphyrin-pi(a1u,a2u)-to-ferric(d) charge-transfer transition has been identified for the first time at 2170 nm. Its magnetic properties show the heme d1 to have an unusual (dxz,yz)4(dxy)1 electronic ground state as is found for low-spin Fe(III) chlorins [Cheesman, M. R., and Walker, F. A. (1996) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 118, 7373-7380]. It is proposed that the localization of the Fe(III) unpaired d-electron in an orbital lying in the heme plane may decrease the affinity of the Fe(III) heme for unsaturated ligands such as NO. Although heme d1 in the enzymes from P. stutzeri and T. pantotropha shows different temperature-dependent spin properties, the positions of the low-spin Fe(III) alpha-absorption band, at approximately 640 nm, are very similar to those observed for cytochromes cd1 from eight other sources, suggesting that all have similar strength fields from the axial ligands and, hence, that all have the same coordination, namely histidine-tyrosine or possibly histidine-hydroxide at the heme.