Redox properties of electron-transferring flavoprotein from Megasphaera elsdenii

The reductive half-reaction of two bifurcating electron-transferring flavoproteins: Evidence for changes in flavin reduction potentials mediated by specific conformational changes

The EtfAB components of two bifurcating flavoprotein systems, the crotonyl-CoA-dependent NADH:ferredoxin oxidoreductase from the bacterium Megasphaera elsdenii and the menaquinone-dependent NADH:ferredoxin oxidoreductase from the archaeon Pyrobaculum aerophilum, have been investigated. With both proteins, we find that removal of the electron-transferring flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) moiety from both proteins results in an uncrossing of the reduction potentials of the remaining bifurcating FAD; this significantly stabilizes the otherwise very unstable semiquinone state, which accumulates over the course of reductive titrations with sodium dithionite. Furthermore, reduction of both EtfABs depleted of their electron-transferring FAD by NADH was monophasic with a hyperbolic dependence of reaction rate on the concentration of NADH. On the other hand, NADH reduction of the replete proteins containing the electron-transferring FAD was multiphasic, consisting of a fast phase comparable to that seen with the depleted proteins followed by an intermediate phase that involves significant accumulation of FAD⋅-, again reflecting uncrossing of the half-potentials of the bifurcating FAD. This is then followed by a slow phase that represents the slow reduction of the electron-transferring FAD to FADH-, with reduction of the now fully reoxidized bifurcating FAD by a second equivalent of NADH. We suggest that the crossing and uncrossing of the reduction half-potentials of the bifurcating FAD is due to specific conformational changes that have been structurally characterized.

Electron transfer flavoprotein and its role in mitochondrial energy metabolism in health and disease

Electron transfer flavoprotein (ETF) is an enzyme with orthologs from bacteria to humans. Human ETF is nuclear encoded by two separate genes, ETFA and ETFB, respectively. After translation, the two subunits are imported to the mitochondrial matrix space and assemble into a heterodimer containing one FAD and one AMP as cofactors. ETF functions as a hub taking up electrons from at least 14 flavoenzymes, feeding them into the respiratory chain. This represents a major source of reducing power for the electron transport chain from fatty acid oxidation and amino acid degradation. Transfer of electrons from the donor enzymes to ETF occurs by direct transfer between the enzyme bound flavins, a process that is tightly regulated by the polypeptide chain and by protein:protein interactions. ETF, in turn relays electrons to the iron sulfur cluster of the inner membrane protein ETF:QO, from where they travel via the FAD in ETF:QO to ubiquinone, entering the respiratory chain at the level of complex III. ETF recognizes its dehydrogenase partners via a recognition loop that anchors the protein on its partner followed by dynamic movements of the ETF flavin domain that bring redox cofactors in close proximity, thus promoting electron transfer. Genetic mutations in the ETFA or ETFB genes cause the Mendelian disorder multiple acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (MADD; OMIM #231680). We here review the knowledge on human ETF and investigations of the effects of disease-associated missense mutations in this protein that have promoted the understanding of the essential role that ETF plays in cellular metabolism and human disease.

Closing the gap: yeast electron-transferring flavoprotein links the oxidation of d-lactate and d-α-hydroxyglutarate to energy production via the respiratory chain

Electron-transferring flavoproteins (ETFs) have been found in all kingdoms of life, mostly assisting in shuttling electrons to the respiratory chain for ATP production. While the human (h) ETF has been studied in great detail, very little is known about the biochemical properties of the homologous protein in the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yETF). In view of the absence of client dehydrogenases, for example, the acyl-CoA dehydrogenases involved in the β-oxidation of fatty acids, d-lactate dehydrogenase 2 (Dld2) appeared to be the only relevant enzyme that is serviced by yETF for electron transfer to the mitochondrial electron transport chain. However, this hypothesis was never tested experimentally. Here, we report the biochemical properties of yETF and Dld2 as well as the electron transfer reaction between the two proteins. Our study revealed that Dld2 oxidizes d-α-hydroxyglutarate more efficiently than d-lactate exhibiting kcatapp /KMapp values of 1200 ± 300 m-1 ·s-1 and 11 ± 2 m-1 ·s-1 , respectively. As expected, substrate-reduced Dld2 very slowly reacted with oxygen or the artificial electron acceptor 2,6-dichlorophenol indophenol. However, photoreduced Dld2 was rapidly reoxidized by oxygen, suggesting that the reaction products, that is, α-ketoglutarate and pyruvate, 'lock' the reduced enzyme in an unreactive state. Interestingly, however, we could demonstrate that substrate-reduced Dld2 rapidly transfers electrons to yETF. Therefore, we conclude that the formation of a product-reduced Dld2 complex suppresses electron transfer to dioxygen but favors the rapid reduction in yETF, thus preventing the loss of electrons and the generation of reactive oxygen species.

Interaction between NADH and electron-transferring flavoprotein from Megasphaera elsdenii

Electron-transferring flavoprotein (ETF) from the anaerobic bacterium Megasphaera elsdenii is a heterodimer containing two FAD cofactors. Isolated ETF contains only one FAD molecule, FAD-1, because the other, FAD-2, is lost during purification. FAD-2 is recovered by adding FAD to the isolated ETF. The two FAD molecules in holoETF were characterized using NADH. Spectrophotometric titration of isolated ETF with NADH showed a two-electron reduction of FAD-1 according to a monophasic profile indicating that FAD-1 receives electrons from NADH without involvement of FAD-2. When holoETF was titrated with NADH, FAD-2 was reduced to an anionic semiquinone and then was fully reduced before the reduction of FAD-1. The midpoint potential values at pH 7 were +81, -136 and -279 mV for the reduction of oxidized FAD-2 to semiquinone, semiquinone to the fully reduced FAD-2 and the two-electron reduction of FAD-1, respectively. Both FAD-1 and FAD-2 in holoETF were reduced by excess NADH very rapidly. The reduction of FAD-2 was slowed by replacement of FAD-1 with 8-cyano-FAD indicating that FAD-2 receives electrons from FAD-1 but not from NADH directly. The present results suggest that FAD-2 is the counterpart of the FAD in human ETF, which contains one FAD and one AMP.

Arginine 49 is a bifunctional residue important in catalysis and biosynthesis of monomeric sarcosine oxidase: a context-sensitive model for the electrostatic impact of arginine to lysine mutations

Monomeric sarcosine oxidase (MSOX) contains covalently bound FAD and catalyzes the oxidative demethylation of sarcosine ( N-methylglycine). The side chain of Arg49 is in van der Waals contact with the si face of the flavin ring; sarcosine binds just above the re face. Covalent flavin attachment requires a basic residue (Arg or Lys) at position 49. Although flavinylation is scarcely affected, mutation of Arg49 to Lys causes a 40-fold decrease in k cat and a 150-fold decrease in k cat/ K m sarcosine. The overall structure of the Arg49Lys mutant is very similar to wild-type MSOX; the side chain of Lys49 in the mutant is nearly congruent to that of Arg49 in the wild-type enzyme. The Arg49Lys mutant exhibits several features consistent with a less electropositive active site: (1) Charge transfer bands observed for mutant enzyme complexes with competitive inhibitors absorb at higher energy than the corresponding wild-type complexes. (2) The p K a for ionization at N(3)H of FAD is more than two pH units higher in the mutant than in wild-type MSOX. (3) The reduction potential of the oxidized/radical couple in the mutant is 100 mV lower than in the wild-type enzyme. The lower reduction potential is likely to be a major cause of the reduced catalytic activity of the mutant. Electrostatic interactions with Arg49 play an important role in catalysis and covalent flavinylation. A context-sensitive model for the electrostatic impact of an arginine to lysine mutation can account for the dramatically different consequences of the Arg49Lys mutation on MSOX catalysis and holoenzyme biosysnthesis.

Expression of Clostridium acetobutylicum butanol synthetic genes in Escherichia coli

A recombinant butanol pathway composed of Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824 genes, thiL, hbd, crt, bcd-etfB-etfA, and adhe1 (or adhe) coding for acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase (THL), beta-hydroxybutyryl-CoA dehydrogenase (HBD), 3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA dehydratase (CRT), butyryl-CoA dehydrogenase (BCD), butyraldehyde dehydrogenase (BYDH), and butanol dehydrogenase (BDH), under the tac promoter control was constructed and was introduced into Escherichia coli. The functional expression of these six enzymes was proved by demonstrating the corresponding enzyme activities using spectrophotometric, high performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography analyses. The BCD activity, which was not detected in E. coli previously, was shown in the present study by performing the procedure from cell extract preparation to activity measurement under anaerobic condition. Moreover, the etfA and etfB co-expression was found to be essential for the BCD activity. In the case of BYDH activity, the adhe gene product was shown to have higher specificity towards butyryl-CoA compared to the adhe1 product. Butanol production from glucose was achieved by the highly concentrated cells of the butanologenic E. coli strains, BUT1 with adhe1 and BUT2 with adhe, under anaerobic condition, and the BUT1 and BUT2 strains were shown to produce 4 and 16-mM butanol with 6- and 1-mM butyrate as a byproduct, respectively. This study reports the novel butanol production by an aerobically pregrown microorganism possessing the genes of a strict anaerobe, Clostridium acetobutylicum.

The human apoptosis-inducing protein AMID is an oxidoreductase with a modified flavin cofactor and DNA binding activity

AMID (apoptosis-inducing factor-homologous mitochondrion-associated inducer of death; also known as PRG3 (p53-responsive gene 3)) is a human caspase-independent pro-apoptotic protein with some similarity to apoptosis-inducing factor. AMID was purified from a recombinant bacterial host, enabling biochemical analysis of the protein. AMID is a flavoprotein; possesses NAD(P)H oxidase activity; and catalyzes NAD(P)H-dependent reduction of cytochrome c and other electron acceptors, including molecular oxygen. NADPH binds approximately 10-fold tighter than NADH. AMID binds 6-hydroxy-FAD (a cofactor that accumulates only adventitiously and at low abundance in other flavoprotein enzymes) to form a stoichiometric cofactor.protein complex. AMID has a distinctive electronic spectrum due to the modified flavin. NAD(P)+ binding perturbed the spectrum, enabling determination of K(d) values for these coenzymes. 6-Hydroxy-FAD could be removed from AMID and the apoprotein reconstituted with FAD. FAD was converted to 6-hydroxy-FAD in reconstituted AMID during aerobic turnover with NADPH. AMID is a DNA-binding protein that lacks apparent DNA sequence specificity. Formation of the protein.DNA complex (i) effected a major protein conformational change and (ii) was prevented in the presence of nicotinamide coenzyme. Apo-AMID retains DNA binding activity. Our studies establish a link between coenzyme and DNA binding that likely impacts on the physiological role of AMID in cellular apoptosis.

Catalytic reaction of cytokinin dehydrogenase: preference for quinones as electron acceptors

The catalytic reaction of cytokinin oxidase/dehydrogenase (EC 1.5.99.12) was studied in detail using the recombinant flavoenzyme from maize. Determination of the redox potential of the covalently linked flavin cofactor revealed a relatively high potential dictating the type of electron acceptor that can be used by the enzyme. Using 2,6-dichlorophenol indophenol, 2,3-dimethoxy-5-methyl-1,4-benzoquinone or 1,4-naphthoquinone as electron acceptor, turnover rates with N6-(2-isopentenyl)adenine of approx. 150 s(-1) could be obtained. This suggests that the natural electron acceptor of the enzyme is quite probably a p-quinone or similar compound. By using the stopped-flow technique, it was found that the enzyme is rapidly reduced by N6-(2-isopentenyl)adenine (k(red)=950 s(-1)). Re-oxidation of the reduced enzyme by molecular oxygen is too slow to be of physiological relevance, confirming its classification as a dehydrogenase. Furthermore, it was established for the first time that the enzyme is capable of degrading aromatic cytokinins, although at low reaction rates. As a result, the enzyme displays a dual catalytic mode for oxidative degradation of cytokinins: a low-rate and low-substrate specificity reaction with oxygen as the electron acceptor, and high activity and strict specificity for isopentenyladenine and analogous cytokinins with some specific electron acceptors.

The functions of the flavin contact residues, alphaArg249 and betaTyr16, in human electron transfer flavoprotein

Arg249 in the large (alpha) subunit of human electron transfer flavoprotein (ETF) heterodimer is absolutely conserved throughout the ETF superfamily. The guanidinium group of alphaArg249 is within van der Waals contact distance and lies perpendicular to the xylene subnucleus of the flavin ring, near the region proposed to be involved in electron transfer with medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase. The backbone amide hydrogen of alphaArg249 is within hydrogen bonding distance of the carbonyl oxygen at the flavin C(2). alphaArg249 may modulate the potentials of the two flavin redox couples by hydrogen bonding the carbonyl oxygen at C(2) and by providing delocalized positive charge to neutralize the anionic semiquinone and anionic hydroquinone of the flavin. The potentials of the oxidized/semiquinone and semiquinone/hydroquinone couples decrease in an alphaR249K mutant ETF generated by site directed mutagenesis and expression in Escherichia coli, without major alterations of the flavin environment as judged by spectral criteria. The steady state turnover of medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase and glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase decrease greater than 90% as a result of the alphaR249Ks mutation. In contrast, the steady state turnover of short chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase was decreased about 38% when alphaR249K ETF was the electron acceptor. Stopped flow absorbance measurements of the oxidation of reduced medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase/octenoyl-CoA product complex by wild type human ETF at 3 degrees C are biphasic (t(1/2)=12 ms and 122 ms). The rate of oxidation of this reduced binary complex of the dehydrogenase by the alphaR249K mutant ETF is extremely slow and could not be reasonably estimated. alphaAsp253 is proposed to function with alphaArg249 in the electron transfer pathway from medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase to ETF. The steady state kinetic constants of the dehydrogenase were not altered when ETF containing an alphaD253A mutant was the substrate. However, t(1/2) of the rapid phase of oxidation of the reduced medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase/octenoyl-CoA charge transfer complex almost doubled. betaTyr16 lies on a loop near the C(8) methyl group, and is also near the proposed site for interflavin electron transfer with medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase. The tyrosine residue makes van der Waals contact with the C(8) methyl group of the flavin in human ETF and Paracoccus denitrificans ETF (as betaTyr13) and lies at a 30 degrees C angle with the plane of the flavin. Human betaTyr16 was substituted with leucine and alanine residues to investigate the role of this residue in the modulation of the flavin redox potentials and in electron transfer to ETF. In betaY16L ETF, the potentials of the flavin were slightly reduced, and steady state kinetic constants were modestly altered. Substitution of an alanine residue for betaTyr16 yields an ETF with potentials very similar to the wild type but with steady state kinetic properties similar to betaY16L ETF. It is unlikely that the beta methyl group of the alanine residue interacts with the flavin C(8) methyl. Neither substitution of betaTyr16 had a large effect on the fast phase of ETF reduction by medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase.

Cloning and analysis of the genes for a novel electron-transferring flavoprotein from Megasphaera elsdenii. Expression and characterization of the recombinant protein

The genes that encode the two different subunits of the novel electron-transferring flavoprotein (ETF) from Megasphaera elsdenii were identified by screening a partial genomic DNA library with a probe that was generated by amplification of genomic sequences using the polymerase chain reaction. The cloned genes are arranged in tandem with the coding sequence for the beta-subunit in the position 5' to the alpha-subunit coding sequence. Amino acid sequence analysis of the two subunits revealed that there are two possible dinucleotide-binding sites on the alpha-subunit and one on the beta-subunit. Comparison of M. elsdenii ETF amino acid sequence to other ETFs and ETF-like proteins indicates that while homology occurs with the mitochondrial ETF and bacterial ETFs, the greatest similarity is with the putative ETFs from clostridia and with fixAB gene products from nitrogen-fixing bacteria. The recombinant ETF was isolated from extracts of Escherichia coli. It is a heterodimer with subunits identical in size to the native protein. The isolated enzyme contains approximately 1 mol of FAD, but like the native protein it binds additional flavin to give a total of about 2 mol of FAD/dimer. It serves as an electron donor to butyryl-CoA dehydrogenase, and it also has NADH dehydrogenase activity.

Cloning, sequencing, and expression of clustered genes encoding beta-hydroxybutyryl-coenzyme A (CoA) dehydrogenase, crotonase, and butyryl-CoA dehydrogenase from Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824

The enzymes beta-hydroxybutyryl-coenzyme A (CoA) dehydrogenase (BHBD), crotonase, and butyryl-CoA dehydrogenase (BCD) from Clostridium acetobutylicum are responsible for the formation of butyryl-CoA from acetoacetyl-CoA. These enzymes are essential to both acid formation and solvent formation by clostridia. Clustered genes encoding BHBD, crotonase, BCD, and putative electron transfer flavoprotein alpha and beta subunits have been cloned and sequenced. The nucleotide sequence of the crt gene indicates that it encodes crotonase, a protein with 261 amino acid residues and a calculated molecular mass of 28.2 kDa; the hbd gene encodes BHBD, with 282 residues and a molecular mass of 30.5 kDa. Three open reading frames (bcd, etfB, and etfA) are located between crt and hbd. The nucleotide sequence of bcd indicates that it encodes BCD, which consists of 379 amino acid residues and has high levels of homology with various acyl-CoA dehydrogenases. Open reading frames etfB and etfA, located downstream of bcd, encode 27.2- and 36.1-kDa proteins, respectively, and show homology with the fixAB genes and the alpha and beta subunits of the electron transfer flavoprotein. These findings suggest that BCD in clostridia might interact with the electron transfer flavoprotein in its redox function. Primer extension analysis identified a promoter consensus sequence upstream of the crt gene, suggesting that the clustered genes are transcribed as a transcriptional unit and form a BCS (butyryl-CoA synthesis) operon. A DNA fragment containing the entire BCS operon was subcloned into an Escherichia coli-C. acetobutylicum shuttle vector. Enzyme activity assays showed that crotonase and BHBD were highly overproduced in cell extracts from E. coli harboring the subclone. In C. acetobutylicum harboring the subclone, the activities of the enzymes crotonase, BHBD, and BCD were elevated.

Characterization of a 45-kDa flavoprotein and evidence for a rubredoxin, two proteins that could participate in electron transport from H2 to CO2 in methanogenesis in Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum

Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum strains contain a flavoprotein (flavoprotein A) that copurifies with the H2:heterodisulfide oxidoreductase complex. In this study, we report the iron-dependent synthesis and biochemical properties of flavoprotein A, cloning and sequencing of the flavoprotein-A-encoding gene (fpaA) and the co-transcription of fpaA with two downstream open reading frames, one of which (rdxA) appears to encode a rubredoxin. Native flavoprotein A has been shown to be a homodimer of a 45-kDa polypeptide that contains 1.3 mol FMN/45-kDa subunit but no iron or acid-labile sulfur. Catalytic amounts of the H2:heterodisulfide oxidoreductase complex or of the F420-reducing hydrogenase reduced flavoprotein A with H2, at specific rates of 0.3-0.4 U/mg enzyme, generating up to 70% flavin semiquinone before reduction to the flavin hydroquinone was observed. This intermediate accumulation of the semiquinone species had a kinetic rather than a thermodynamic basis, because the semiquinone form of flavoprotein A, generated by photoreduction, disproportionated quantitatively to the quinone and hydroquinone species. The midpoint potential of the quinone/hydroquinone couple was estimated to be 230 +/- 15 mV, at pH 7.6, versus the normal hydrogen electrode. Quantitation of Western blots demonstrated that flavoprotein A constituted approximately 1.5% of the soluble protein in cells grown in an iron-sufficient medium but that this increased to about 6% of the cellular protein when the iron the medium was depleted. The increase in the flavoprotein A content of cells grown under iron-limiting conditions was mirrored by a decrease in the content of the iron-rich polyferredoxin that also copurified with the H2:heterodisulfide oxidoreductase complex. The fpaA gene, cloned and sequenced from M. thermoautotrophicum strain delta H, encodes 404 amino acids in a sequence that has a C-terminal domain (approximately 130 amino acid residues) with features consistent with a flavodoxin structure. The remainder of flavoprotein A has sequences that are also predicted to be present in the N-terminal region of the orf14 gene product, which also appears to be an enlarged flavodoxin, encoded in the nif region of Rhodobacter capsulatus. Immediately downstream from fpaA, two open reading frames designated orfX and rdxA, have been located and shown by Northern-blot analyses to be co-transcribed with fpaA, although approximately 50% of fpaA-orfX-rdxA transcripts terminated or were cleaved within rdxA. Primer extension studies revealed that transcription of this transcriptional unit (the fpa operon) was initiated 32 nucleotides upstream of fpaA, at a site 25 nucleotides downstream from a sequence consistent with an archaeal TATA-box promoter element.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Oxidation-reduction properties of trimethylamine dehydrogenase: effect of inhibitor binding

The redox potentials of trimethylamine dehydrogenase from the bacterium W3A1 have been determined by means of uv-visible spectroelectrochemistry. In the presence of the inhibitor tetramethylammonium chloride a shift of +0.2 V was observed in the midpoint redox potential for conversion of the oxidized 6-S-cysteinyl-FMN to the flavin radical form. The pH-independent value was +0.23 V vs the standard hydrogen electrode. The pH-dependent conversion of this radical to fully reduced flavin was shifted negative by 0.1 V in the presence of the inhibitor to -0.05 V at pH 7.0 and -0.15 V at pH 8.4. Tetramethylammonium chloride also caused moderate negative shifts (0.03-0.05 V) in the midpoint redox potential for the Fe4S(+2)4/Fe4S(+1)4 couple of trimethylamine dehydrogenase. The midpoint potentials are +0.06 V at pH 7.0 and +0.04 V at pH 8.4. Therefore, in the presence of tetramethylammonium chloride, electron transfer from the flavin radical to the Fe4S(+2)4 group is energetically unfavorable and trimethylamine dehydrogenase is trapped in the flavin radical state. The redox potential changes provide a thermodynamic basis for inhibition by tetramethylammonium chloride. Spectroelectrochemical titrations of trimethylamine dehydrogenase which had been inactivated by phenylhydrazine revealed heterogeneity in the redox behavior which had not been observed in other laboratories. The reason for this heterogeneity was not determined, but the midpoint redox potential for the Fe4S(+2)4/Fe4S(+1)4 couple of the main fraction of the inactivated enzyme was the same as that of active trimethylamine dehydrogenase.