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He Y, Haque MM, Stuehr DJ, Lu HP. Conformational States and Fluctuations in Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase under Calmodulin Regulation. Biophys J 2021; 120:5196-5206. [PMID: 34748763 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2021.11.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2021] [Revised: 09/30/2021] [Accepted: 11/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Mechanisms that regulate nitric oxide synthase enzymes (NOS) are of interest in biology and medicine. Although NOS catalysis relies on domain motions and is activated by calmodulin (CaM) binding, the relationships are unclear. We used single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) spectroscopy to elucidate the conformational states distribution and associated conformational fluctuation dynamics of the two NOS electron transfer domains in a FRET dye-labeled endothelial NOS reductase domain (eNOSr) and to understand how CaM affects the dynamics to regulate catalysis by shaping the spatial and temporal conformational behaviors of eNOSr. In addition, we developed and applied a new imaging approach capable of recording 3D FRET efficiency vs time images to characterize the impact on dynamic conformal states of the eNOSr enzyme by the binding of CaM, which identifies clearly that CaM binding generates an extra new open state of eNOSr, resolving more detailed NOS conformational states and their fluctuation dynamics. We identified a new output state that has an extra-open FAD-FMN conformation that is only populated in the CaM-bound eNOSr. This may reveal the critical role of CaM in triggering NOS activity as it gives conformational flexibility for eNOSr to assume the electron transfer output FMN-Heme state. Our results provide a dynamic link to recently reported EM static structure analyses and demonstrate a capable approach in probing and simultaneously analyzing all of the conformational states, their fluctuations, and the fluctuation dynamics for understanding the mechanism of NOS electron transfer, involving electron transfer amongst FAD, FMN, and Heme domains, during NO synthesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yufan He
- Center for Photochemical Sciences, Department of Chemistry, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403
| | - Mohammad Mahfuzul Haque
- Department of Inflammation and Immunology, Lerner Research Institute, The Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, 44195
| | - Dennis J Stuehr
- Department of Inflammation and Immunology, Lerner Research Institute, The Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, 44195.
| | - H Peter Lu
- Center for Photochemical Sciences, Department of Chemistry, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403.
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2
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Zheng H, Li J, Feng C. An isoform-specific pivot modulates the electron transfer between the flavin mononucleotide and heme centers in inducible nitric oxide synthase. J Biol Inorg Chem 2020; 25:1097-1105. [PMID: 33057871 PMCID: PMC7669679 DOI: 10.1007/s00775-020-01824-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2020] [Accepted: 09/24/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Intraprotein interdomain electron transfer (IET) between the flavin mononucleotide (FMN) and heme centers is an obligatory step in nitric oxide synthase (NOS) enzymes. An isoform-specific pivotal region near Leu406 in the heme domain of human inducible NOS (iNOS) was proposed to mediate the FMN-heme domain-domain alignment (J Inorg Biochem 153:186-196, 2015). The FMN-heme IET rate is a measure of the interdomain FMN/heme complex formation. In this work, the FMN-heme IET kinetics in the wild type (wt) human iNOS oxygenase/FMN (oxyFMN) construct were directly measured by laser flash photolysis with added synthetic peptide related to the pivotal region, in comparison with the wt construct alone. The IET rates were decreased by the iNOS HKL peptide in a dose-saturable fashion, and the inhibitory effect was abolished by a single L406 → E mutation in the peptide. A similar trend in change of the NO synthesis activity of wt iNOS holoenzyme by the peptides was observed. These data, along with the kinetics and modeling results for the L406T and L406F mutant oxyFMN proteins, indicated that the Leu406 residue modulates the FMN-heme IET through hydrophobic interactions. Moreover, the IET rates were analyzed for the wt iNOS oxyFMN protein in the presence of nNOS or eNOS-derived peptide related to the equivalent pivotal heme domain site. These results together indicate that the isoform-specific pivotal region at the heme domain specifically interacts with the conserved FMN domain surface, to facilitate proper interdomain docking for the FMN-heme IET in NOS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huayu Zheng
- College of Pharmacy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA
| | - Jinghui Li
- College of Pharmacy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA
| | - Changjian Feng
- College of Pharmacy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA.
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA.
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3
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Zheng H, Li J, Feng C. Heat shock protein 90 enhances the electron transfer between the FMN and heme cofactors in neuronal nitric oxide synthase. FEBS Lett 2020; 594:2904-2913. [PMID: 32573772 DOI: 10.1002/1873-3468.13870] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2020] [Revised: 05/30/2020] [Accepted: 06/04/2020] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) is a key regulator of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in vivo. Despite its functional importance, little is known about the underlying molecular mechanism. Here, purified dimeric human Hsp90α was used to investigate whether (and if so, how) Hsp90 affects the FMN-heme interdomain electron transfer (IET) step in NOS. Hsp90α increases the IET rate for rat neuronal NOS (nNOS) in a dose-saturable manner, and a single charge-neutralization mutation at conserved Hsp90 K585 abolishes the effect. The kinetic results with added Ficoll 70, a crowder, further indicate that Hsp90 enhances the FMN-heme IET through specific association with nNOS. The Hsp90-nNOS docking models provide hints on the putative role of Hsp90 in constraining the available conformational space for the FMN domain motions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huayu Zheng
- College of Pharmacy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA.,Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
| | - Jinghui Li
- College of Pharmacy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
| | - Changjian Feng
- College of Pharmacy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA.,Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
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4
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Li J, Zheng H, Feng C. Effect of Macromolecular Crowding on the FMN-Heme Intraprotein Electron Transfer in Inducible NO Synthase. Biochemistry 2019; 58:3087-3096. [PMID: 31251033 DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.9b00193] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Previous biochemical studies of nitric oxide synthase enzymes (NOSs) were conducted in diluted solutions. However, the intracellular milieu where the proteins perform their biological functions is crowded with macromolecules. The effect of crowding on the electron transfer kinetics of multidomain proteins is much less understood. Herein, we investigated the effect of macromolecular crowding on the FMN-heme intraprotein interdomain electron transfer (IET), an obligatory step in NOS catalysis. A noticeable increase in the IET rate in the bidomain oxygenase/FMN (oxyFMN) and the holoprotein of human inducible NOS (iNOS) was observed upon addition of Ficoll 70 in a nonsaturable manner. Additionally, the magnitude of IET enhancement for the holoenzyme is much higher than that that of the oxyFMN construct. The crowding effect is also evident at different ionic strengths. Importantly, the enhancing extent is similar for the iNOS oxyFMN protein with added Ficoll 70 and Dextran 70 that give the same solution viscosity, showing that specific interactions do not exist between the NOS protein and the crowder. Moreover, the population of the docked FMN-heme state is significantly increased upon addition of Ficoll 70 and the fluorescence lifetime values do not correspond to those in the absence of Ficoll 70. The steady-state cytochrome c reduction by the holoenzyme is noticeably enhanced by the crowder, while the ferricyanide reduction is unchanged. The NO production activity of the iNOS holoenzyme is stimulated by Ficoll 70. The effect of macromolecular crowding on the kinetics can be rationalized on the basis of the excluded volume effect, with an entropic origin. The intraprotein electron transfer kinetics, fluorescence lifetime, and steady-state enzymatic activity results indicate that macromolecular crowding modulates the NOS electron transfer through multiple pathways. Such a mechanism should be applicable to electron transfer in other multidomain redox proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jinghui Li
- College of Pharmacy , University of New Mexico , Albuquerque , New Mexico 87131 , United States
| | - Huayu Zheng
- College of Pharmacy , University of New Mexico , Albuquerque , New Mexico 87131 , United States.,Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology , University of New Mexico , Albuquerque , New Mexico 87131 , United States
| | - Changjian Feng
- College of Pharmacy , University of New Mexico , Albuquerque , New Mexico 87131 , United States.,Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology , University of New Mexico , Albuquerque , New Mexico 87131 , United States
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5
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Generation and characterization of functional phosphoserine-incorporated neuronal nitric oxide synthase holoenzyme. J Biol Inorg Chem 2018; 24:1-9. [PMID: 30315355 DOI: 10.1007/s00775-018-1621-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2018] [Accepted: 10/05/2018] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Phosphorylation is an important pathway for the regulation of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) at the posttranslational level. However, the molecular underpinnings of NOS regulation by phosphorylations remain unclear to date, mainly because of the problems in making a good amount of active phospho-NOS proteins. Herein, we have established a system in which recombinant rat nNOS holoprotein can be produced with site-specific incorporation of phosphoserine (pSer) at residue 1412, using a specialized bacterial host strain for pSer incorporation. The pSer1412 nNOS protein demonstrates UV-Vis, far-UV CD and fluorescence spectral properties that are identical to those of nNOS overexpressed in other bacterial strains. The protein is also functional, possessing normal NO production and NADPH oxidation activities in the presence of abundant substrate L-Arg. Conversely, the rate of FMN-heme interdomain electron transfer (IET) in pSer1412 nNOS is considerably lower than that of wild-type (wt) nNOS, while the phosphomimetic S1142E mutant possesses similar electron transfer kinetics to that of wt. The successful incorporation and high yield of pSer1412 into rat nNOS and the significant change in the IET kinetics upon the phosphorylation demonstrate a highly useful method for incorporating native phosphorylation sites as a substantial improvement to commonly used phosphomimetics.
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Li J, Zheng H, Feng C. Deciphering mechanism of conformationally controlled electron transfer in nitric oxide synthases. FRONT BIOSCI-LANDMRK 2018; 23:1803-1821. [PMID: 29772530 PMCID: PMC11167721 DOI: 10.2741/4674] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Electron transfer is a fundamental process in life that is very often coupled to catalysis within redox enzymes through a stringent control of protein conformational movements. Mammalian nitric oxide synthase (NOS) proteins are redox flavo-hemoproteins consisting of multiple modular domains. The NOS enzyme is exquisitely regulated in vivo by its partner, the Ca2+ sensing protein calmodulin (CaM), to control production of nitric oxide (NO). The importance of functional domain motion in NOS regulation has been increasingly recognized. The significant size and flexibility of NOS is a tremendous challenge to the mechanistic studies. Herein recent applications of modern biophysical techniques to NOS problems have been critically analyzed. It is important to note that any current biophysical technique alone can only probe partial aspects of the conformational dynamics due to limitations in the technique itself and/or the sample preparations. It is necessary to combine the latest methods to comprehensively quantitate the key conformational aspects (conformational states and distribution, conformational change rates, and domain interacting interfaces) governing the electron transfer. This is to answer long-standing central questions about the NOS isoforms by defining how specific CaM-NOS interactions and regulatory elements underpin the distinct conformational behavior of the NOS isoform, which in turn determine unique electron transfer and NO synthesis properties. This review is not intended as comprehensive, but as a discussion of prospects that promise impact on important questions in the NOS enzymology field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jinghui Li
- College of Pharmacy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
| | - Huayu Zheng
- College of Pharmacy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
| | - Changjian Feng
- University of New Mexico, MSC 09 5360, Albuquerque, NM 87131,
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Astashkin AV, Li J, Zheng H, Miao Y, Feng C. A docked state conformational dynamics model to explain the ionic strength dependence of FMN - heme electron transfer in nitric oxide synthase. J Inorg Biochem 2018; 184:146-155. [PMID: 29751215 DOI: 10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2018.03.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2017] [Revised: 03/09/2018] [Accepted: 03/22/2018] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
The FMN-heme interdomain electron transfer (IET) in nitric oxide synthase (NOS) is a key stage of the electron transport chain, which supplies the catalytic heme site(s) with the NADPH-derived electrons. While there is a recognition that this IET depends on both the electron tunneling and the conformational dynamics, the detailed mechanism remains unclear. In this work, the IET kinetics were measured by laser flash photolysis for a bidomain oxygenase/FMN (oxyFMN) construct of human inducible NOS (iNOS) over the ionic strength range from 0.1 to 0.5 M. The forward (heme → FMN, kETf) and backward (FMN → heme, kETb) intrinsic IET rate constants were determined from the analysis of the observed IET rates using the additional information regarding the conformational dynamics obtained from the FMN fluorescence lifetime measurements and theoretical estimates. Both kETf and kETb exhibit a bell-shaped dependence on the ionic strength, I, with the maximum rates corresponding to I ~ 0.2 M. This dependence was explained using a new model, which considers the effect of formation of pairs between the protein surface charged residues and solution ions on the docked state dynamics. The trial simulations of the intrinsic IET rate dependences using this model show that the data can be reproduced using reasonable energetic, structural, and chemical parameters. The suggested model can explain both the monophasic and biphasic ionic strength dependences and can be used to rationalize the interprotein/interdomain electron transfer rates for other types of protein systems where the docked state is sufficiently long-lived.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrei V Astashkin
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Jinghui Li
- College of Pharmacy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
| | - Huayu Zheng
- College of Pharmacy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA; Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
| | - Yubin Miao
- Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, CO 80045, USA
| | - Changjian Feng
- College of Pharmacy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA; Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA.
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Dóka É, Lente G. Modeling Studies of Inhomogeneity Effects during Laser Flash Photolysis Experiments: A Reaction-Diffusion Approach. J Phys Chem A 2017; 121:2740-2747. [PMID: 28334538 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.7b00443] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
This work presents a rigorous mathematical study of the effect of unavoidable inhomogeneities in laser flash photolysis experiments. There are two different kinds of inhomegenities: the first arises from diffusion, whereas the second one has geometric origins (the shapes of the excitation and detection light beams). Both of these are taken into account in our reported model, which gives rise to a set of reaction-diffusion type partial differential equations. These equations are solved by a specially developed finite volume method. As an example, the aqueous reaction between the sulfate ion radical and iodide ion is used, for which sufficiently detailed experimental data are available from an earlier publication. The results showed that diffusion itself is in general too slow to influence the kinetic curves on the usual time scales of laser flash photolysis experiments. However, the use of the absorbances measured (e.g., to calculate the molar absorption coefficients of transient species) requires very detailed mathematical consideration and full knowledge of the geometrical shapes of the excitation laser beam and the separate detection light beam. It is also noted that the usual pseudo-first-order approach to evaluating the kinetic traces can be used successfully even if the usual large excess condition is not rigorously met in the reaction cell locally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Éva Dóka
- Department of Molecular Immunology and Toxicology, National Institute of Oncology , Budapest 1122, Hungary
| | - Gábor Lente
- Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, University of Debrecen , Debrecen 4032, Hungary
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Chen L, Zheng H, Li W, Li W, Miao Y, Feng C. Role of a Conserved Tyrosine Residue in the FMN-Heme Interdomain Electron Transfer in Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase. J Phys Chem A 2016; 120:7610-7616. [PMID: 27633182 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.6b08207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The interdomain electron transfer (IET) between the flavin mononucleotide (FMN) and heme domains is essential in the biosynthesis of nitric oxide (NO) by the NO synthase (NOS) enzymes. A conserved tyrosine residue in the FMN domain (Y631 in human inducible NOS) was proposed to be a key part of the electron transfer pathway in the FMN/heme docked complex model. In the present study, the FMN-heme IET kinetics in the Y631F mutant and wild type of a bidomain oxygenase/FMN construct of human inducible NOS were determined by laser flash photolysis. The rate constant of the Y631F mutant is significantly decreased by ∼75% (compared to the wild type), showing that the tyrosine residue indeed facilitates the FMN-heme IET through the protein medium. The IET rate constant of the wild type protein decreases from 345 to 242 s-1 on going from H2O to 95% D2O, giving a solvent kinetic isotope effect of 1.4. In contrast, no deuterium isotope effect was observed for the Tyr-to-Phe mutant. Moreover, an appreciable change in the wild type iNOS IET rate constant value was observed upon changing pH. These results indicate that the FMN-heme IET is proton coupled, in which the conserved tyrosine residue may play an important role.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li Chen
- College of Pharmacy, University of New Mexico , Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, United States
| | - Huayu Zheng
- College of Pharmacy, University of New Mexico , Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, United States.,Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University of New Mexico , Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, United States
| | - Wenbing Li
- College of Pharmacy, University of New Mexico , Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, United States
| | - Wei Li
- College of Pharmacy, University of New Mexico , Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, United States
| | - Yubin Miao
- Radiology, University of Colorado Denver , Denver, Colorado 80045, United States
| | - Changjian Feng
- College of Pharmacy, University of New Mexico , Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, United States.,Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University of New Mexico , Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, United States
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