Mediation by Indole Analogues of Electron Transfer during Oxygen Activation in Variants of Escherichia coli Ribonucleotide Reductase R2 Lacking the Electron-Shuttling Tryptophan 48

Starting a new chapter on class Ia ribonucleotide reductases

Ribonucleotide reductases (RNRs) use radical-based chemistry to convert ribonucleotides into deoxyribonucleotides, an essential step in DNA biosynthesis and repair. There are multiple RNR classes, the best studied of which is the class Ia RNR that is found in Escherichia coli, eukaryotes including humans, and many pathogenic and nonpathogenic prokaryotes. This review covers recent advances in our understanding of class Ia RNRs, including a recent reporting of a structure of the active state of the E. coli enzyme and the impacts that the structure has had on spurring research into the mechanism of long-range radical transfer. Additionally, the review considers other recent structural and biochemical research on class Ia RNRs and the potential of that work for the development of anticancer and antibiotic therapeutics.

Reactive species and pathogen antioxidant networks during phagocytosis

The generation of phagosomal cytotoxic reactive species (i.e., free radicals and oxidants) by activated macrophages and neutrophils is a crucial process for the control of intracellular pathogens. The chemical nature of these species, the reactions they are involved in, and the subsequent effects are multifaceted and depend on several host- and pathogen-derived factors that influence their production rates and catabolism inside the phagosome. Pathogens rely on an intricate and synergistic antioxidant armamentarium that ensures their own survival by detoxifying reactive species. In this review, we discuss the generation, kinetics, and toxicity of reactive species generated in phagocytes, with a focus on the response of macrophages to internalized pathogens and concentrating on Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Trypanosoma cruzi as examples of bacterial and parasitic infection, respectively. The ability of pathogens to deal with host-derived reactive species largely depends on the competence of their antioxidant networks at the onset of invasion, which in turn can tilt the balance toward pathogen survival, proliferation, and virulence over redox-dependent control of infection.

Structure/function correlations over binuclear non-heme iron active sites

Binuclear non-heme iron enzymes activate O2 to perform diverse chemistries. Three different structural mechanisms of O2 binding to a coupled binuclear iron site have been identified utilizing variable-temperature, variable-field magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy (VTVH MCD). For the μ-OH-bridged Fe(II)2 site in hemerythrin, O2 binds terminally to a five-coordinate Fe(II) center as hydroperoxide with the proton deriving from the μ-OH bridge and the second electron transferring through the resulting μ-oxo superexchange pathway from the second coordinatively saturated Fe(II) center in a proton-coupled electron transfer process. For carboxylate-only-bridged Fe(II)2 sites, O2 binding as a bridged peroxide requires both Fe(II) centers to be coordinatively unsaturated and has good frontier orbital overlap with the two orthogonal O2 π* orbitals to form peroxo-bridged Fe(III)2 intermediates. Alternatively, carboxylate-only-bridged Fe(II)2 sites with only a single open coordination position on an Fe(II) enable the one-electron formation of Fe(III)-O2 (-) or Fe(III)-NO(-) species. Finally, for the peroxo-bridged Fe(III)2 intermediates, further activation is necessary for their reactivities in one-electron reduction and electrophilic aromatic substitution, and a strategy consistent with existing spectral data is discussed.

A simple, modular synthesis of C4-substituted tryptophan derivatives

A straightforward, rapid, versatile, regio- and chemoselective approach for the synthesis of C4-substituted tryptophan derivatives is reported.

A tyrosine-tryptophan dyad and radical-based charge transfer in a ribonucleotide reductase-inspired maquette

In class 1a ribonucleotide reductase (RNR), a substrate-based radical is generated in the α2 subunit by long-distance electron transfer involving an essential tyrosyl radical (Y122O·) in the β2 subunit. The conserved W48 β2 is ∼10 Å from Y122OH; mutations at W48 inactivate RNR. Here, we design a beta hairpin peptide, which contains such an interacting tyrosine–tryptophan dyad. The NMR structure of the peptide establishes that there is no direct hydrogen bond between the phenol and the indole rings. However, electronic coupling between the tyrosine and tryptophan occurs in the peptide. In addition, downshifted ultraviolet resonance Raman (UVRR) frequencies are observed for the radical state, reproducing spectral downshifts observed for β2. The frequency downshifts of the ring and CO bands are consistent with charge transfer from YO· to W or another residue. Such a charge transfer mechanism implies a role for the β2 Y-W dyad in electron transfer.

Tyrosine-tryptophan dyads are known to mediate electron transfer reactions in a range of different proteins. Here, the authors study a beta hairpin peptide, probing the tyrosine-tryptophan interaction and showing no hydrogen bonding but rather charge transfer between the tyrosyl radical and tryptophan'.

Single turnover of substrate-bound ferric cysteine dioxygenase with superoxide anion: enzymatic reactivation, product formation, and a transient intermediate

Cysteine dioxygenase (CDO) is a non-heme mononuclear iron enzyme that catalyzes the O(2)-dependent oxidation of L-cysteine (Cys) to produce cysteine sulfinic acid (CSA). In this study we demonstrate that the catalytic cycle of CDO can be "primed" by one electron through chemical oxidation to produce CDO with ferric iron in the active site (Fe(III)-CDO, termed 2). While catalytically inactive, the substrate-bound form of Fe(III)-CDO (2a) is more amenable to interrogation by UV-vis and EPR spectroscopy than the 'as-isolated' Fe(II)-CDO enzyme (1). Chemical-rescue experiments were performed in which superoxide (O(2)(•-)) anions were introduced to 2a to explore the possibility that a Fe(III)-superoxide species represents the first intermediate within the catalytic pathway of CDO. In principle, O(2)(•-) can serve as a suitable acceptor for the remaining 3-electrons necessary for CSA formation and regeneration of the active Fe(II)-CDO enzyme (1). Indeed, addition of O(2)(•-) to 2a resulted in the rapid formation of a transient species (termed 3a) observable at 565 nm by UV-vis spectroscopy. The subsequent decay of 3a is kinetically matched to CSA formation. Moreover, a signal attributed to 3a was also identified using parallel mode X-band EPR spectroscopy (g ~ 11). Spectroscopic simulations, observed temperature dependence, and the microwave power saturation behavior of 3a are consistent with a ground state S = 3 from a ferromagnetically coupled (J ~ -8 cm(-1)) high-spin ferric iron (S(A) = 5/2) with a bound radical (S(B) = 1/2), presumably O(2)(•-). Following treatment with O(2)(•-), the specific activity of recovered CDO increased to ~60% relative to untreated enzyme.

Spectroscopic and electronic structure studies of intermediate X in ribonucleotide reductase R2 and two variants: a description of the FeIV-oxo bond in the FeIII-O-FeIV dimer

Spectroscopic and electronic structure studies of the class I Escherichia coli ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) intermediate X and three computationally derived model complexes are presented, compared, and evaluated to determine the electronic and geometric structure of the FeIII-FeIV active site of intermediate X. Rapid freeze-quench (RFQ) EPR, absorption, and MCD were used to trap intermediate X in R2 wild-type (WT) and two variants, W48A and Y122F/Y356F. RFQ-EPR spin quantitation was used to determine the relative contributions of intermediate X and radicals present, while RFQ-MCD was used to specifically probe the FeIII/FeIV active site, which displayed three FeIV d-d transitions between 16,700 and 22,600 cm(-1), two FeIV d-d spin-flip transitions between 23,500 and 24,300 cm(-1), and five oxo to FeIV and FeIII charge transfer (CT) transitions between 25,000 and 32,000 cm(-1). The FeIV d-d transitions were perturbed in the two variants, confirming that all three d-d transitions derive from the d-pi manifold. Furthermore, the FeIV d-pi splittings in the WT are too large to correlate with a bis-mu-oxo structure. The assignment of the FeIV d-d transitions in WT intermediate X best correlates with a bridged mu-oxo/mu-hydroxo [FeIII(mu-O)(mu-OH)FeIV] structure. The mu-oxo/mu-hydroxo core structure provides an important sigma/pi superexchange pathway, which is not present in the bis-mu-oxo structure, to promote facile electron transfer from Y122 to the remote FeIV through the bent oxo bridge, thereby generating the tyrosyl radical for catalysis.

Stalking intermediates in oxygen activation by iron enzymes: motivation and method

The study of high-valent-iron enzyme intermediates began in the mid-1900s with the discovery of compounds I (or ES) and II in the heme peroxidases, progressed to non-heme-diiron enzymes in the 1990s with the detection and characterization of the Fe(III)-Fe(IV) complex, X, and the Fe(IV)-Fe(IV) complex, Q, in O(2) activation by ribonucleotide reductase R2 (RNR-R2) and soluble methane monooxygenase (sMMO), respectively, and was most recently extended to mononuclear non-heme-iron oxygenases with the trapping and spectroscopic characterization of the Fe(IV)-oxo intermediate, J, in the reaction of taurine:alpha-ketoglutarate dioxygenase (TauD). Individually, each of these landmark studies helped reveal the chemical logic of that particular enzyme system. Collectively, they have significantly advanced our understanding of Nature's strategies for oxidative transformation of biomolecules (both natural and "xenobiotic"). With high-valent complexes now having been described in representatives of three major classes of iron enzymes, it is an appropriate time to ask whether and what additional insights might be gleaned from further stalking of related intermediates in other systems. In this review, we advocate that there is still much to be learned from this pursuit and summarize the insight provided by two of the landmark discoveries mentioned above (the latter two) and the subsequent studies that they spurred to support our contention. In addition, we attempt to provide, to the extent that it is possible to do so, a "how-to" guide for detection and characterization of such intermediates, focusing primarily on enzymes in which they form by activation of molecular oxygen. In this latter objective, we have drawn from an earlier review by Johnson (Enzymes, third ed. vol. 20, 1992, pp. 1-61) covering, more generally, dissection of enzyme reaction pathways by transient-state kinetic methods. That work elegantly illustrated that, although it may be impossible to develop a true algorithm for the process, a synthesis of guidelines and general principles can be of considerable value.