Role of the occluded conformation in bacterial dihydrofolate reductases

Role of Active Site Loop Dynamics in Mediating Ligand Release from E. coli Dihydrofolate Reductase

Conformational fluctuations from ground-state to sparsely populated but functionally important excited states play a key role in enzyme catalysis. For Escherichia coli dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), the release of the product tetrahydrofolate (THF) and oxidized cofactor NADP⁺ occurs through exchange between closed and occluded conformations of the Met20 loop. A "dynamic knockout" mutant of E. coli DHFR, where the E. coli sequence in the Met20 loop is replaced by the human sequence (N23PP/S148A), models human DHFR and is incapable of accessing the occluded conformation. ¹H and ¹⁵N CPMG relaxation dispersion analysis for the ternary product complex of the mutant enzyme with NADP⁺ and the product analogue 5,10-dideazatetrahydrofolate (ddTHF) (E:ddTHF:NADP⁺) reveals the mechanism by which NADP⁺ is released when the Met20 loop cannot undergo the closed-to-occluded conformational transition. Two excited states were observed: one related to a faster, relatively high-amplitude conformational fluctuation in areas near the active site, associated with the shuttling of the nicotinamide ring of the cofactor out of the active site, and the other to a slower process where ddTHF undergoes small-amplitude motions within the binding site that are consistent with disorder observed in a room-temperature X-ray crystal structure of the N23PP/S148A mutant protein. These motions likely arise due to steric conflict of the pterin ring of ddTHF with the ribose-nicotinamide moiety of NADP⁺ in the closed active site. These studies demonstrate that site-specific kinetic information from relaxation dispersion experiments can provide intimate details of the changes in catalytic mechanism that result from small changes in local amino acid sequence.

Influence of solution ionic strength on the stabilities of M20 loop conformations in apo E. coli dihydrofolate reductase

Interactions among ions and their specific interactions with macromolecular solutes are known to play a central role in biomolecular stability. However, similar effects in the conformational stability of protein loops that play functional roles, such as binding ligands, proteins, and DNA/RNA molecules, remain relatively unexplored. A well-characterized enzyme that has such a functional loop is Escherichia coli dihydrofolate reductase (ecDHFR), whose so-called M20 loop has been observed in three ordered conformations in crystal structures. To explore how solution ionic strengths may affect the M20 loop conformation, we proposed a reaction coordinate that could quantitatively describe the loop conformation and used it to classify the loop conformations in representative ecDHFR x-ray structures crystallized in varying ionic strengths. The Protein Data Bank survey indicates that at ionic strengths (I) below the intracellular ion concentration-derived ionic strength in E. coli (I ≤ 0.237M), the ecDHFR M20 loop tends to adopt open/closed conformations, and rarely an occluded loop state, but when I is >0.237M, the loop tends to adopt closed/occluded conformations. Distance-dependent electrostatic potentials around the most mobile M20 loop region from molecular dynamics simulations of ecDHFR in equilibrated CaCl₂ solutions of varying ionic strengths show that high ionic strengths (I = 0.75/1.5M) can preferentially stabilize the loop in closed/occluded conformations. These results nicely correlate with conformations derived from ecDHFR structures crystallized in varying ionic strengths. Altogether, our results suggest caution in linking M20 loop conformations derived from crystal structures solved at ionic strengths beyond that tolerated by E. coli to the ecDHFR function.

Distal Regions Regulate Dihydrofolate Reductase-Ligand Interactions

Protein motions play a fundamental role in enzyme catalysis and ligand binding. The relationship between protein motion and function has been extensively investigated in the model enzyme dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR). DHFR is an essential enzyme that catalyzes the reduction of dihydrofolate to tetrahydrofolate. Numerous experimental and computational methods have been used to probe the motions of DHFR through the catalytic cycle and to investigate the effect of distal mutations on DHFR motions and ligand binding. These experimental investigations have pushed forward the study of protein motions and their role in protein-ligand interactions. The introduction of mutations distal to the active site has been shown to have profound effects on ligand binding, hydride transfer rates and catalytic efficacy and these changes are captured by enzyme kinetics measurements. Distal mutations have been shown to exert their effects through a network of correlated amino acids and these effects have been investigated by NMR, protein dynamics, and analysis of coupled amino acids. The experimental methods and the findings that are reviewed here have broad implications for our understanding of enzyme mechanisms, ligand binding and for the future design and discovery of enzyme inhibitors.

Electric Field Measurements Reveal the Pivotal Role of Cofactor-Substrate Interaction in Dihydrofolate Reductase Catalysis

The contribution of ligand–ligand electrostatic interaction to transition state formation during enzyme catalysis has remained unexplored, even though electrostatic forces are known to play a major role in protein functions and have been investigated by the vibrational Stark effect (VSE). To monitor electrostatic changes along important steps during catalysis, we used a nitrile probe (T46C-CN) inserted proximal to the reaction center of three dihydrofolate reductases (DHFRs) with different biophysical properties, Escherichia coli DHFR (EcDHFR), its conformationally impaired variant (EcDHFR-S148P), and Geobacillus stearothermophilus DHFR (BsDHFR). Our combined experimental and computational approach revealed that the electric field projected by the substrate toward the probe negates those exerted by the cofactor when both are bound within the enzymes. This indicates that compared to previous models that focus exclusively on subdomain reorganization and protein–ligand contacts, ligand–ligand interactions are the key driving force to generate electrostatic environments conducive for catalysis.

What are the signatures of tunnelling in enzyme-catalysed reactions?

Computed tunnelling contributions and correlations between apparent activation enthalpy and entropy are explored for the interpretation of enzyme-catalysed H-transfer reactions.

Why are some Enzymes Dimers? Flexibility and Catalysis in Thermotoga Maritima Dihydrofolate Reductase

Dihydrofolate reductase from Thermotoga maritima (TmDFHFR) is a dimeric thermophilic enzyme that catalyzes the hydride transfer from the cofactor NADPH to dihydrofolate less efficiently than other DHFR enzymes, such as the mesophilic analogue Escherichia coli DHFR (EcDHFR). Using QM/MM potentials, we show that the reduced catalytic efficiency of TmDHFR is most likely due to differences in the amino acid sequence that stabilize the M20 loop in an open conformation, which prevents the formation of some interactions in the transition state and increases the number of water molecules in the active site. However, dimerization provides two advantages to the thermophilic enzyme: it protects its structure against denaturation by reducing thermal fluctuations and it provides a less negative activation entropy, toning down the increase of the activation free energy with temperature. Our molecular picture is confirmed by the analysis of the temperature dependence of enzyme kinetic isotope effects in different DHFR enzymes.

Extreme biophysics: Enzymes under pressure

A critical question about piezophilic (pressure-loving) microbes is how their constituent molecules maintain function under high pressure. Here, factors are examined that may lead to the increased activity under pressure in dihydrofolate reductase from the piezophilic Moritella profunda compared to the homologous enzyme from the mesophilic Escherichia coli. Molecular dynamics simulations are performed at various temperatures and pressures to examine how pressure affects the flexibility of the enzymes from these two microbes, since both stability and flexibility are necessary for enzyme activity. The results suggest that collective motions on the 10-ns timescale are responsible for the flexibility necessary for "corresponding states" activity at the growth conditions of the parent organism. In addition, the results suggest that while the lower stability of many enzymes from deep-sea microbes may be an adaptation for greater flexibility at low temperatures, high pressure may enhance their adaptation to low temperatures. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A Rapid Analysis of Variations in Conformational Behavior during Dihydrofolate Reductase Catalysis

Protein flexibility is central to enzyme catalysis, yet it remains challenging both to predict conformational behavior on the basis of analysis of amino acid sequence and protein structure and to provide the necessary breadth of experimental support to any such predictions. Here a generic and rapid procedure for identifying conformational changes during dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) catalysis is described. Using DHFR from Escherichia coli (EcDHFR), selective side-chain ¹³C labeling of methionine and tryptophan residues is shown to be sufficient to detect the closed-to-occluded conformational transition that follows the chemical step in the catalytic cycle, with clear chemical shift perturbations found for both methionine methyl and tryptophan indole groups. In contrast, no such perturbations are seen for the DHFR from the psychrophile Moritella profunda, where the equivalent conformational change is absent. Like EcDHFR, Salmonella enterica DHFR shows experimental evidence of a large-scale conformational change following hydride transfer that relies on conservation of a key hydrogen bonding interaction between the M20 and GH loops, directly comparable to the closed-to-occluded conformational change observed in EcDHFR. For the hyperthermophile Thermotoga maritima, no chemical shift perturbations were observed, suggesting that no major conformational change occurs during the catalytic cycle. In spite of their conserved tertiary structures, DHFRs display variations in conformational sampling that occurs concurrently with catalysis.

Protein motions and dynamic effects in enzyme catalysis

The role of protein motions in promoting the chemical step of enzyme catalysed reactions remains a subject of considerable debate. Here, a unified view of the role of protein dynamics in dihydrofolate reductase catalysis is described. Recently the role of such motions has been investigated by characterising the biophysical properties of isotopically substituted enzymes through a combination of experimental and computational analyses. Together with previous work, these results suggest that dynamic coupling to the chemical coordinate is detrimental to catalysis and may have been selected against during DHFR evolution. The full catalytic power of Nature's catalysts appears to depend on finely tuning protein motions in each step of the catalytic cycle.

Minimization of dynamic effects in the evolution of dihydrofolate reductase

Protein isotope labeling is a powerful technique to probe functionally important motions in enzyme catalysis and can be applied to investigate the conformational dynamics of proteins. Previous investigations have indicated that dynamic coupling is detrimental to catalysis by dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) from the mesophile Escherichia coli (EcDHFR). Comparison of DHFRs from organisms adapted to survive at a wide range of temperatures suggests that dynamic coupling in DHFR catalysis has been minimized during evolution; it arises from reorganizational motions needed to facilitate charge transfer events. Contrary to the behaviour observed for the DHFR from the moderate thermophile Geobacillus stearothermophilus (BsDHFR), the chemical transformation catalyzed by the cold-adapted bacterium Moritella profunda (MpDHFR) is only weakly affected by protein isotope substitutions at low temperatures, but the isotopically substituted enzyme is a substantially inferior catalyst at higher, non-physiological temperatures. QM/MM studies revealed that this behaviour is caused by the enzyme's structural sensitivity to temperature changes, which enhances unfavorable dynamic coupling at higher temperatures by promoting additional recrossing trajectories on the transition state dividing surface. We postulate that these motions are minimized by fine-tuning DHFR flexibility through optimization of the free energy surface of the reaction, such that a nearly static reaction-ready configuration with optimal electrostatic properties is maintained under physiological conditions.