Substrate binding to NO-ferro-naphthalene 1,2-dioxygenase studied by high-resolution Q-band pulsed 2H-ENDOR spectroscopy

Extending the Range of Distances Accessible by 19F Electron-Nuclear Double Resonance in Proteins Using High-Spin Gd(III) Labels

Fluorine electron-nuclear double resonance (19F ENDOR) has recently emerged as a valuable tool in structural biology for distance determination between F atoms and a paramagnetic center, either intrinsic or conjugated to a biomolecule via spin labeling. Such measurements allow access to distances too short to be measured by double electron-electron resonance (DEER). To further extend the accessible distance range, we exploit the high-spin properties of Gd(III) and focus on transitions other than the central transition (|-1/2⟩ ↔ |+1/2⟩), that become more populated at high magnetic fields and low temperatures. This increases the spectral resolution up to ca. 7 times, thus raising the long-distance limit of 19F ENDOR almost 2-fold. We first demonstrate this on a model fluorine-containing Gd(III) complex with a well-resolved 19F spectrum in conventional central transition measurements and show quantitative agreement between the experimental spectra and theoretical predictions. We then validate our approach on two proteins labeled with 19F and Gd(III), in which the Gd-F distance is too long to produce a well-resolved 19F ENDOR doublet when measured at the central transition. By focusing on the |-5/2⟩ ↔ |-3/2⟩ and |-7/2⟩ ↔ |-5/2⟩ EPR transitions, a resolution enhancement of 4.5- and 7-fold was obtained, respectively. We also present data analysis strategies to handle contributions of different electron spin manifolds to the ENDOR spectrum. Our new extended 19F ENDOR approach may be applicable to Gd-F distances as large as 20 Å, widening the current ENDOR distance window.

Rieske Oxygenases and Other Ferredoxin-Dependent Enzymes: Electron Transfer Principles and Catalytic Capabilities

Enzymes that depend on sophisticated electron transfer via ferredoxins (Fds) exhibit outstanding catalytic capabilities, but despite decades of research, many of them are still not well understood or exploited for synthetic applications. This review aims to provide a general overview of the most important Fd-dependent enzymes and the electron transfer processes involved. While several examples are discussed, we focus in particular on the family of Rieske non-heme iron-dependent oxygenases (ROs). In addition to illustrating their electron transfer principles and catalytic potential, the current state of knowledge on structure-function relationships and the mode of interaction between the redox partner proteins is reviewed. Moreover, we highlight several key catalyzed transformations, but also take a deeper dive into their engineerability for biocatalytic applications. The overall findings from these case studies highlight the catalytic capabilities of these biocatalysts and could stimulate future interest in developing additional Fd-dependent enzyme classes for synthetic applications.

13C Electron Nuclear Double Resonance Spectroscopy-Guided Molecular Dynamics Computations Reveal the Structure of the Enzyme-Substrate Complex of an Active, N-Linked Glycosylated Lipoxygenase

Lipoxygenase (LOX) enzymes produce important cell-signaling mediators, yet attempts to capture and characterize LOX-substrate complexes by X-ray co-crystallography are commonly unsuccessful, requiring development of alternative structural methods. We previously reported the structure of the complex of soybean lipoxygenase, SLO, with substrate linoleic acid (LA), as visualized through the integration of 13C/1H electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) spectroscopy and molecular dynamics (MD) computations. However, this required substitution of the catalytic mononuclear, nonheme iron by the structurally faithful, yet inactive Mn2+ ion as a spin probe. Unlike canonical Fe-LOXs from plants and animals, LOXs from pathogenic fungi contain active mononuclear Mn2+ metallocenters. Here, we report the ground-state active-site structure of the native, fully glycosylated fungal LOX from rice blast pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae, MoLOX complexed with LA, as obtained through the 13C/1H ENDOR-guided MD approach. The catalytically important distance between the hydrogen donor, carbon-11 (C11), and the acceptor, Mn-bound oxygen, (donor-acceptor distance, DAD) for the MoLOX-LA complex derived in this fashion is 3.4 ± 0.1 Å. The difference of the MoLOX-LA DAD from that of the SLO-LA complex, 3.1 ± 0.1 Å, is functionally important, although is only 0.3 Å, despite the MoLOX complex having a Mn-C11 distance of 5.4 Å and a "carboxylate-out" substrate-binding orientation, whereas the SLO complex has a 4.9 Å Mn-C11 distance and a "carboxylate-in" substrate orientation. The results provide structural insights into reactivity differences across the LOX family, give a foundation for guiding development of MoLOX inhibitors, and highlight the robustness of the ENDOR-guided MD approach to describe LOX-substrate structures.

Contrasting Mechanisms of Aromatic and Aryl-Methyl Substituent Hydroxylation by the Rieske Monooxygenase Salicylate 5-Hydroxylase

The hydroxylase component (S5HH) of salicylate-5-hydroxylase catalyzes C5 ring hydroxylation of salicylate but switches to methyl hydroxylation when a C5 methyl substituent is present. The use of 18O2 reveals that both aromatic and aryl-methyl hydroxylations result from monooxygenase chemistry. The functional unit of S5HH comprises a nonheme Fe(II) site located 12 Å across a subunit boundary from a one-electron reduced Rieske-type iron-sulfur cluster. Past studies determined that substrates bind near the Fe(II), followed by O2 binding to the iron to initiate catalysis. Stopped-flow-single-turnover reactions (STOs) demonstrated that the Rieske cluster transfers an electron to the iron site during catalysis. It is shown here that fluorine ring substituents decrease the rate constant for Rieske electron transfer, implying a prior reaction of an Fe(III)-superoxo intermediate with a substrate. We propose that the iron becomes fully oxidized in the resulting Fe(III)-peroxo-substrate-radical intermediate, allowing Rieske electron transfer to occur. STO using 5-CD3-salicylate-d8 occurs with an inverse kinetic isotope effect (KIE). In contrast, STO of a 1:1 mixture of unlabeled and 5-CD3-salicylate-d8 yields a normal product isotope effect. It is proposed that aromatic and aryl-methyl hydroxylation reactions both begin with the Fe(III)-superoxo reaction with a ring carbon, yielding the inverse KIE due to sp2 → sp3 carbon hybridization. After Rieske electron transfer, the resulting Fe(III)-peroxo-salicylate intermediate can continue to aromatic hydroxylation, whereas the equivalent aryl-methyl intermediate formation must be reversible to allow the substrate exchange necessary to yield a normal product isotope effect. The resulting Fe(III)-(hydro)peroxo intermediate may be reactive or evolve through a high-valent iron intermediate to complete the aryl-methyl hydroxylation.

Substrate-Specific Coupling of O2 Activation to Hydroxylations of Aromatic Compounds by Rieske Non-heme Iron Dioxygenases

Rieske dioxygenases catalyze the initial steps in the hydroxylation of aromatic compounds and are critical for the metabolism of xenobiotic substances. Because substrates do not bind to the mononuclear non-heme Fe^II center, elementary steps leading to O₂ activation and substrate hydroxylation are difficult to delineate, thus making it challenging to rationalize divergent observations on enzyme mechanisms, reactivity, and substrate specificity. Here, we show for nitrobenzene dioxygenase, a Rieske dioxygenase capable of transforming nitroarenes to nitrite and substituted catechols, that unproductive O₂ activation with the release of the unreacted substrate and reactive oxygen species represents an important path in the catalytic cycle. Through correlation of O₂ uncoupling for a series of substituted nitroaromatic compounds with ¹⁸O and ¹³C kinetic isotope effects of dissolved O₂ and aromatic substrates, respectively, we show that O₂ uncoupling occurs after the rate-limiting formation of Fe^III-(hydro)peroxo species from which substrates are hydroxylated. Substituent effects on the extent of O₂ uncoupling suggest that the positioning of the substrate in the active site rather than the susceptibility of the substrate for attack by electrophilic oxygen species is responsible for unproductive O₂ uncoupling. The proposed catalytic cycle provides a mechanistic basis for assessing the very different efficiencies of substrate hydroxylation vs unproductive O₂ activation and generation of reactive oxygen species in reactions catalyzed by Rieske dioxygenases.

The Apparently Unreactive Substrate Facilitates the Electron Transfer for Dioxygen Activation in Rieske Dioxygenases

Rieske dioxygenases belong to the non‐heme iron family of oxygenases and catalyze important cis‐dihydroxylation as well as O‐/N‐dealkylation and oxidative cyclization reactions for a wide range of substrates. The lack of substrate coordination at the non‐heme ferrous iron center, however, makes it particularly challenging to delineate the role of the substrate for productive O2 activation. Here, we studied the role of the substrate in the key elementary reaction leading to O2 activation from a theoretical perspective by systematically considering (i) the 6‐coordinate to 5‐coordinate conversion of the non‐heme Fe^II upon abstraction of a water ligand, (ii) binding of O2 , and (iii) transfer of an electron from the Rieske cluster. We systematically evaluated the spin‐state‐dependent reaction energies and structural effects at the active site for all combinations of the three elementary processes in the presence and absence of substrate using naphthalene dioxygenase as a prototypical Rieske dioxygenase. We find that reaction energies for the generation of a coordination vacancy at the non‐heme FeII center through thermoneutral H₂O reorientation and exothermic O2 binding prior to Rieske cluster oxidation are largely insensitive to the presence of naphthalene and do not lead to formation of any of the known reactive Fe‐oxygen species. By contrast, the role of the substrate becomes evident after Rieske cluster oxidation and exclusively for the 6‐coordinate non‐heme FeII sites in that the additional electron is found at the substrate instead of at the iron and oxygen atoms. Our results imply an allosteric control of the substrate on Rieske dioxygenase reactivity to happen prior to changes at the non‐heme FeII in agreement with a strategy that avoids unproductive O2 activation.

Design principles for site-selective hydroxylation by a Rieske oxygenase

Rieske oxygenases exploit the reactivity of iron to perform chemically challenging C–H bond functionalization reactions. Thus far, only a handful of Rieske oxygenases have been structurally characterized and remarkably little information exists regarding how these enzymes use a common architecture and set of metallocenters to facilitate a diverse range of reactions. Herein, we detail how two Rieske oxygenases SxtT and GxtA use different protein regions to influence the site-selectivity of their catalyzed monohydroxylation reactions. We present high resolution crystal structures of SxtT and GxtA with the native β-saxitoxinol and saxitoxin substrates bound in addition to a Xenon-pressurized structure of GxtA that reveals the location of a substrate access tunnel to the active site. Ultimately, this structural information allowed for the identification of six residues distributed between three regions of SxtT that together control the selectivity of the C–H hydroxylation event. Substitution of these residues produces a SxtT variant that is fully adapted to exhibit the non-native site-selectivity and substrate scope of GxtA. Importantly, we also found that these selectivity regions are conserved in other structurally characterized Rieske oxygenases, providing a framework for predictively repurposing and manipulating Rieske oxygenases as biocatalysts.

SxtT and GxtA are Rieske oxygenases that are involved in paralytic shellfish toxin biosynthesis and catalyze monohydroxylation reactions at different positions on the toxin scaffold. Here, the authors present crystal structures of SxtT and GxtA with the native substrates β-saxitoxinol and saxitoxin as well as a Xenon-pressurized structure of GxtA, which reveal a substrate access tunnel to the active site. Through structure-based mutagenesis studies the authors identify six residues in three different protein regions that determine the substrate specificity and site selectivity of SxtT and GxtA. These findings will aid the rational engineering of other Rieske oxygenases.

1H-HYSCORE Reveals Structural Details at the Fe(II) Active Site of Taurine:2-Oxoglutarate Dioxygenase

Proton Hyperfine Sublevel Correlation (¹H-HYSCORE) experiments have been used to probe the ligation structure of the Fe(II) active site of taurine:2-oxoglutarate dioxygenase (TauD), a non-heme Fe(II) hydroxylase. To facilitate Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) experiments, Fe(II) derivatives of the enzyme were studied using nitric oxide as a substitute for molecular oxygen. The addition of NO to the enzyme yields an S = 3/2 {FeNO}⁷ paramagnetic center characterized by nearly axial EPR spectra with g_⊥ = 4 and g_|| = 2. Using results from (i) an X-ray crystallographic study of TauD crystallized under anaerobic conditions in the presence of both cosubstrate 2-oxoglutarate and substrate taurine, (ii) a published theoretical description of the {FeNO}⁷ derivative of this form of the enzyme, and (iii) previous ²H-Electron Spin Echo Envelope Modulation (ESEEM) studies, we were able to assign the proton cross peaks detected in orientation-selected ¹H-HYSCORE spectra. Discrete contributions from the protons of two coordinated histidine ligands were resolved. If substrate taurine is absent from the complex, orientation-selective HYSCORE spectra show cross peaks that are less resolved and when combined with information obtained from continuous wave EPR, support an alternate binding scheme for 2-oxoglutarate. HYSCORE studies of TauD in the absence of 2-oxoglutarate show additional ¹H cross peaks that can be assigned to two distinct bound water molecules. In addition, ¹H and ¹⁴N cross peaks that arise from the coordinated histidine side chains show a change in NO coordination for this species. For all of the TauD species, ¹H hyperfine couplings and their orientations are sensitive to the detailed electronic structure of the {FeNO}⁷ center.

Determining electron-nucleus distances and Fermi contact couplings from ENDOR spectra

The hyperfine coupling between an electron spin and a nuclear spin depends on the Fermi contact coupling a_iso and, through dipolar coupling, the distance r between the electron and the nucleus. It is measured with electron-nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) spectroscopy and provides insight into the electronic and spatial structure of paramagnetic centers. The analysis and interpretation of ENDOR spectra is commonly done by ordinary least-squares fitting. As this is an ill-posed, inverse mathematical problem, this is challenging, in particular for spectra that show features from several nuclei or where the hyperfine coupling parameters are distributed. We introduce a novel Tikhonov-type regularization approach that analyzes an experimental ENDOR spectrum in terms of a complete non-parametric distribution over r and a_iso. The approach uses a penalty function similar to the cross entropy between the fitted distribution and a Bayesian prior distribution that is derived from density functional theory calculations. Additionally, we show that smoothness regularization, commonly used for a similar purpose in double electron-electron resonance (DEER) spectroscopy, is not suited for ENDOR. We demonstrate that the novel approach is able to identify and quantitate ligand protons with electron-nucleus distances between 4 and 9 Å in a series of vanadyl porphyrin compounds.

The Soybean Lipoxygenase-Substrate Complex: Correlation between the Properties of Tunneling-Ready States and ENDOR-Detected Structures of Ground States

Hydrogen tunneling in enzymatic C-H activation requires a dynamical sampling among ground-state enzyme-substrate (E-S) conformations, which transiently generates a tunneling-ready state (TRS). The TRS is characterized by a hydrogen donor-acceptor distance (DAD) of 2.7 Å, ∼0.5 Å shorter than the dominant DAD of optimized ground states. Recently, a high-resolution, 13C electron-nuclear double-resonance (ENDOR) approach was developed to characterize the ground-state structure of the complex of the linoleic acid (LA) substrate with soybean lipoxygenase (SLO). The resulting enzyme-substrate model revealed two ground-state conformers with different distances between the target C11 of LA and the catalytically active cofactor [Fe(III)-OH]: the active conformer "a", with a van der Waals DAD of 3.1 Å between C11 and metal-bound hydroxide, and an inactive conformer "b", with a distance that is almost 1 Å longer. Herein, the structure of the E-S complex is examined for a series of six variants in which subtle structural modifications of SLO have been introduced either at a hydrophobic side chain near the bound substrate or at a remote residue within a protein network whose flexibility influences hydrogen transfer. A remarkable correlation is found between the ENDOR-derived population of the active ground-state conformer a and the kinetically derived differential enthalpic barrier for D versus H transfer, ΔEa, with the latter increasing as the fraction of conformer a decreases. As proposed, ΔEa provides a "ruler" for the DAD within the TRS. ENDOR measurements further corroborate the previous identification of a dynamical network coupling the buried active site of SLO to the surface. This study shows that subtle imperfections within the initial ground-state structures of E-S complexes are accompanied by compromised geometries at the TRS.

Salicylate 5-Hydroxylase: Intermediates in Aromatic Hydroxylation by a Rieske Monooxygenase

Rieske oxygenases (ROs) catalyze a large range of oxidative chemistry. We have shown that cis-dihydrodiol-forming Rieske dioxygenases first react with their aromatic substrates via an active site nonheme Fe(III)-superoxide; electron transfer from the Rieske cluster then completes the product-forming reaction. Alternatively, two-electron-reduced Fe(III)-peroxo or hydroxo-Fe(V)-oxo activated oxygen intermediates are possible and may be utilized by other ROs to expand the catalytic range. Here, the reaction of a Rieske monooxygenase, salicylate 5-hydroxylase, that does not form a cis-dihydrodiol is examined. Single-turnover kinetic studies show fast binding of salicylate and O2. Transfer of the Rieske electron required to form the gentisate product occurs through bonds over ∼12 Å and must also be very fast. However, the observed rate constant for this reaction is much slower than expected and sensitive to substrate type. This suggests that initial reaction with salicylate occurs using the same Fe(III)-superoxo-level intermediate as Rieske dioxygenases and that this reaction limits the observed rate of electron transfer. A transient intermediate (λmax = 700 nm) with an electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) at g = 4.3 is observed after the product is formed in the active site. The use of 17O2 (I = 5/2) results in hyperfine broadening of the g = 4.3 signal, showing that gentisate binds to the mononuclear iron via its C5-OH in the intermediate. The chromophore and EPR signal allow study of product release in the catalytic cycle. Comparison of the kinetics of single- and multiple-turnover reactions shows that re-reduction of the metal centers accelerates product release ∼300-fold, providing insight into the regulatory mechanism of ROs.

NRVS Studies of the Peroxide Shunt Intermediate in a Rieske Dioxygenase and Its Relation to the Native FeII O2 Reaction

The Rieske dioxygenases are a major subclass of mononuclear nonheme iron enzymes that play an important role in bioremediation. Recently, a high-spin FeIII-(hydro)peroxy intermediate (BZDOp) has been trapped in the peroxide shunt reaction of benzoate 1,2-dioxygenase. Defining the structure of this intermediate is essential to understanding the reactivity of these enzymes. Nuclear resonance vibrational spectroscopy (NRVS) is a recently developed synchrotron technique that is ideal for obtaining vibrational, and thus structural, information on Fe sites, as it gives complete information on all vibrational normal modes containing Fe displacement. In this study, we present NRVS data on BZDOp and assign its structure using these data coupled to experimentally calibrated density functional theory calculations. From this NRVS structure, we define the mechanism for the peroxide shunt reaction. The relevance of the peroxide shunt to the native FeII/O2 reaction is evaluated. For the native FeII/O2 reaction, an FeIII-superoxo intermediate is found to react directly with substrate. This process, while uphill thermodynamically, is found to be driven by the highly favorable thermodynamics of proton-coupled electron transfer with an electron provided by the Rieske [2Fe-2S] center at a later step in the reaction. These results offer important insight into the relative reactivities of FeIII-superoxo and FeIII-hydroperoxo species in nonheme Fe biochemistry.

Origins of Enzyme Catalysis: Experimental Findings for C-H Activation, New Models, and Their Relevance to Prevailing Theoretical Constructs

The physical basis for enzymatic rate accelerations is a subject of great fundamental interest and of direct relevance to areas that include the de novo design of green catalysts and the pursuit of new drug regimens. Extensive investigations of C-H activating systems have provided considerable insight into the relationship between an enzyme's overall structure and the catalytic chemistry at its active site. This Perspective highlights recent experimental data for two members of distinct, yet iconic C-H activation enzyme classes, lipoxygenases and prokaryotic alcohol dehydrogenases. The data necessitate a reformulation of the dominant textbook definition of biological catalysis. A multidimensional model emerges that incorporates a range of protein motions that can be parsed into a combination of global stochastic conformational thermal fluctuations and local donor-acceptor distance sampling. These motions are needed to achieve a high degree of precision with regard to internuclear distances, geometries, and charges within the active site. The available model also suggests a physical framework for understanding the empirical enthalpic barrier in enzyme-catalyzed processes. We conclude by addressing the often conflicting interface between computational and experimental chemists, emphasizing the need for computation to predict experimental results in advance of their measurement.

Vanadyl as a Stable Structural Mimic of Reactive Ferryl Intermediates in Mononuclear Nonheme-Iron Enzymes

The iron(II)- and 2-(oxo)glutarate-dependent (Fe/2OG) oxygenases catalyze an array of challenging transformations via a common iron(IV)-oxo (ferryl) intermediate, which in most cases abstracts hydrogen (H•) from an aliphatic carbon of the substrate. Although it has been shown that the relative disposition of the Fe-O and C-H bonds can control the rate of H• abstraction and fate of the resultant substrate radical, there remains a paucity of structural information on the actual ferryl states, owing to their high reactivity. We demonstrate here that the stable vanadyl ion [(V^IV-oxo)²⁺] binds along with 2OG or its decarboxylation product, succinate, in the active site of two different Fe/2OG enzymes to faithfully mimic their transient ferryl states. Both ferryl and vanadyl complexes of the Fe/2OG halogenase, SyrB2, remain stably bound to its carrier protein substrate (l-aminoacyl-S-SyrB1), whereas the corresponding complexes harboring transition metals (Fe, Mn) in lower oxidation states dissociate. In the well-studied taurine:2OG dioxygenase (TauD), the disposition of the substrate C-H bond relative to the vanadyl ion defined by pulse electron paramagnetic resonance methods is consistent with the crystal structure of the reactant complex and computational models of the ferryl state. Vanadyl substitution may thus afford access to structural details of the key ferryl intermediates in this important enzyme class.

13C ENDOR Spectroscopy of Lipoxygenase-Substrate Complexes Reveals the Structural Basis for C-H Activation by Tunneling

In enzymatic C-H activation by hydrogen tunneling, reduced barrier width is important for efficient hydrogen wave function overlap during catalysis. For native enzymes displaying nonadiabatic tunneling, the dominant reactive hydrogen donor-acceptor distance (DAD) is typically ca. 2.7 Å, considerably shorter than normal van der Waals distances. Without a ground state substrate-bound structure for the prototypical nonadiabatic tunneling system, soybean lipoxygenase (SLO), it has remained unclear whether the requisite close tunneling distance occurs through an unusual ground state active site arrangement or by thermally sampling conformational substates. Herein, we introduce Mn2+ as a spin-probe surrogate for the SLO Fe ion; X-ray diffraction shows Mn-SLO is structurally faithful to the native enzyme. 13C ENDOR then reveals the locations of 13C10 and reactive 13C11 of linoleic acid relative to the metal; 1H ENDOR and molecular dynamics simulations of the fully solvated SLO model using ENDOR-derived restraints give additional metrical information. The resulting three-dimensional representation of the SLO active site ground state contains a reactive (a) conformer with hydrogen DAD of ∼3.1 Å, approximately van der Waals contact, plus an inactive (b) conformer with even longer DAD, establishing that stochastic conformational sampling is required to achieve reactive tunneling geometries. Tunneling-impaired SLO variants show increased DADs and variations in substrate positioning and rigidity, confirming previous kinetic and theoretical predictions of such behavior. Overall, this investigation highlights the (i) predictive power of nonadiabatic quantum treatments of proton-coupled electron transfer in SLO and (ii) sensitivity of ENDOR probes to test, detect, and corroborate kinetically predicted trends in active site reactivity and to reveal unexpected features of active site architecture.

Oxygen activation by mononuclear nonheme iron dioxygenases involved in the degradation of aromatics

Molecular oxygen is utilized in numerous metabolic pathways fundamental for life. Mononuclear nonheme iron-dependent oxygenase enzymes are well known for their involvement in some of these pathways, activating O₂ so that oxygen atoms can be incorporated into their primary substrates. These reactions often initiate pathways that allow organisms to use stable organic molecules as sources of carbon and energy for growth. From the myriad of reactions in which these enzymes are involved, this perspective recounts the general mechanisms of aromatic dihydroxylation and oxidative ring cleavage, both of which are ubiquitous chemical reactions found in life-sustaining processes. The organic substrate provides all four electrons required for oxygen activation and insertion in the reactions mediated by extradiol and intradiol ring-cleaving catechol dioxygenases. In contrast, two of the electrons are provided by NADH in the cis-dihydroxylation mechanism of Rieske dioxygenases. The catalytic nonheme Fe center, with the aid of active site residues, facilitates these electron transfers to O₂ as key elements of the activation processes. This review discusses some general questions for the catalytic strategies of oxygen activation and insertion into aromatic compounds employed by mononuclear nonheme iron-dependent dioxygenases. These include: (1) how oxygen is activated, (2) whether there are common intermediates before oxygen transfer to the aromatic substrate, and (3) are these key intermediates unique to mononuclear nonheme iron dioxygenases?

Dioxygen activation by nonheme iron enzymes with the 2-His-1-carboxylate facial triad that generate high-valent oxoiron oxidants

The 2-His-1-carboxylate facial triad is a widely used scaffold to bind the iron center in mononuclear nonheme iron enzymes for activating dioxygen in a variety of oxidative transformations of metabolic significance. Since the 1990s, over a hundred different iron enzymes have been identified to use this platform. This structural motif consists of two histidines and the side chain carboxylate of an aspartate or a glutamate arranged in a facial array that binds iron(II) at the active site. This triad occupies one face of an iron-centered octahedron and makes the opposite face available for the coordination of O₂ and, in many cases, substrate, allowing the tailoring of the iron-dioxygen chemistry to carry out a plethora of diverse reactions. Activated dioxygen-derived species involved in the enzyme mechanisms include iron(III)-superoxo, iron(III)-peroxo, and high-valent iron(IV)-oxo intermediates. In this article, we highlight the major crystallographic, spectroscopic, and mechanistic advances of the past 20 years that have significantly enhanced our understanding of the mechanisms of O₂ activation and the key roles played by iron-based oxidants.

Spectroscopic analyses of 2-oxoglutarate-dependent oxygenases: TauD as a case study

A wide range of spectroscopic approaches have been used to interrogate the mononuclear iron metallocenter in 2-oxoglutarate (2OG)-dependent oxygenases. The results from these spectroscopic studies have provided valuable insights into the structural changes at the active site during substrate binding and catalysis, thus providing critical information that complements investigations of these enzymes by X-ray crystallography, biochemical, and computational approaches. This mini-review highlights taurine hydroxylase (taurine:2OG dioxygenase, TauD) as a case study to illustrate the wealth of knowledge that can be generated by applying a diverse array of spectroscopic investigations to a single enzyme. In particular, electronic absorption, circular dichroism, magnetic circular dichroism, conventional and pulse electron paramagnetic, Mössbauer, X-ray absorption, and resonance Raman methods have been exploited to uncover the properties of the metal site in TauD.

Synthesis of Site-Specifically 13C Labeled Linoleic Acids

Soybean lipoxygenase-1 (SLO-1) catalyzes the C-H abstraction from the reactive carbon (C-11) in linoleic acid as the first and rate-determining step in the formation of alkylhydroperoxides. While previous labeling strategies have focused on deuterium labeling to ascertain the primary and secondary kinetic isotope effects for this reaction, there is an emerging interest and need for selectively enriched ¹³C isotopologues. In this report, we present synthetic strategies for site-specific ¹³C labeled linoleic acid substrates. We take advantage of a Corey-Fuchs formyl to terminal ¹³C-labeled alkyne conversion, using ¹³CBr₄ as the labeling source, to reduce the number of steps from a previous fatty acid ¹³C synthetic labeling approach. The labeled linoleic acid substrates are useful as nuclear tunneling markers and for extracting active site geometries of the enzyme-substrate complex in lipoxygenase.

Rate-Determining Attack on Substrate Precedes Rieske Cluster Oxidation during Cis-Dihydroxylation by Benzoate Dioxygenase

Rieske dearomatizing dioxygenases utilize a Rieske iron-sulfur cluster and a mononuclear Fe(II) located 15 Å across a subunit boundary to catalyze O2-dependent formation of cis-dihydrodiol products from aromatic substrates. During catalysis, O2 binds to the Fe(II) while the substrate binds nearby. Single-turnover reactions have shown that one electron from each metal center is required for catalysis. This finding suggested that the reactive intermediate is Fe(III)-(H)peroxo or HO-Fe(V)═O formed by O-O bond scission. Surprisingly, several kinetic phases were observed during the single-turnover Rieske cluster oxidation. Here, the Rieske cluster oxidation and product formation steps of a single turnover of benzoate 1,2-dioxygenase are investigated using benzoate and three fluorinated analogues. It is shown that the rate constant for product formation correlates with the reciprocal relaxation time of only the fastest kinetic phase (RRT-1) for each substrate, suggesting that the slower phases are not mechanistically relevant. RRT-1 is strongly dependent on substrate type, suggesting a role for substrate in electron transfer from the Rieske cluster to the mononuclear iron site. This insight, together with the substrate and O2 concentration dependencies of RRT-1, indicates that a reactive species is formed after substrate and O2 binding but before electron transfer from the Rieske cluster. Computational studies show that RRT-1 is correlated with the electron density at the substrate carbon closest to the Fe(II), consistent with initial electrophilic attack by an Fe(III)-superoxo intermediate. The resulting Fe(III)-peroxo-aryl radical species would then readily accept an electron from the Rieske cluster to complete the cis-dihydroxylation reaction.

Structural Characterization of the Catalytic Sites of Mononuclear Nonheme Fe Hydroxylases Using ²H-ESEEM

Aromatic amino acid hydroxylases are members of a larger group of enzymes that use a mononuclear nonheme Fe center to catalyze a variety of thermodynamically challenging reactions in which O2 is used in the oxidative transformation of substrates. The hydroxylase enzymes are catalytically active in the ferrous oxidation state and are high-spin. To render the catalytic site EPR-active, we have used nitric oxide (NO) as a surrogate for substrate O2 to form an S=3/2 paramagnetic center. While the continuous-wave (cw)-EPR spectra of NO-enzyme adducts are rather generic, they provide electron spin echo envelope modulation (ESEEM) data that are rich with structural information derived from ligand hyperfine couplings. This chapter will focus on (2)H-ESEEM spectroscopy, an approach that we have taken for assigning these spectra and harvesting the unique information on Fe(II) coordination chemistry that they provide. While these spectroscopic measurements are routine, an emphasis will be placed on the analysis of cw-EPR and (2)H-ESEEM data using an unconstrained nonlinear optimization approach. These analysis methods are based on simple custom "scripts" that run in the MATLAB environment and that use EasySpin, a public-domain EPR simulation package, as their calculation engine. The examples provided here use a strategy that can be adapted for the treatment of most EPR measurements.

Experimental Correlation of Substrate Position with Reaction Outcome in the Aliphatic Halogenase, SyrB2

The iron(II)- and 2-(oxo)glutarate-dependent (Fe/2OG) oxygenases catalyze an array of challenging transformations, but how individual members of the enzyme family direct different outcomes is poorly understood. The Fe/2OG halogenase, SyrB2, chlorinates C4 of its native substrate, l-threonine appended to the carrier protein, SyrB1, but hydroxylates C5 of l-norvaline and, to a lesser extent, C4 of l-aminobutyric acid when SyrB1 presents these non-native amino acids. To test the hypothesis that positioning of the targeted carbon dictates the outcome, we defined the positions of these three substrates by measuring hyperfine couplings between substrate deuterium atoms and the stable, EPR-active iron-nitrosyl adduct, a surrogate for reaction intermediates. The Fe-(2)H distances and N-Fe-(2)H angles, which vary from 4.2 Å and 85° for threonine to 3.4 Å and 65° for norvaline, rationalize the trends in reactivity. This experimental correlation of position to outcome should aid in judging from structural data on other Fe/2OG enzymes whether they suppress hydroxylation or form hydroxylated intermediates on the pathways to other outcomes.

Substrate specificities and conformational flexibility of 3-ketosteroid 9α-hydroxylases

KshA is the oxygenase component of 3-ketosteroid 9α-hydroxylase, a Rieske oxygenase involved in the bacterial degradation of steroids. Consistent with its role in bile acid catabolism, KshA1 from Rhodococcus rhodochrous DSM43269 had the highest apparent specificity (kcat/Km) for steroids with an isopropyl side chain at C17, such as 3-oxo-23,24-bisnorcholesta-1,4-diene-22-oate (1,4-BNC). By contrast, the KshA5 homolog had the highest apparent specificity for substrates with no C17 side chain (kcat/Km >10(5) s(-1) M(-1) for 4-estrendione, 5α-androstandione, and testosterone). Unexpectedly, substrates such as 4-androstene-3,17-dione (ADD) and 4-BNC displayed strong substrate inhibition (Ki S ∼100 μM). By comparison, the cholesterol-degrading KshAMtb from Mycobacterium tuberculosis had the highest specificity for CoA-thioesterified substrates. These specificities are consistent with differences in the catabolism of cholesterol and bile acids, respectively, in actinobacteria. X-ray crystallographic structures of the KshAMtb·ADD, KshA1·1,4-BNC-CoA, KshA5·ADD, and KshA5·1,4-BNC-CoA complexes revealed that the enzymes have very similar steroid-binding pockets with the substrate's C17 oriented toward the active site opening. Comparisons suggest Tyr-245 and Phe-297 are determinants of KshA1 specificity. All enzymes have a flexible 16-residue "mouth loop," which in some structures completely occluded the substrate-binding pocket from the bulk solvent. Remarkably, the catalytic iron and α-helices harboring its ligands were displaced up to 4.4 Å in the KshA5·substrate complexes as compared with substrate-free KshA, suggesting that Rieske oxygenases may have a dynamic nature similar to cytochrome P450.

Pulsed EPR study of amino acid and tetrahydropterin binding in a tyrosine hydroxylase nitric oxide complex: evidence for substrate rearrangements in the formation of the oxygen-reactive complex

Tyrosine hydroxylase is a nonheme iron enzyme found in the nervous system that catalyzes the hydroxylation of tyrosine to form l-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine, the rate-limiting step in the biosynthesis of the catecholamine neurotransmitters. Catalysis requires the binding of three substrates: tyrosine, tetrahydrobiopterin, and molecular oxygen. We have used nitric oxide as an O₂ surrogate to poise Fe(II) at the catalytic site in an S = 3/2, {FeNO}⁷ form amenable to EPR spectroscopy. ²H-electron spin echo envelope modulation was then used to measure the distance and orientation of specifically deuterated substrate tyrosine and cofactor 6-methyltetrahydropterin with respect to the magnetic axes of the {FeNO}⁷ paramagnetic center. Our results show that the addition of tyrosine triggers a conformational change in the enzyme that reduces the distance from the {FeNO}⁷ center to the closest deuteron on 6,7-²H-6-methyltetrahydropterin from >5.9 Å to 4.4 ± 0.2 Å. Conversely, the addition of 6-methyltetrahydropterin to enzyme samples treated with 3,5-²H-tyrosine resulted in reorientation of the magnetic axes of the S = 3/2, {FeNO}⁷ center with respect to the deuterated substrate. Taken together, these results show that the coordination of both substrate and cofactor direct the coordination of NO to Fe(II) at the active site. Parallel studies of a quaternary complex of an uncoupled tyrosine hydroxylase variant, E332A, show no change in the hyperfine coupling to substrate tyrosine and cofactor 6-methyltetrahydropterin. Our results are discussed in the context of previous spectroscopic and X-ray crystallographic studies done on tyrosine hydroxylase and phenylalanine hydroxylase.

Measuring the orientation of taurine in the active site of the non-heme Fe(II)/α-ketoglutarate-dependent taurine hydroxylase (TauD) using electron spin echo envelope modulation (ESEEM) spectroscopy

The position and orientation of taurine near the non-heme Fe(II) center of the α-ketoglutarate (α-KG)-dependent taurine hydroxylase (TauD) was measured using Electron Spin Echo Envelope Modulation (ESEEM) spectroscopy. TauD solutions containing Fe(II), α-KG, and natural abundance taurine or specifically deuterated taurine were prepared anaerobically and treated with nitric oxide (NO) to make an S = 3/2 {FeNO}(7) complex that is suitable for robust analysis with EPR spectroscopy. Using ratios of ESEEM spectra collected for TauD samples having natural abundance taurine or deuterated taurine, (1)H and (14)N modulations were filtered out of the spectra and interactions with specific deuterons on taurine could be studied separately. The Hamiltonian parameters used to calculate the amplitudes and line shapes of frequency spectra containing isolated deuterium ESEEM were obtained with global optimization algorithms. Additional statistical analysis was performed to validate the interpretation of the optimized parameters. The strongest (2)H hyperfine coupling was to a deuteron on the C1 position of taurine and was characterized by an effective dipolar distance of 3.90 ± 0.25 Å from the {FeNO}(7) paramagnetic center. The principal axes of this C1-(2)H hyperfine coupling and nuclear quadrupole interaction tensors were found to make angles of 26 ± 5 and 52 ± 17°, respectively, with the principal axis of the {FeNO}(7) zero-field splitting tensor. These results are discussed within the context of the orientation of substrate taurine prior to the initiation of hydrogen abstraction.

Structural insight into the substrate- and dioxygen-binding manner in the catalytic cycle of rieske nonheme iron oxygenase system, carbazole 1,9a-dioxygenase

BACKGROUND

Dihydroxylation of tandemly linked aromatic carbons in a cis-configuration, catalyzed by multicomponent oxygenase systems known as Rieske nonheme iron oxygenase systems (ROs), often constitute the initial step of aerobic degradation pathways for various aromatic compounds. Because such RO reactions inherently govern whether downstream degradation processes occur, novel oxygenation mechanisms involving oxygenase components of ROs (RO-Os) is of great interest. Despite substantial progress in structural and physicochemical analyses, no consensus exists on the chemical steps in the catalytic cycles of ROs. Thus, determining whether conformational changes at the active site of RO-O occur by substrate and/or oxygen binding is important. Carbazole 1,9a-dioxygenase (CARDO), a RO member consists of catalytic terminal oxygenase (CARDO-O), ferredoxin (CARDO-F), and ferredoxin reductase. We have succeeded in determining the crystal structures of oxidized CARDO-O, oxidized CARDO-F, and both oxidized and reduced forms of the CARDO-O: CARDO-F binary complex.

RESULTS

In the present study, we determined the crystal structures of the reduced carbazole (CAR)-bound, dioxygen-bound, and both CAR- and dioxygen-bound CARDO-O: CARDO-F binary complex structures at 1.95, 1.85, and 2.00 Å resolution. These structures revealed the conformational changes that occur in the catalytic cycle. Structural comparison between complex structures in each step of the catalytic mechanism provides several implications, such as the order of substrate and dioxygen bindings, the iron-dioxygen species likely being Fe(III)-(hydro)peroxo, and the creation of room for dioxygen binding and the promotion of dioxygen binding in desirable fashion by preceding substrate binding.

CONCLUSIONS

The RO catalytic mechanism is proposed as follows: When the Rieske cluster is reduced, substrate binding induces several conformational changes (e.g., movements of the nonheme iron and the ligand residue) that create room for oxygen binding. Dioxygen bound in a side-on fashion onto nonheme iron is activated by reduction to the peroxo state [Fe(III)-(hydro)peroxo]. This state may react directly with the bound substrate, or O-O bond cleavage may occur to generate Fe(V)-oxo-hydroxo species prior to the reaction. After producing a cis-dihydrodiol, the product is released by reducing the nonheme iron. This proposed scheme describes the catalytic cycle of ROs and provides important information for a better understanding of the mechanism.

Activation of α-keto acid-dependent dioxygenases: application of an {FeNO}7/{FeO2}8 methodology for characterizing the initial steps of O2 activation

The α-keto acid-dependent dioxygenases are a major subgroup within the O(2)-activating mononuclear nonheme iron enzymes. For these enzymes, the resting ferrous, the substrate plus cofactor-bound ferrous, and the Fe(IV)═O states of the reaction have been well studied. The initial O(2)-binding and activation steps are experimentally inaccessible and thus are not well understood. In this study, NO is used as an O(2) analogue to probe the effects of α-keto acid binding in 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD). A combination of EPR, UV-vis absorption, magnetic circular dichroism (MCD), and variable-temperature, variable-field (VTVH) MCD spectroscopies in conjunction with computational models is used to explore the HPPD-NO and HPPD-HPP-NO complexes. New spectroscopic features are present in the α-keto acid bound {FeNO}(7) site that reflect the strong donor interaction of the α-keto acid with the Fe. This promotes the transfer of charge from the Fe to NO. The calculations are extended to the O(2) reaction coordinate where the strong donation associated with the bound α-keto acid promotes formation of a new, S = 1 bridged Fe(IV)-peroxy species. These studies provide insight into the effects of a strong donor ligand on O(2) binding and activation by Fe(II) in the α-keto acid-dependent dioxygenases and are likely relevant to other subgroups of the O(2) activating nonheme ferrous enzymes.

Cryoreduction of the NO-adduct of taurine:alpha-ketoglutarate dioxygenase (TauD) yields an elusive {FeNO}(8) species

The Fe(II)- and alpha-ketoglutarate (alphaKG)-dependent enzymes are a functionally and mechanistically diverse group of mononuclear nonheme-iron enzymes that activate dioxygen to couple the decarboxylation of alphaKG, which yields succinate and CO(2), to the oxidation of an aliphatic C-H bond of their substrates. Their mechanisms have been studied in detail by a combination of kinetic, spectroscopic, and computational methods. Two reaction intermediates have been trapped and characterized for several members of this enzyme family. The first intermediate is the C-H-cleaving Fe(IV)-oxo complex, which exhibits a large deuterium kinetic isotope effect on its decay. The second intermediate is a Fe(II):product complex. Reaction intermediates proposed to occur before the Fe(IV)-oxo intermediate do not accumulate and therefore cannot be characterized experimentally. One of these intermediates is the initial O(2) adduct, which is a {FeO(2)}(8) species in the notation introduced by Enemark and Feltham. Here, we report spectroscopic and computational studies on the stable NO-adduct of taurine:alphaKG dioxygenase (TauD), termed TauD-{FeNO}(7), and its one-electron reduced form, TauD-{FeNO}(8). The latter is isoelectronic with the proposed O(2) adduct and was generated by low-temperature gamma-irradiation of TauD-{FeNO}(7). To our knowledge, TauD-{FeNO}(8) is the first paramagnetic {FeNO}(8) complex. The detailed analysis of experimental and computational results shows that TauD-{FeNO}(8) has a triplet ground state. This has mechanistic implications that are discussed in this Article. Annealing of the triplet {FeNO}(8) species presumably leads to an equally elusive {FeHNO}(8) complex with a quintet ground state.

Simulating suppression effects in Pulsed ENDOR, and the 'hole in the middle' of Mims and Davies ENDOR Spectra

All pulsed ENDOR techniques, and in particular the Mims and Davies sequences, suffer from detectability biases ('blindspots') that are directly correlated to the size of the hyperfine interactions of coupled nuclei. Our efforts at ENDOR 'crystallography' and 'mechanism determination' with these techniques has led our group to refine our simulations of pulsed ENDOR spectra to take into account these biases, and we here describe the process and illustrate it with several examples. We first focus on an issue whose major significance is not widely appreciated, the 'hole in the middle' of pulsed ENDOR spectra caused by the n = 0 suppression hole in Mims ENDOR and by the analogous A→0 suppression in Davies ENDOR (Section I). This section discusses the issue for nuclei with I = ½ and also for (2)H (I = 1), using the treatment of Section II. In Section II we discuss the general treatment of suppression effects for I = 1, illustrating it with a treatment of Mims suppression for (14)N (I = 1) (Section II).

Near-IR MCD of the nonheme ferrous active site in naphthalene 1,2-dioxygenase: correlation to crystallography and structural insight into the mechanism of Rieske dioxygenases

Near-IR MCD and variable temperature, variable field (VTVH) MCD have been applied to naphthalene 1,2-dioxygenase (NDO) to describe the coordination geometry and electronic structure of the mononuclear nonheme ferrous catalytic site in the resting and substrate-bound forms with the Rieske 2Fe2S cluster oxidized and reduced. The structural results are correlated with the crystallographic studies of NDO and other related Rieske nonheme iron oxygenases to develop molecular level insights into the structure/function correlation for this class of enzymes. The MCD data for resting NDO with the Rieske center oxidized indicate the presence of a six-coordinate high-spin ferrous site with a weak axial ligand which becomes more tightly coordinated when the Rieske center is reduced. Binding of naphthalene to resting NDO (Rieske oxidized and reduced) converts the six-coordinate sites into five-coordinate (5c) sites with elimination of a water ligand. In the Rieske oxidized form the 5c sites are square pyramidal but transform to a 1:2 mixture of trigonal bipyramial/square pyramidal sites when the Rieske center is reduced. Thus the geometric and electronic structure of the catalytic site in the presence of substrate can be significantly affected by the redox state of the Rieske center. The catalytic ferrous site is primed for the O2 reaction when substrate is bound in the active site in the presence of the reduced Rieske site. These structural changes ensure that two electrons and the substrate are present before the binding and activation of O2, which avoids the uncontrolled formation and release of reactive oxygen species.

Spectroelectrochemistry and DFT Analysis of a New {RuNO}n Redox System with Multifrequency EPR Suggesting Conformational Isomerism in the {RuNO}7 State

The compound [Ru(NO)(bpym)(terpy)](PF6)3, bpym = 2,2'-bipyrimidine and terpy = 2,2':6',2"-terpyridine, with a {RuNO}6 configuration (angle Ru-N-O 175.2(4) degrees ) was obtained from the structurally characterized precursor [Ru(NO2)(bpym)(terpy)](PF6), which shows bpym-centered reduction and metal-centered oxidation, as evident from EPR spectroscopy. The relatively labile [Ru(NO)(bpym)(terpy)](3+), which forms a structurally characterized acetonitrile substitution product [Ru(CH3CN)(bpym)(terpy)](PF6)2 upon treatment with CH3OH/CH3CN, is electrochemically reduced in three one-electron steps of which the third, leading to neutral [Ru(NO)(bpym)(terpy)], involves electrode adsorption. The first-two reduction processes cause shifts of nu(NO) from 1957 via 1665 to 1388 cm(-1), implying a predominantly NO-centered electron addition. UV-vis-NIR Spectroscopy shows long-wavelength ligand-to-ligand charge transfer absorptions for [Ru(II)(NO(-I))(bpym)(terpy)]+ in the visible region, whereas the paramagnetic intermediate [Ru(NO)(bpym)(terpy)](2+) exhibits no distinct absorption maximum above 309 nm. EPR spectroscopy of the latter at 9.5, 95, and 190 GHz shows the typical invariant pattern of the {RuNO}7 configuration; however, the high-frequency measurements at 4 and 10 K reveal a splitting of the g1 and g2 components, which is tentatively attributed to conformers resulting from the bending of RuNO. DFT calculations support the assignments of oxidation states and the general interpretation of the electronic structure.

Finding intermediates in the O2 activation pathways of non-heme iron oxygenases

Intermediates in the reaction cycle of an oxygenase are usually very informative with respect to the chemical mechanism of O 2 activation and insertion. However, detection of these intermediates is often complicated by their short lifetime and the regulatory mechanism of the enzyme designed to ensure specificity. Here, the methods used to detect the intermediates in an extradiol dioxygenase, a Rieske cis-dihydrodiol dioxygenase, and soluble methane monooxygenase are discussed. The methods include the use of alternative, chromophoric substrates, mutagenesis of active site catalytic residues, forced changes in substrate binding order, control of reaction rates using regulatory proteins, and initialization of catalysis in crystallo.

Hydrogen peroxide dependent cis-dihydroxylation of benzoate by fully oxidized benzoate 1,2-dioxygenase

Rieske dioxygenases catalyze the reductive activation of O2 for the formation of cis-dihydrodiols from unactivated aromatic compounds. It is known that O2 is activated at a mononuclear non-heme iron site utilizing electrons supplied by a nearby Rieske iron sulfur cluster. However, it is controversial whether the reactive species is an Fe(III)-(hydro)peroxo or an Fe(II)-(hydro)peroxo (or electronically equivalent species formed by breaking the O-O bond). Here it is shown that benzoate 1,2 dioxygenase oxygenase component (BZDO) prepared in a form with the Rieske cluster oxidized and the mononuclear iron in the Fe(III) state can utilize H2O2 as a source of reduced oxygen to form the correct cis-dihydrodiol product from benzoate. The reaction approaches stoichiometric yield relative to the mononuclear Fe(III) concentration, being limited to a single turnover by inefficient product release from the Fe(III)-product complex. EPR and Mössbauer studies show that the iron remains ferric throughout this single turnover "peroxide shunt" reaction. These results strongly support Fe(III)-(hydro)peroxo (or Fe(V)-oxo-hydroxo) as the reactive species because there is no source of additional reducing equivalents to form the Fe(II)-(hydro)peroxo state. This conclusion could be further tested in the case of BZDO because the peroxide shunt occurs very slowly compared with normal turnover, allowing the reactive intermediate to be trapped for spectroscopic analysis. We attribute the slow reaction rate to a forced change in the normally strict order of the substrate binding and enzyme reduction steps that regulate the catalytic cycle. The reactive intermediate is a high-spin ferric species exhibiting an unusual negative zero field splitting and other EPR and Mössbauer spectroscopic properties reminiscent of previously characterized side-on-bound peroxide adducts of Fe(III) model complexes. If the species in BZDO is a similar adduct, its isomer shift is most consistent with an Fe(III)-hydroperoxo reactive state.

VTVH-MCD and DFT studies of thiolate bonding to [FeNO]7/[FeO2]8 complexes of isopenicillin N synthase: substrate determination of oxidase versus oxygenase activity in nonheme Fe enzymes

Isopenicillin N synthase (IPNS) is a unique mononuclear nonheme Fe enzyme that catalyzes the four-electron oxidative double ring closure of its substrate ACV. A combination of spectroscopic techniques including EPR, absorbance, circular dichroism (CD), magnetic CD, and variable-temperature, variable-field MCD (VTVH-MCD) were used to evaluate the geometric and electronic structure of the [FeNO]7 complex of IPNS coordinated with the ACV thiolate ligand. Density Function Theory (DFT) calculations correlated to the spectroscopic data were used to generate an experimentally calibrated bonding description of the Fe-IPNS-ACV-NO complex. New spectroscopic features introduced by the binding of the ACV thiolate at 13 100 and 19 800 cm-1 are assigned as the NO pi*(ip) --> Fe dx2-y2 and S pi--> Fe dx2-y2 charge transfer (CT) transitions, respectively. Configuration interaction mixes S CT character into the NO pi*(ip) --> Fe dx2-y2 CT transition, which is observed experimentally from the VTVH-MCD data from this transition. Calculations on the hypothetical {FeO2}8 complex of Fe-IPNS-ACV reveal that the configuration interaction present in the [FeNO]7 complex results in an unoccupied frontier molecular orbital (FMO) with correct orientation and distal O character for H-atom abstraction from the ACV substrate. The energetics of NO/O2 binding to Fe-IPNS-ACV were evaluated and demonstrate that charge donation from the ACV thiolate ligand renders the formation of the FeIII-superoxide complex energetically favorable, driving the reaction at the Fe center. This single center reaction allows IPNS to avoid the O2 bridged binding generally invoked in other nonheme Fe enzymes that leads to oxygen insertion (i.e., oxygenase function) and determines the oxidase activity of IPNS.

Structural investigations of the ferredoxin and terminal oxygenase components of the biphenyl 2,3-dioxygenase from Sphingobium yanoikuyae B1

Background

The initial step involved in oxidative hydroxylation of monoaromatic and polyaromatic compounds by the microorganism Sphingobium yanoikuyae strain B1 (B1), previously known as Sphingomonas yanoikuyae strain B1 and Beijerinckia sp. strain B1, is performed by a set of multiple terminal Rieske non-heme iron oxygenases. These enzymes share a single electron donor system consisting of a reductase and a ferredoxin (BPDO-F_B1). One of the terminal Rieske oxygenases, biphenyl 2,3-dioxygenase (BPDO-O_B1), is responsible for B1's ability to dihydroxylate large aromatic compounds, such as chrysene and benzo[a]pyrene.

Results

In this study, crystal structures of BPDO-O_B1 in both native and biphenyl bound forms are described. Sequence and structural comparisons to other Rieske oxygenases show this enzyme to be most similar, with 43.5 % sequence identity, to naphthalene dioxygenase from Pseudomonas sp. strain NCIB 9816-4. While structurally similar to naphthalene 1,2-dioxygenase, the active site entrance is significantly larger than the entrance for naphthalene 1,2-dioxygenase. Differences in active site residues also allow the binding of large aromatic substrates. There are no major structural changes observed upon binding of the substrate. BPDO-F_B1 has large sequence identity to other bacterial Rieske ferredoxins whose structures are known and demonstrates a high structural homology; however, differences in side chain composition and conformation around the Rieske cluster binding site are noted.

Conclusion

This is the first structure of a Rieske oxygenase that oxidizes substrates with five aromatic rings to be reported. This ability to catalyze the oxidation of larger substrates is a result of both a larger entrance to the active site as well as the ability of the active site to accommodate larger substrates. While the biphenyl ferredoxin is structurally similar to other Rieske ferredoxins, there are distinct changes in the amino acids near the iron-sulfur cluster. Because this ferredoxin is used by multiple oxygenases present in the B1 organism, this ferredoxin-oxygenase system provides the structural platform to dissect the balance between promiscuity and selectivity in protein-protein electron transport systems.

The "bridging" aspartate 178 in phthalate dioxygenase facilitates interactions between the Rieske center and the iron(II)--mononuclear center

Phthalate dioxygenase (PDO) and its reductase are parts of a two-component Rieske dioxygenase system that initiates the aerobic breakdown of phthalate by forming cis-4,5-dihydro-4,5-dihydroxyphthalate (DHD). Aspartate D178 in PDO, located near its ferrous mononuclear center, is highly conserved among Rieske dioxygenases. The analogous aspartate has been implicated in electron transfer between the mononuclear iron and Rieske center in naphthalene dioxygenase [Parales et al. (1999) J. Bacteriol. 181, 1831-1837] and in substrate binding and oxygen reactivity in anthranilate dioxygenase [Beharry et al. (2003) Biochemistry 42, 13625-13636]. The effects of substituting D178 in PDO with alanine or asparagine on the reactivity of the Rieske centers, phthalate hydroxylation, and coupling of Rieske center oxidation to DHD formation were studied previously [Pinto et al. (2006) Biochemistry 45, 9032-9041]. This work describes effects that D178N and D178A substitutions have on the interactions between the Rieske and mononuclear centers in PDO. The mutations affected protonation of the Rieske center histidine and conformation of subunits within the PDO multimer to create a more open structure with more solvent-accessible Rieske centers. When the Rieske centers in PDO were oxidized, D178N and D178A substitutions disrupted communication between the Rieske and Fe-mononuclear centers. This was shown by the lack of perturbations of the UV-vis spectra on phthalate binding to the D178N and D178A variants, as opposed to that observed in WT PDO. However, when the Rieske center was in the reduced state, communication between the centers was not disrupted. Phthalate binding similarly affected the rates of oxidation of the reduced Rieske center in both WT and mutant PDO. Nitric oxide binding at the Fe(II)-mononuclear center, as detected by EPR spectrometry of the Fe(II) nitrosyl complex, was regulated by the redox state of the Rieske center. When the Rieske center was oxidized in either WT or D178N PDO, NO bound to the mononuclear iron in the presence or absence of phthalate. However, when the Rieske center was reduced, NO bound only when phthalate was present. These findings are discussed in terms of the "communication functions" performed by the bridging Asp-178.

A Davies/Hahn multi-sequence for studies of spin relaxation in pulsed ENDOR

We extend earlier studies of the effects of relaxation on the intensities of pulsed ENDOR signals by introducing a Davies/Hahn (D/H) pulsed ENDOR multi-sequence that corresponds to a series of Davies sequences with the preparation pulse 'turned off'. In this pulse train, the Hahn [pi/2, pi] detection pulse pair of sequence n-1 both generates the echo detected for that sequence and acts as the preparation portion of sequence n, in effect replacing the pi preparation pulse of the Davies sequence. We show both theoretically, through a master-equation approach, and with both (1)H(I=1/2) and (14)N(I=1) ENDOR experiments on the non-heme Fe enzymes, superoxide reductase (SOR) (S=1/2) and AntDO (S=3/2), that under conditions of high electron-spin polarization (high microwave frequency/low temperature) the D/H multi-sequence allows simplification of ENDOR spectra by suppression of nuclear transitions associated with the m(S)=+1/2 (alpha) manifold. As such suppression depends on the sign of A, it allows determination of this sign. The suppression as a function of the time between individual sequences is found to exhibit behaviors that can be classified into three regimes of the ratio of cross-relaxation to spin-lattice relaxation rates: strong cross-relaxation (X-case); comparable rates (XL); negligible cross relaxation (L). Interestingly, the ENDOR behavior of the S=1/2 SOR center indicates it is an L case, while the S=3/2 AntDO is an L case. Overall, the D/H protocol appears to be a robust and general tool for using relaxation effects to manipulate ENDOR spectra.

2-Oxoquinoline 8-monooxygenase oxygenase component: active site modulation by Rieske-[2Fe-2S] center oxidation/reduction

2-Oxoquinoline 8-monooxygenase is a Rieske non-heme iron oxygenase that catalyzes the NADH-dependent oxidation of the N-heterocyclic aromatic compound 2-oxoquinoline to 8-hydroxy-2-oxoquinoline in the soil bacterium Pseudomonas putida 86. The crystal structure of the oxygenase component of 2-oxoquinoline 8-monooxygenase shows a ring-shaped, C3-symmetric arrangement in which the mononuclear Fe(II) ion active site of one monomer is at a distance of 13 A from the Rieske-[2Fe-2S] center of a second monomer. Structural analyses of oxidized, reduced, and substrate bound states reveal the molecular bases for a new function of Fe-S clusters. Reduction of the Rieske center modulates the mononuclear Fe through a chain of conformational changes across the subunit interface, resulting in the displacement of Fe and its histidine ligand away from the substrate binding site. This creates an additional coordination site at the mononuclear Fe(II) ion and can open a pathway for dioxygen to bind in the substrate-containing active site.

Rieske business: structure-function of Rieske non-heme oxygenases

Rieske non-heme iron oxygenases (RO) catalyze stereo- and regiospecific reactions. Recently, an explosion of structural information on this class of enzymes has occurred in the literature. ROs are two/three component systems: a reductase component that obtains electrons from NAD(P)H, often a Rieske ferredoxin component that shuttles the electrons and an oxygenase component that performs catalysis. The oxygenase component structures have all shown to be of the alpha3 or alpha3beta3 types. The transfer of electrons happens from the Rieske center to the mononuclear iron of the neighboring subunit via a conserved aspartate, which is shown to be involved in gating electron transport. Molecular oxygen has been shown to bind side-on in naphthalene dioxygenase and a concerted mechanism of oxygen activation and hydroxylation of the ring has been proposed. The orientation of binding of the substrate to the enzyme is hypothesized to control the substrate selectivity and regio-specificity of product formation.

NO binding to naphthalene dioxygenase

Nitric oxide (NO) is commonly used as an analogue for dioxygen in structural and spectroscopic studies of oxygen binding and oxygen activation. In this study, crystallographic structures of naphthalene dioxygenase (NDO) in complex with nitric oxide are reported. In the presence of the aromatic substrate indole, NO is bound end-on to the active-site mononuclear iron of NDO. The structural observations correlate well with spectroscopic measurements of NO binding to NDO in solution. However, the end-on binding of NO is in contrast to the recently reported structure of oxygen to the active-site iron of NDO that binds side-on. While NO is a good oxygen analogue with many similarities to O(2), the different binding mode of NO to the active-site iron atom leads to different mechanistic implications. Hence, caution needs to be used in extrapolating NO as an analogue to O(2) binding.

Crystal structure of the terminal oxygenase component of biphenyl dioxygenase derived from Rhodococcus sp. strain RHA1

Biphenyl dioxygenase is the enzyme that catalyzes the stereospecific dioxygenation of the aromatic ring. This enzyme has attracted the attention of researchers due to its ability to oxidize polychlorinated biphenyls, which is one of the serious environmental contaminants. We determined the crystal structure of the terminal oxygenase component of the biphenyl dioxygenase (BphA1A2) derived from Rhodococcus strain sp. RHA1 in substrate-free and complex forms. These crystal structures revealed that the substrate-binding pocket makes significant conformational changes upon substrate binding to accommodate the substrate into the pocket. Our analysis of the crystal structures suggested that the residues in the substrate-binding pocket can be classified into three groups, which, respectively, seem to be responsible for the catalytic reaction, the orientation/conformation of the substrate, and the conformational changes of the substrate-binding pocket. The cooperative actions of residues in the three groups seem to determine the substrate specificity of the enzyme.