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Van Stappen C, Deng Y, Liu Y, Heidari H, Wang JX, Zhou Y, Ledray AP, Lu Y. Designing Artificial Metalloenzymes by Tuning of the Environment beyond the Primary Coordination Sphere. Chem Rev 2022; 122:11974-12045. [PMID: 35816578 DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.2c00106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Metalloenzymes catalyze a variety of reactions using a limited number of natural amino acids and metallocofactors. Therefore, the environment beyond the primary coordination sphere must play an important role in both conferring and tuning their phenomenal catalytic properties, enabling active sites with otherwise similar primary coordination environments to perform a diverse array of biological functions. However, since the interactions beyond the primary coordination sphere are numerous and weak, it has been difficult to pinpoint structural features responsible for the tuning of activities of native enzymes. Designing artificial metalloenzymes (ArMs) offers an excellent basis to elucidate the roles of these interactions and to further develop practical biological catalysts. In this review, we highlight how the secondary coordination spheres of ArMs influence metal binding and catalysis, with particular focus on the use of native protein scaffolds as templates for the design of ArMs by either rational design aided by computational modeling, directed evolution, or a combination of both approaches. In describing successes in designing heme, nonheme Fe, and Cu metalloenzymes, heteronuclear metalloenzymes containing heme, and those ArMs containing other metal centers (including those with non-native metal ions and metallocofactors), we have summarized insights gained on how careful controls of the interactions in the secondary coordination sphere, including hydrophobic and hydrogen bonding interactions, allow the generation and tuning of these respective systems to approach, rival, and, in a few cases, exceed those of native enzymes. We have also provided an outlook on the remaining challenges in the field and future directions that will allow for a deeper understanding of the secondary coordination sphere a deeper understanding of the secondary coordintion sphere to be gained, and in turn to guide the design of a broader and more efficient variety of ArMs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Casey Van Stappen
- Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, 105 East 24th Street, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
| | - Yunling Deng
- Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, 105 East 24th Street, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
| | - Yiwei Liu
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 505 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Hirbod Heidari
- Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, 105 East 24th Street, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
| | - Jing-Xiang Wang
- Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, 105 East 24th Street, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
| | - Yu Zhou
- Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, 105 East 24th Street, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
| | - Aaron P Ledray
- Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, 105 East 24th Street, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
| | - Yi Lu
- Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, 105 East 24th Street, Austin, Texas 78712, United States.,Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 505 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
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2
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Mirts EN, Dikanov SA, Jose A, Solomon EI, Lu Y. A Binuclear Cu A Center Designed in an All α-Helical Protein Scaffold. J Am Chem Soc 2020; 142:13779-13794. [PMID: 32662996 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.0c04226] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The primary and secondary coordination spheres of metal binding sites in metalloproteins have been investigated extensively, leading to the creation of high-performing functional metalloproteins; however, the impact of the overall structure of the protein scaffold on the unique properties of metalloproteins has rarely been studied. A primary example is the binuclear CuA center, an electron transfer cupredoxin domain of photosynthetic and respiratory complexes and, recently, a protein coregulated with particulate methane and ammonia monooxygenases. The redox potential, Cu-Cu spectroscopic features, and a valence delocalized state of CuA are difficult to reproduce in synthetic models, and every artificial protein CuA center to-date has used a modified cupredoxin. Here, we present a fully functional CuA center designed in a structurally nonhomologous protein, cytochrome c peroxidase (CcP), by only two mutations (CuACcP). We demonstrate with UV-visible absorption, resonance Raman, and magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy that CuACcP is valence delocalized. Continuous wave and pulsed (HYSCORE) X-band EPR show it has a highly compact gz area and small Az hyperfine principal value with g and A tensors that resemble axially perturbed CuA. Stopped-flow kinetics found that CuA formation proceeds through a single T2Cu intermediate. The reduction potential of CuACcP is comparable to native CuA and can transfer electrons to a physiological redox partner. We built a structural model of the designed Cu binding site from extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy and validated it by mutation of coordinating Cys and His residues, revealing that a triad of residues (R48C, W51C, and His52) rigidly arranged on one α-helix is responsible for chelating the first Cu(II) and that His175 stabilizes the binuclear complex by rearrangement of the CcP heme-coordinating helix. This design is a demonstration that a highly conserved protein fold is not uniquely necessary to induce certain characteristic physical and chemical properties in a metal redox center.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evan N Mirts
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.,Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Sergei A Dikanov
- Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Anex Jose
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States
| | - Edward I Solomon
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States
| | - Yi Lu
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.,Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
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3
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Ross MO, Fisher OS, Morgada MN, Krzyaniak MD, Wasielewski MR, Vila AJ, Hoffman BM, Rosenzweig AC. Formation and Electronic Structure of an Atypical Cu A Site. J Am Chem Soc 2019; 141:4678-4686. [PMID: 30807125 PMCID: PMC6953997 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.8b13610] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
PmoD, a recently discovered protein from methane-oxidizing bacteria, forms a homodimer with a dicopper CuA center at the dimer interface. Although the optical and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopic signatures of the PmoD CuA bear similarities to those of canonical CuA sites, there are also some puzzling differences. Here we have characterized the rapid formation (seconds) and slow decay (hours) of this homodimeric CuA site to two mononuclear Cu2+ sites, as well as its electronic and geometric structure, using stopped-flow optical and advanced paramagnetic resonance spectroscopies. PmoD CuA formation occurs rapidly and involves a short-lived intermediate with a λmax of 360 nm. Unlike other CuA sites, the PmoD CuA is unstable, decaying to two type 2 Cu2+ centers. Surprisingly, NMR data indicate that the PmoD CuA has a pure σu* ground state rather than the typical equilibrium between σu* and πu of all other CuA proteins. EPR, ENDOR, ESEEM, and HYSCORE data indicate the presence of two histidine and two cysteine ligands coordinating the CuA core in a highly symmetrical fashion. This report significantly expands the diversity and understanding of known CuA sites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew O. Ross
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Oriana S. Fisher
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Marcos N. Morgada
- Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario (IBR, CONICET-UNR), Ocampo y Esmeralda, S2002LRK Rosario, Argentina
- Área Biofísica, Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, S2002LRK Rosario, Argentina
| | - Matthew D. Krzyaniak
- Department of Chemistry and Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Rd, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
| | - Michael R. Wasielewski
- Department of Chemistry and Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Rd, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
| | - Alejandro J. Vila
- Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario (IBR, CONICET-UNR), Ocampo y Esmeralda, S2002LRK Rosario, Argentina
| | - Brian M. Hoffman
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Amy C. Rosenzweig
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
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4
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Dikanov SA, Berry SM, Lu Y. HYSCORE Insights into the Distribution of the Unpaired Spin Density in an Engineered Cu A Site in Azurin and Its His120Gly Variant. Inorg Chem 2019; 58:4437-4445. [PMID: 30869885 DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.8b03604] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
A comparative study of the 1H and 14N hyperfine interactions between the CuA site in an engineered CuA center in azurin (WT-CuAAz) and its His120Gly variant (H120G-CuAAz) using the two-dimensional ESEEM technique, HYSCORE, is reported. HYSCORE spectroscopy has clarified conflicting results in previous electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) studies and found clear differences between the two CuA azurins. Specifically, a hyperfine coupling AN⊥ of 15.3 MHz was determined for the first time from the frequencies of double-quantum transitions of 14N histidine nitrogens coordinated to CuA in WT-CuAAz. In contrast, such coupling was not observed in the spectra of H120G-CuAAz, indicating at least a several megahertz increase in AN⊥ for the coordinated nitrogen in this variant. In addition, 14N HYSCORE spectra of WT-CuAAz show interaction with only one type of weakly coupled nitrogen assigned to the remote Nε atom of coordinated imidazole residues based on the quadrupole coupling constant ( e2 Qq/4 h) of ∼0.4 MHz. The spectrum of H120G-CuAAz resolves additional features typical for backbone peptide nitrogens with larger e2 Qq/4 h values of ∼0.7 MHz. Hyperfine couplings with these nitrogens vary between ∼0.4 and 0.7 MHz. In addition, the two resolved cross-peaks from Cβ protons in H120G-CuAAz display only ∼1 MHz shifts relative to the corresponding peaks in WT-CuAAz. These new findings have provided the first experimental evidence of the previous density functional theory analysis that predicted changes in the delocalized electron spin population of ∼0.02-0.03 (i.e., ∼10%) on copper and sulfur atoms of the CuA center in H120 variants relative to WT-CuAAz and resolved contradicting results between EPR and ENDOR studies of the valence distribution in CuAAz and its variants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sergei A Dikanov
- Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine , University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Urbana , Illinois 61801 , United States
| | - Steven M Berry
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry , University of Minnesota Duluth , Duluth , Minnesota 55812 , United States
| | - Yi Lu
- Department of Chemistry , University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Urbana , Illinois 61801 , United States
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5
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Clark KM, Tian S, van der Donk WA, Lu Y. Probing the role of the backbone carbonyl interaction with the Cu A center in azurin by replacing the peptide bond with an ester linkage. Chem Commun (Camb) 2016; 53:224-227. [PMID: 27918029 PMCID: PMC5253137 DOI: 10.1039/c6cc07274g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
The role of a backbone carbonyl interaction with an engineered CuA center in azurin was investigated by developing a method of synthesis and incorporation of a depsipeptide where one of the amide bonds in azurin is replaced by an ester bond using expressed protein ligation. Studies by electronic absorption and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopic techniques indicate that, while the substitution does not significantly alter the geometry of the site, it weakens the axial interaction to the CuA center and strengthens the Cu-Cu bond, as evidenced by the blue shift of the near-IR absorption that has been assigned to the Cu-Cu ψ → ψ* transition. Interestingly, the changes in the electronic structure from the replacement did not result in a change in the reduction potential of the CuA center, suggesting that the diamond core structure of Cu2SCys2 is resistant to variations in axial interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin M Clark
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
| | - Shiliang Tian
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue Urbana, IL 61801, USA
| | - Wilfred A van der Donk
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue Urbana, IL 61801, USA. and Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue Urbana, IL 61801, USA
| | - Yi Lu
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue Urbana, IL 61801, USA. and Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue Urbana, IL 61801, USA
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6
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Liu J, Chakraborty S, Hosseinzadeh P, Yu Y, Tian S, Petrik I, Bhagi A, Lu Y. Metalloproteins containing cytochrome, iron-sulfur, or copper redox centers. Chem Rev 2014; 114:4366-469. [PMID: 24758379 PMCID: PMC4002152 DOI: 10.1021/cr400479b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 559] [Impact Index Per Article: 55.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2013] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Jing Liu
- Department of Chemistry, Department of Biochemistry, and Center for Biophysics
and Computational
Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Saumen Chakraborty
- Department of Chemistry, Department of Biochemistry, and Center for Biophysics
and Computational
Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Parisa Hosseinzadeh
- Department of Chemistry, Department of Biochemistry, and Center for Biophysics
and Computational
Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Yang Yu
- Department of Chemistry, Department of Biochemistry, and Center for Biophysics
and Computational
Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Shiliang Tian
- Department of Chemistry, Department of Biochemistry, and Center for Biophysics
and Computational
Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Igor Petrik
- Department of Chemistry, Department of Biochemistry, and Center for Biophysics
and Computational
Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Ambika Bhagi
- Department of Chemistry, Department of Biochemistry, and Center for Biophysics
and Computational
Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Yi Lu
- Department of Chemistry, Department of Biochemistry, and Center for Biophysics
and Computational
Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
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7
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Wilson TD, Yu Y, Lu Y. Understanding copper-thiolate containing electron transfer centers by incorporation of unnatural amino acids and the CuA center into the type 1 copper protein azurin. Coord Chem Rev 2013. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ccr.2012.06.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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8
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Savelieff MG, Lu Y. CuA centers and their biosynthetic models in azurin. J Biol Inorg Chem 2010; 15:461-83. [DOI: 10.1007/s00775-010-0625-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2009] [Accepted: 01/20/2010] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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9
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Sanghamitra NJM, Mazumdar S. Conformational Dynamics Coupled to Protonation Equilibrium at the CuA Site of Thermus thermophilus: Insights into the Origin of Thermostability. Biochemistry 2008; 47:1309-18. [DOI: 10.1021/bi701783x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Nusrat J. M. Sanghamitra
- Department of Chemical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Homi Bhabha Road, Colaba, Mumbai 400005, India
| | - Shyamalava Mazumdar
- Department of Chemical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Homi Bhabha Road, Colaba, Mumbai 400005, India
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10
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Ledesma GN, Murgida DH, Ly HK, Wackerbarth H, Ulstrup J, Costa-Filho AJ, Vila AJ. The Met Axial Ligand Determines the Redox Potential in CuA Sites. J Am Chem Soc 2007; 129:11884-5. [PMID: 17845037 DOI: 10.1021/ja0731221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Gabriela N Ledesma
- Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario-CONICET, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Suipacha 531, S2002LRK, Rosario, Argentina
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11
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Hwang HJ, Nagraj N, Lu Y. Spectroscopic characterizations of bridging cysteine ligand variants of an engineered Cu2(Scys)2 CuA azurin. Inorg Chem 2006; 45:102-7. [PMID: 16390045 DOI: 10.1021/ic051375u] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Bridging cysteine ligands of the Cu(A) center in an engineered Cu(A) azurin were replaced with serine, and the variants (Cys116Ser and Cys112Ser Cu(A) azurin) were characterized by mass spectrometry, as well as UV-vis and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopic techniques. The replacements resulted in dramatically perturbed spectroscopic properties, indicating that the cysteines play a critical role in maintaining the structural integrity of the Cu center. The replacements at different cysteine residues resulted in different perturbations, even though the two cysteines are geometrically symmetrical in the primary coordination sphere with respect to the two copper ions. The Cys112Ser variant contains two distinct type 2 copper centers, while the Cys116Ser variant has one type 1 copper center with slight tetragonal distortion. Both the UV-vis and EPR spectra of the Cys116Ser variant change with pH, and the pK(a) of the transition is 6.0. A type 1 copper EPR spectrum with A(||) = 26 G was obtained at pH 7.0, while a type 2 copper EPR spectrum with A(||) = 140 G was found at pH 5.0. Interestingly, lowering the temperature from 290 to 85 K resulted in conversion of the Cys116Ser variant from a type 1 copper center to a type 2 copper center, suggesting rearrangement of the ligand around the copper or binding of an exogenous ligand at low temperature. This difference in mutation effects at different cysteines may be due to different constraints exerted on the two cysteines by hydrogen-bonding patterns in the ligand loop.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hee Jung Hwang
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 61801, USA
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12
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Hwang HJ, Berry SM, Nilges MJ, Lu Y. Axial methionine has much less influence on reduction potentials in a CuA center than in a blue copper center. J Am Chem Soc 2005; 127:7274-5. [PMID: 15898751 DOI: 10.1021/ja0501114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The role of the highly conserved axial methionine of the purple CuA center in an engineered CuA azurin on modulating the reduction potentials of the copper center was investigated by a systematic replacement of the methionine with glutamate, aspartate, and leucine. In contrast to the same substitutions in the structurally related blue copper azurin, much smaller changes in reduction potential were observed in the CuA azurin upon replacing the methionine ligand with negatively charged Glu (-8 mV) and Asp (-5 mV) and more hydrophobic Leu (+16 mV). These findings are important in understanding the different roles of the two cupredoxins. The diamond core Cu2S2(Cys) structure of the CuA is much more resistant to variations of axial ligand interactions than the distorted tetrahedral structure of the blue copper protein. This difference may translate into a much wider range of reduction potentials (>1000 mV) for blue copper proteins that transfer electrons to a variety of partners in many different biological systems and a much narrower range of reduction potentials (<40 mV) for CuA proteins where a small difference in reduction potentials between the CuA and its redox partners is required.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hee Jung Hwang
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois 61801, USA
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13
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Epel B, Slutter CS, Neese F, Kroneck PMH, Zumft WG, Pecht I, Farver O, Lu Y, Goldfarb D. Electron-mediating Cu(A) centers in proteins: a comparative high field (1)H ENDOR study. J Am Chem Soc 2002; 124:8152-62. [PMID: 12095361 DOI: 10.1021/ja012514j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
High field (W-band, 95 GHz) pulsed electron-nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) measurements were carried out on a number of proteins that contain the mixed-valence, binuclear electron-mediating Cu(A) center. These include nitrous oxide reductase (N(2)OR), the recombinant water-soluble fragment of subunit II of Thermus thermophilus cytochrome c oxidase (COX) ba(3) (M160T9), its M160QT0 mutant, where the weak axial methionine ligand has been replaced by a glutamine, and the engineered "purple" azurin (purpAz). The three-dimensional (3-D) structures of these proteins, apart from the mutant, are known. The EPR spectra of all samples showed the presence of a mononuclear Cu(II) impurity with EPR characteristics of a type II copper. At W-band, the g( perpendicular) features of this center and of Cu(A) are well resolved, thus allowing us to obtain a clean Cu(A) ENDOR spectrum. The latter consists of two types of ENDOR signals. The first includes the signals of the four strongly coupled cysteine beta-protons, with isotropic hyperfine couplings, A(iso), in the 7-15 MHz range. The second group consists of weakly coupled protons with a primarily anisotropic character with A(zz) < 3 MHz. Orientation selective ENDOR spectra were collected for N(2)OR, M160QT0, and purpAz, and simulations of the cysteine beta-protons signals provided their isotropic and anisotropic hyperfine interactions. A linear correlation with a negative slope was found between the maximum A(iso) value of the beta-protons and the copper hyperfine interaction. Comparison of the best-fit anisotropic hyperfine parameters with those calculated from dipolar interactions extracted from the available 3-D structures sets limit to the sulfur spin densities. Similarly, the small coupling spectral region was simulated on the basis of the 3-D structures and compared with the experimental spectra. It was found that the width of the powder patterns of the weakly coupled protons recorded at g(perpendicular) is mainly determined by the histidine H(epsilon)(1) protons. Furthermore, the splitting in the outer wings of these powder patterns indicates differences in the positions of the imidazole rings relative to the Cu(2)S(2) core. Comparison of the spectral features of the weakly coupled protons of M160QT0 with those of the other investigated proteins shows that they are very similar to those of purpAz, where the Cu(A) center is the most symmetric, but the copper spin density and the H(epsilon)(1)-Cu distances are somewhat smaller. All proteins show the presence of a proton with a significantly negative A(iso) value which is assigned to an amide proton of one of the cysteines. The simulations of both strongly and weakly coupled protons, along with the known copper hyperfine couplings, were used to estimate and compare the spin density distribution in the various Cu(A) centers. The largest sulfur spin density was found in M160T9, and the lowest was found in purpAz. In addition, using the relation between the A(iso) values of the four cysteine beta-protons and the H-C-S-S dihedral angles, the relative contribution of the hyperconjugation mechanism to A(iso) was determined. The largest contribution was found for M160T9, and the lowest was found for purpAz. Possible correlations between the spin density distribution, structural features, and electron-transfer functionality are finally suggested.
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Affiliation(s)
- Boris Epel
- Department of Chemical Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
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14
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Zhen Y, Schmidt B, Kang UG, Antholine W, Ferguson-Miller S. Mutants of the CuA site in cytochrome c oxidase of Rhodobacter sphaeroides: I. Spectral and functional properties. Biochemistry 2002; 41:2288-97. [PMID: 11841221 DOI: 10.1021/bi0114628] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
To study the functional significance of the unusual bimetallic Cu(A) center of cytochrome c oxidase, the direct ligands of the Cu(A) center in subunit II of the holoenzyme were mutated. Two of the mutant forms, M263L and H260N, exhibit major changes in activity (10% and 1% of wild-type, respectively) and in near-infrared and EPR spectra, but metal analysis shows that both mutants retain two coppers in the Cu(A) center and both retain proton pumping activity. In M263L, multifrequency EPR studies indicate the coppers are still electronically coupled, while all the other metal centers in M263L appear unchanged, by visible, EPR, and FTIR spectroscopy. Nevertheless, heme a3 is very slow to reduce with cytochrome c or dithionite under stopped-flow and steady-state conditions. This effect appears to be secondary to the change in redox equilibrium between Cu(A) and heme a. The studies reported here and in Wang et al. [Wang, K., Geren, L., Zhen, Y., Ma, L., Ferguson-Miller, S., Durham, B., and Millett, F. (2002) Biochemistry 41, 2298-2304] demonstrate that altering the ligands of Cu(A) can influence the rate and equilibrium of electron transfer between Cu(A) and heme a, but that the native ligation state is not essential for proton pumping.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuejun Zhen
- Department of Biochemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA
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15
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Fernández CO, Cricco JA, Slutter CE, Richards JH, Gray HB, Vila AJ. Axial ligand modulation of the electronic structures of binuclear copper sites: analysis of paramagnetic 1H NMR spectra of Met160Gln Cu(A). J Am Chem Soc 2001; 123:11678-85. [PMID: 11716725 DOI: 10.1021/ja0162515] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Cu(A) is an electron-transfer copper center present in heme-copper oxidases and N2O reductases. The center is a binuclear unit, with two cysteine ligands bridging the metal ions and two terminal histidine residues. A Met residue and a peptide carbonyl group are located on opposite sides of the Cu2S2 plane; these weaker ligands are fully conserved in all known Cu(A) sites. The Met160Gln mutant of the soluble subunit II of Thermus thermophilus ba3 oxidase has been studied by NMR spectroscopy. In its oxidized form, the binuclear copper is a fully delocalized mixed-valence pair, as are all natural Cu(A) centers. The faster nuclear relaxation in this mutant suggests that a low-lying excited state has shifted to higher energies compared to that of the wild-type protein. The introduction of the Gln residue alters the coordination mode of His114 but does not affect His157, thereby confirming the proposal that the axial ligand-to-copper distances influence the copper-His interactions (Robinson, H.; Ang, M. C.; Gao, Y. G.; Hay, M. T.; Lu, Y.; Wang, A. H. Biochemistry 1999, 38, 5677). Changes in the hyperfine coupling constants of the Cys beta-CH2 groups are attributed to minor geometrical changes that affect the Cu-S-C(beta)-H(beta) dihedral angles. These changes, in addition, shift the thermally accessible excited states, thus influencing the spectral position of the Cys beta-CH2 resonances. The Cu-Cys bonds are not substantially altered by the Cu-Gln160 interaction, in contrast to the situation found in the evolutionarily related blue copper proteins. It is possible that regulatory subunits in the mitochondrial oxidases fix the relative positions of thermally accessible Cu(A) excited states by tuning axial ligand interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- C O Fernández
- LANAIS RMN-300 (University of Buenos Aires-CONICET), Junín 956, C1113AAD Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Slutter CE, Gromov I, Epel B, Pecht I, Richards JH, Goldfarb D. Pulsed EPR/ENDOR characterization of perturbations of the Cu(A) center ground state by axial methionine ligand mutations. J Am Chem Soc 2001; 123:5325-36. [PMID: 11457396 DOI: 10.1021/ja003924v] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The effect of axial ligand mutation on the Cu(A) site in the recombinant water soluble fragment of subunit II of Thermus thermophilus cytochrome c oxidase ba(3) has been investigated. The weak methionine ligand was replaced by glutamate and glutamine which are stronger ligands. Two constructs, M160T0 and M160T9, that differ in the length of the peptide were prepared. M160T0 is the original soluble fragment construct of cytochrome ba(3) that encodes 135 amino acids of subunit II, omitting the transmembrane helix that anchors the domain in the membrane. In M160T9 nine C-terminal amino acids are missing, including one histidine. The latter has been used to reduce the amount of a secondary T2 copper which is most probably coordinated to a surface histidine in M160T0. The changes in the spin density in the Cu(A) site, as manifested by the hyperfine couplings of the weakly and strongly coupled nitrogens, and of the cysteine beta-protons, were followed using a combination of advanced EPR techniques. X-band ( approximately 9 GHz) electron-spin-echo envelope modulation (ESEEM) and two-dimensional (2D) hyperfine sublevel correlation (HYSCORE) spectroscopy were employed to measure the weakly coupled (14)N nuclei, and X- and W-band (95 GHz) pulsed electron-nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) spectroscopy for probing the strongly coupled (14)N nuclei and the beta-protons. The high field measurements were extremely useful as they allowed us to resolve the T2 and Cu(A) signals in the g( perpendicular) region and gave (1)H ENDOR spectra free of overlapping (14)N signals. The effects of the M160Q and M160E mutations were: (i) increase in A( parallel)((63,65)Cu), (ii) larger hyperfine coupling of the weakly coupled backbone nitrogen of C153, (iii) reduction in the isotropic hyperfine interaction, a(iso), of some of the beta-protons making them more similar, (iv) the a(iso) value of one of the remote nitrogens of the histidine residues is decreased, thus distinguishing the two histidines, and finally, (v) the symmetry of the g-tensor remained axial. These effects were associated with an increase in the Cu-Cu distance and subtle changes in the geometry of the Cu(2)S(2) core which are consistent with the electronic structural model of Gamelin et al. (Gamelin, D. R.; Randall, D. W.; Hay, M. T.; Houser, R. P.; Mulder, T. C.; Canters, G. W.; de Vries, S.; Tolman, W. B.; Lu, Y.; Solomon, E. I. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1998, 120, 5246-5263).
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Affiliation(s)
- C E Slutter
- Contribution from the Departments of Chemical Physics and Immunology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
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Abstract
The CuA center is a dinuclear Cu2S2(Cys) electron transfer center found in cytochrome c oxidase and nitrous oxide reductase. In a previous investigation of the equatorial histidine ligands' effect on the reduction potential, electron transfer and spectroscopic properties of the CuA center, His120 in the engineered CuA azurin was mutated to Asn, Asp, and Ala. The identical absorption and EPR spectra of these mutants indicate that a common ligand is bound to the copper center. To identify this replacement ligand, the His120Gly CuA azurin mutant was constructed and purified. Absorption and X-band EPR spectra show that His120Gly is similar to the other His120X (X = Asn, Asp, Ala) mutant proteins. Titrations with chloride, imidazole, and azide suggest that the replacement ligand is not exchangeable with exogenous ligands. The possibility of an internal amino acid acting as the replacement ligand for His120 in the His120X mutant proteins was investigated by analyzing the CuA azurin crystal structure and then converting the likely internal ligand, Asn 119, to Asp, Ser, or Ala in the His120Gly mutant. The double mutants H120G/Asn 119X (X = Asp, Ser, or Ala) displayed UV-Vis absorption and EPR spectra that are identical to His120Gly and the other His120X mutants, indicating that Asn119 is not the internal ligand replacing His120 in the His120X mutant proteins. These results demonstrate the remarkable stability of the dinuclear His120 mutants of CuA azurin.
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Affiliation(s)
- S M Berry
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana 61801, USA
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