Theoretical Studies of Dissociative Phosphoryl Transfer in Interconversion of Phosphoenolpyruvate to Phosphonopyruvate: Solvent Effects, Thio Effects, and Implications for Enzymatic Reactions

Phosphoenolpyruvate mutase-catalyzed C-P bond formation: mechanistic ambiguities and opportunities

Phosphonates are produced across all domains of life and used widely in medicine and agriculture. Biosynthesis almost universally originates from the enzyme phosphoenolpyruvate mutase (Ppm), EC 5.4.2.9, which catalyzes O-P bond cleavage in phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) and forms a high energy C-P bond in phosphonopyruvate (PnPy). Mechanistic scrutiny of this unusual intramolecular O-to-C phosphoryl transfer began with the discovery of Ppm in 1988 and concluded in 2008 with computational evidence supporting a concerted phosphoryl transfer via a dissociative metaphosphatelike transition state. This mechanism deviates from the standard 'in-line attack' paradigm for enzymatic phosphoryl transfer that typically involves a phosphoryl-enzyme intermediate, but definitive evidence is sparse. Here we review the experimental evidence leading to our current mechanistic understanding and highlight the roles of previously underappreciated conserved active site residues. We then identify remaining opportunities to evaluate overlooked residues and unexamined substrates/inhibitors.

MAPPING TRANSITION STATE STRUCTURES FOR THIOPHOSPHINOYL GROUP TRANSFER BETWEEN OXYANIONIC NUCLEOPHILES IN WATER AND AQUEOUS ETHANOL SOLVENTS

Second-order rate constants were measured for thiophosphinoyl group transfer from the substrates 3a-g to oxygen nucleophiles in 50% water-50% ethanol and 30% water-70% ethanol mixtures, to obtain solvent-independent Brønsted coefficients...

Reactions of aryl dimethylphosphinothioate esters with anionic oxygen nucleophiles: transition state structure in 70% water-30% ethanol

Aryl dimethylphosphinates, 2, react with anionic oxygen nucleophiles in water via a concerted (ANDN) mechanism. With EtO- in anhydrous ethanol, the mechanism is associative (AN + DN), with rate-limiting pentacoordinate intermediate formation. This change in mechanism with solvent change has been ascribed to changes in the nucleophile and leaving group basicities accompanying solvent change. This paper reports on a kinetic analysis of the reactions of the aryl dimethylphosphinothioates, 3a-g, with oxygen nucleophiles in 70% water-30% ethanol (v/v) solvent at 25 °C, reactions known to proceed by a concerted mechanism in water, to test the rationalization stated above, since the nucleophiles and LGs of interest are more basic in aqueous ethanol than in water. The change in solvent causes an ca. 14 to 320-fold decrease in rate. Hammett and Brønsted-type correlations characterize a concerted TS with less P-LG bonding in aqueous ethanol than in water. Two opposing consequences are associated with the solvent change: (a) increased basicity of nucleophiles and LGs, which lead to a modest tightening of the TS; and (b) better stabilization of the IS relative to the TS in aqueous ethanol, which results in a slower reaction with a more product-like TS. Hammond and anti-Hammond effects on the TS arising from better stabilization of the IS over the TS dominate over the effects of increased nucleophile and LG basicity in determining the looser TS structure in aqueous ethanol. An altered TS structure is consistent with an altered reaction potential energy surface, in this case caused by a change in solvent polarity.

A computational study of the phosphoryl transfer reaction between ATP and Dha in aqueous solution

Phosphoryl transfer reactions are ubiquitous in biology, being involved in processes ranging from energy and signal transduction to the replication genetic material. Dihydroxyacetone phosphate (Dha-P), an intermediate of the synthesis of pyruvate and a very important building block in nature, can be generated by converting free dihydroxyacetone (Dha) through the action of the dihydroxyacetone kinase enzyme. In this paper the reference uncatalyzed reaction in solution has been studied in order to define the foundations of the chemical reaction and to determine the most adequate computational method to describe this electronically complex reaction. In particular, the phosphorylation reaction mechanism between adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and Dha in aqueous solution has been studied by means of quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations with the QM subset of atoms described with semi-empirical and DFT methods. The results appear to be strongly dependent on the level of calculation, which will have to be taken into account for future studies of the reaction catalyzed by enzymes. In particular, PM3/MM renders lower free energy barriers and a less endergonic process than AM1d/MM and PM6/MM methods. Nevertheless, the concerted pathway was not located with the former combination of potentials.

Quantum mechanical modeling: a tool for the understanding of enzyme reactions

Most enzyme reactions involve formation and cleavage of covalent bonds, while electrostatic effects, as well as dynamics of the active site and surrounding protein regions, may also be crucial. Accordingly, special computational methods are needed to provide an adequate description, which combine quantum mechanics for the reactive region with molecular mechanics and molecular dynamics describing the environment and dynamic effects, respectively. In this review we intend to give an overview to non-specialists on various enzyme models as well as established computational methods and describe applications to some specific cases. For the treatment of various enzyme mechanisms, special approaches are often needed to obtain results, which adequately refer to experimental data. As a result of the spectacular progress in the last two decades, most enzyme reactions can be quite precisely treated by various computational methods.

Ab initio QM/MM studies of the phosphoryl transfer reaction catalyzed by PEP mutase suggest a dissociative metaphosphate transition state

The interconversion between phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) and phosphonopyruvate (P-pyr) catalyzed by PEP mutase is investigated using an ab initio QM/MM method with the QM region treated at the B3LYP/6-31G* level of theory. Two-dimensional minimum energy path calculations were carried out for both the wild-type enzyme and the N122A mutant. The calculations suggest a dissociative transition state featuring metaphosphate and Mg(2+)-coordinating pyruvate enolate, stabilized by an extensive hydrogen bond network involving Asn122, Ser123, Arg159, His190, Ser46, and Leu48. It is also found that a substantial conformational change in the pyruvyl group is required for the interconversion.

Description of phosphate hydrolysis reactions with the Self-Consistent-Charge Density-Functional-Tight-Binding (SCC-DFTB) theory. 1. Parameterization

Phosphate chemistry is involved in many key biological processes yet the underlying mechanism often remains unclear. For theoretical analysis to effectively complement experimental mechanistic analysis, it is essential to develop computational methods that can capture the complexity of the underlying potential energy surface and allow for sufficient sampling of the configurational space. To this end, we report the parameterization of an approximate density functional theory, Self-Consistent-Charge Density-Functional Tight-Binding (SCC-DFTB) method for systems containing phosphorus. Compared to high-level density functional theory and ab initio (MP2 and G3B3) results, the standard second-order parameterization is shown to give reliable structures for a diverse set of phosphate compounds but inaccurate energetics. With the on-site third-order terms included, referred to as SCC-DFTBPA, calculated proton affinities of phosphate compounds are substantially improved, although it remains difficult to obtain reliable proton affinity for both phosphates and compounds that do not contain phosphorus, indicating that further improvement in the formulation of SCC-DFTB is still a challenge to meet. To make SCC-DFTB applicable to phosphate reactions in the current (on-site-third-order-only) formulation, a "reaction-specific" parameterization, referred to as SCC-DFTBPR, is developed based on hydrolysis reactions of model phosphate species. Benchmark calculations in both the gas-phase and solution-phase indicate that SCC-DFTBPR gives reliable structural properties and semi-quantitative energetics for phosphate hydrolysis reactions. Since the number of reaction-specific parameters is small, it is likely that SCC-DFTBPR is applicable to a broad set of phosphate species. Indeed, for 56 reaction exothermicities and 47 energy barriers related to RNA catalysis model reactions collected from the QCRNA database, which involve molecules rather different from those used to parameterize SCC-DFTBPR, the corresponding root-mean-square difference between SCC-DFTBPR and high-level DFT results is only 5.3 kcal/mol. We hope that the parameterized SCC-DFTB models will complement NDDO based reaction-specific models (e.g., AM1-d/PhoT) and high-level ab initio QM/MM methods in better understanding the mechanism of phosphate chemistry in condensed phase, particularly biological systems.

Supermolecule density functional calculations suggest a key role for solvent in alkaline hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl phosphate

Supermolecule density functional theory calculations show that solvent is responsible for the concerted transition state in alkaline hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl phosphate suggested by heavy atom kinetic isotope effects.

QCRNA 1.0: a database of quantum calculations for RNA catalysis

This work outlines a new on-line database of quantum calculations for RNA catalysis (QCRNA) available via the worldwide web at http://theory.chem.umn.edu/QCRNA. The database contains high-level density functional calculations for a large range of molecules, complexes and chemical mechanisms important to phosphoryl transfer reactions and RNA catalysis. Calculations are performed using a strict, consistent protocol such that a wealth of cross-comparisons can be made to elucidate meaningful trends in biological phosphate reactivity. Currently, around 2000 molecules have been collected in varying charge states in the gas phase and in solution. Solvation was treated with both the PCM and COSMO continuum solvation models. The data can be used to study important trends in reactivity of biological phosphates, or used as benchmark data for the design of new semiempirical quantum models for hybrid quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical simulations.

Reactivity of Metaphosphate and Thiometaphosphate in Water: A DFT Study

Metaphosphate is known to be highly reactive to water, whereas thiometaphosphate is relatively stable in aqueous solution. The difference in their reactivity has important mechanistic implications in interpreting the "thio effect" in phosphoryl transfer reactions. In this work, density functional theory is used to investigate the reactivity of both metaphosphate and its thio-substitute in their complexes with one, two, and three waters, and in aqueous solution. Barrier heights for converting metaphosphate to orthophosphate have been determined by geometry optimization. The results confirm that metaphosphate is consistently more reactive than thiometaphosphate and the activation free energy for both species decreases with the number of water molecules. The relative stability of thiometaphosphate is attributed to its less positively charged phosphorus atom.