Catalytic Roles of Active-Site Residues in 2-Methyl-3-hydroxypyridine-5-carboxylic Acid Oxygenase: An ONIOM/DFT Study

Catalytic Control of Spiroketal Formation in Rubromycin Polyketide Biosynthesis

The medically important bacterial aromatic polyketide natural products typically feature a planar, polycyclic core structure. An exception is found for the rubromycins, whose backbones are disrupted by a bisbenzannulated [5,6]‐spiroketal pharmacophore that was recently shown to be assembled by flavin‐dependent enzymes. In particular, a flavoprotein monooxygenase proved critical for the drastic oxidative rearrangement of a pentangular precursor and the installment of an intermediate [6,6]‐spiroketal moiety. Here we provide structural and mechanistic insights into the control of catalysis by this spiroketal synthase, which fulfills several important functions as reductase, monooxygenase, and presumably oxidase. The enzyme hereby tightly controls the redox state of the substrate to counteract shunt product formation, while also steering the cleavage of three carbon‐carbon bonds. Our work illustrates an exceptional strategy for the biosynthesis of stable chroman spiroketals.

Monooxygenation of aromatic compounds by flavin-dependent monooxygenases

Many flavoenzymes catalyze hydroxylation of aromatic compounds especially phenolic compounds have been isolated and characterized. These enzymes can be classified as either single-component or two-component flavin-dependent hydroxylases (monooxygenases). The hydroxylation reactions catalyzed by the enzymes in this group are useful for modifying the biological properties of phenolic compounds. This review aims to provide an in-depth discussion of the current mechanistic understanding of representative flavin-dependent monooxygenases including 3-hydroxy-benzoate 4-hydroxylase (PHBH, a single-component hydroxylase), 3-hydroxyphenylacetate 4-hydroxylase (HPAH, a two-component hydroxylase), and other monooxygenases which catalyze reactions in addition to hydroxylation, including 2-methyl-3-hydroxypyridine-5-carboxylate oxygenase (MHPCO, a single-component enzyme that catalyzes aromatic-ring cleavage), and HadA monooxygenase (a two-component enzyme that catalyzes additional group elimination reaction). These enzymes have different unique structural features which dictate their reactivity toward various substrates and influence their ability to stabilize flavin intermediates such as C4a-hydroperoxyflavin. Understanding the key catalytic residues and the active site environments important for governing enzyme reactivity will undoubtedly facilitate future work in enzyme engineering or enzyme redesign for the development of biocatalytic methods for the synthesis of valuable compounds.

Mechanism of Kynurenine 3-Monooxygenase-Catalyzed Hydroxylation Reaction: A Quantum Cluster Approach

The mechanism of the hydroxylation reaction between l-Kyn and model flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD)-hydroperoxide was investigated via density functional theory (DFT) calculations in the absence and in the presence of the kynurenine 3-monooxygenase (KMO) enzyme by considering possible pathways that can lead to the product 3-hydroxykynurenine (3-HK). Crystal structure (pdb code: 5NAK )-based calculations involved a quantum cluster model in which the active site of the enzyme with the substrate l-Kyn was represented with 348 atoms. According to the deduced mechanism, KMO-catalyzed hydroxylation reaction takes place with four transformations. In the initial transition state, FAD delivers its peroxy hydroxyl to the l-Kyn ring, creating an sp³-hybridized carbon center. Then, the hydrogen on the hydroxyl moiety is immediately transferred back to the proximal oxygen that remained on FAD. These consequent transformations are in line with the somersault rearrangement previously described for similar enzymatic systems. The second step corresponds to a hydride shift from the sp³-hybridized carbon of the substrate ring to its adjacent carbon, producing the keto form of 3-HK. Then, keto-3-HK is transformed into its enol form (3-HK) with a water-assisted tautomerization. Lastly, FAD is oxidized with a water-assisted dehydration, which also involves 3-HK as a catalyst. In the proposed pathway, Asn54, Pro318, and a crystal water molecule were seen to play significant roles in the proton relays. The energies obtained via the cluster approach were calculated at the B3LYP/6-311+G(2d,2p)//B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level with solvation (polarizable continuum model) and dispersion (DFT-D3(BJ)) corrections.

Role of the Tyr270 residue in 2-methyl-3-hydroxypyridine-5-carboxylic acid oxygenase from Mesorhizobium loti

The flavoenzyme 2-Methyl-3-hydroxypyridine-5-carboxylic acid oxygenase (MHPCO) catalyzes the cleavage of the pyridine ring of 2-methyl-3-hydroxypyridine-5-carboxylic acid (MHPC) in the presence of NADH, molecular oxygen, and water. MHPCO also catalyzes the NADH oxidation reaction uncoupled with ring opening in the absence of MHPC (the basal activity). The enzyme shows activity toward not only MHPC but also 5-hydroxynicotinic acid (5HN) and 5-pyridoxic acid (5PA). The reaction rate toward 5PA is extremely low (5% of the activity toward MHPC or 5HN). We determined the crystal structures of MHPCO without substrate and the MHPCO/5HN and MHPCO/5PA complexes, together with a Y270F mutant without substrate and its 5HN complex. The Tyr270 residue was located in the active site and formed hydrogen bonds between the Oη and water molecules to make the active site hydrophilic. Although Tyr270 took a fixed conformation in the structures of the MHPCO and MHPCO/5HN complex, it took two conformations in its 5PA complex, accompanied by two conformations of the bound 5PA. In the wild-type (WT) enzyme, the turnover number of the ring-opening activity was 6800 times that of the basal activity (1300 and 0.19 s^-1, respectively), whereas no such difference was observed in the Y270F (19 and 7.4 s^-1) or Y270A (0.05 and 0.84 s^-1) mutants. In the Y270F/5HN complex, the substrate bound ∼1 Å farther away than in the WT enzyme. These results revealed that Tyr270 is essential to maintain the WT conformation, which in turn enhances the coupling of the NADH oxidation with the ring-opening reaction.

The Importance of the MM Environment and the Selection of the QM Method in QM/MM Calculations: Applications to Enzymatic Reactions

In this chapter, we discuss the influence of an anisotropic protein environment on the reaction mechanisms of saccharopine reductase and uroporphyrinogen decarboxylase, respectively, via the use of a quantum mechanical and molecular mechanical (QM/MM) approach. In addition, we discuss the importance of selecting a suitable DFT functional to be used in a QM/MM study of a key intermediate in the mechanism of 8R-lipoxygenase, a nonheme iron enzyme. In the case of saccharopine reductase, while the enzyme utilizes a substrate-assisted catalytic pathway, it was found that only through treating the polarizing effect of the active site, via the use of an electronic embedding formalism, was agreement with experimental kinetic data obtained. Similarly, in the case of uroporphyrinogen decarboxylase, the effect of the protein environment on the catalytic mechanism was found to be such that the calculated rate-limiting barrier is in good agreement with related experimentally determined values for the first decarboxylation of the substrate. For 8R-lipoxygenase, it was found that the geometries and energies of the multicentered open-shell intermediate complexes formed during the mechanism are quite sensitive to the choice of the density functional theory method. Thus, while density functional theory has become the method of choice in QM/MM studies, care must be taken in the selection of a particular high-level method.

Selecting DFT methods for use in optimizations of enzyme active sites: applications to ONIOM treatments of DNA glycosylases

When using a hybrid methodology to treat an enzymatic reaction, many factors contribute to selecting the method for the high-level region, which can be complicated by the presence of dispersion-driven interactions such as π–π stacking. In addition, the proper treatment of the reaction center often requires a large number of heavy atoms to be included in the high-level region, precluding the use of ab initio methods such as MP2 as well as large basis sets, in the optimization step. In the present work, popular DFT methods were tested to identify an appropriate functional for treating the high-level region in ONIOM optimizations of reactions catalyzed by nonmetalloenzymes. Eight different DFT methods (B3LYP, B97-2, MPW1K, MPWB1K, BB1K, B1B95, M06-2X, and ωB97X-D) in combination with four double-ζ quality Pople basis sets were tested for their ability to optimize noncovalent interactions (hydrogen bonding and π–π) and characterize reactions (proton transfer, SN2 hydrolysis, and unimolecular cleavage). Although the primary focus of this study is accurate structure determination, energetics were also examined at both the optimization level of theory, and with triple-ζ quality basis set and select (M06-2X or ωB97X-D) methods. If dispersion-driven interactions exist within the active site, then MPWB1K/6-31G(d,p) or M06-2X/6-31+G(d,p) are recommended for the optimization step with subsequent triple-ζ quality single-point energies. However, since dispersion-corrected functionals (M06-2X and ωB97X-D) generally require diffuse functions to yield appropriate geometries, the possible size of the high-level region is greatly limited with these methods. In contrast, if the model is large enough to recover steric constraints on π–π interactions, then B3LYP with a small basis set performs comparatively well for the optimization step and is significantly less computationally expensive. Interestingly, the functionals that afford the best geometries often do not yield the best energetics, which emphasizes the importance of structural benchmark studies.

Accurate Reaction Energies in Proteins Obtained by Combining QM/MM and Large QM Calculations

We here suggest and test a new method to obtain stable energies in proteins for charge-neutral reactions by running large quantum mechanical (QM) calculations on structures obtained by combined QM and molecular mechanics (QM/MM) geometry optimization on several snapshots from molecular dynamics simulations. As a test case, we use a proton transfer between a metal-bound cysteine residue and a second-sphere histidine residue in the active site of [Ni,Fe] hydrogenase, which has been shown to be very sensitive to the surroundings. We include in the QM calculations all residues within 4.5 Å of the active site, two capped residues on each side of the active-site residues, and all charged groups that are buried inside the protein, which for this enzyme includes three iron-sulfur clusters, in total, 930 atoms. These calculations are performed at the BP86/def2-SV(P) level, but the energies are then extrapolated to the B3LYP/def2-TZVP level with a smaller QM system, and zero-point energy, entropy, and thermal effects are added. We test three approaches to model the remaining atoms of the protein solvent, viz., by standard QM/MM approaches using either mechanical or electrostatic embedding or by using a continuum solvation model for the large QM systems. Quite encouragingly, the three approaches give the same results within 14 kJ/mol, and variations in the size of the QM system do not change the energies by more than 8 kJ/mol, provided that the QM/MM junctions are not moved closer to the QM system. The statistical precision for the average over 10 snapshots is 1-3 kJ/mol.

Theoretical study on the aging and reactivation mechanism of tabun-inhibited acetylcholinesterase by using the quantum mechanical / molecular mechanical method

The organophosphorous compound tabun is highly neurotoxic because of its irreversible inhibition on acetylcholinesterase (AChE). It is wildly used as a warfare agent in the military. In this work, the aging and reactivation mechanism of tabun-inhibited AChE were studied by using the quantum mechanical / molecular mechanical (QM/MM) method. Geometry optimization of the stationary points were performed at the B3LYP/6–31G(d) level. Single-point energies were computed at the B3LYP/6–311++G(d,p) level. On the basis of the QM/MM results, a conclusion that the C–O bond scission is caused by water attack on the ethoxy group in the aging mechanism can be drawn. The reactivation process initialed by the antidotes CH2NO– or HLÖ-7 consists of three elemental steps, the nucleophilic attack on the P atom by the antidote, the dephosphorylation process, and the decomposition of the antidote–tabun complex. The highest energy barriers of the aging reaction, CH2NO–-induced reactivation, and HLÖ-7-induced reactivation are 19.9, 20.0, and 14.8 kcal/mol (1 cal = 4.184 J), respectively. The relative lower overall energy barrier of HLÖ-7-induced reactivation compared with that of the aging reaction indicates that HLÖ-7 is able to reactivate tabun-inhibited AChE. In addition, whether a newly designed antidote is able to reactivate tabun-inhibited AChE can be examined by the inequation X < 19.9 kcal/mol,where X means the highest energy barrier of the reactivation reaction of the newly designed antidote.