An Iron Reservoir to the Catalytic Metal: THE RUBREDOXIN IRON IN AN EXTRADIOL DIOXYGENASE

Multiscale modeling of unfolding and bond dissociation of rubredoxin metalloprotein

Mechanical properties of proteins that have a crucial effect on their operation. This study used a molecular dynamics simulation package to investigate rubredoxin unfolding on the atomic scale. Different simulation techniques were applied, and due to the dissociation of covalent/hydrogen bonds, this protein demonstrates several intermediate states in force-extension behavior. A conceptual model based on the cohesive finite element method was developed to consider the intermediate damages that occur during unfolding. This model is based on force-displacement curves derived from molecular dynamics results. The proposed conceptual model is designed to accurately identify bond rupture points and determine the associated forces. This is achieved by conducting a thorough comparison between molecular dynamics and cohesive finite element results. The utilization of a viscoelastic cohesive zone model allows for the consideration of loading rate effects. This rate-dependent model can be further developed and integrated into the multiscale modeling of large assemblies of metalloproteins, providing a comprehensive understanding of mechanical behavior while maintaining a reduced computational cost.

Inorganic Fe-O and Fe-S oxidoreductases: paradigms for prebiotic chemistry and the evolution of enzymatic activity in biology

Oxidoreductases play crucial roles in electron transfer during biological redox reactions. These reactions are not exclusive to protein-based biocatalysts; nano-size (<100 nm), fine-grained inorganic colloids, such as iron oxides and sulfides, also participate. These nanocolloids exhibit intrinsic redox activity and possess direct electron transfer capacities comparable to their biological counterparts. The unique metal ion architecture of these nanocolloids, including electron configurations, coordination environment, electron conductivity, and the ability to promote spontaneous electron hopping, contributes to their transfer capabilities. Nano-size inorganic colloids are believed to be among the earliest 'oxidoreductases' to have 'evolved' on early Earth, playing critical roles in biological systems. Representing a distinct type of biocatalysts alongside metalloproteins, these nanoparticles offer an early alternative to protein-based oxidoreductase activity. While the roles of inorganic nano-sized catalysts in current Earth ecosystems are intuitively significant, they remain poorly understood and underestimated. Their contribution to chemical reactions and biogeochemical cycles likely helped shape and maintain the balance of our planet's ecosystems. However, their potential applications in biomedical, agricultural, and environmental protection sectors have not been fully explored or exploited. This review examines the structure, properties, and mechanisms of such catalysts from a material's evolutionary standpoint, aiming to raise awareness of their potential to provide innovative solutions to some of Earth's sustainability challenges.

Electrophoretic characterization of cellular and extracellular proteins from Selenastrum capricornutum cultures degrading benzo(a)pyrene and their identification by UPLC-ESI-TOF mass spectrometry

Selenastrum capricornutum efficiently degrades benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) but few proteins related to BaP degradation have been identified in this microalgae. So far, it has only been suggested that it could degrade BaP via the monooxygenase and/or dioxygenase pathways. To know more about this fact, in this work, cultures of S. capricornutum incubated with BaP were used to obtain the molecular weights (MWs) of proteins existing in its extra- and cellular extracts by electrophoresis and UPLC-ESI(+)-TOF MS analysis. The results of this proteomic approach indicated that BaP markedly induces the MWs: 6-20, 30, 45, and 65 kDa in cells; 6-20, 30.3, 38-45, and 55 kDa in liquid medium. So, these proteins could be related to BaP biodegradation. An identified protein with monooxygenase activity and rubredoxins (Rds) show to be related to BaP degradation: Rds could participate, together with the monooxygenase in the electron transfer during the formation of monohydroxylated-BaP metabolites. Rds may be also associated with a dioxygenase system that degrades BaP to form dihydrodiol-BaP metabolites. A multi-pass membrane protein was identified too, and it can regulate the transport of molecules like enzymes from inside the cell to the outside environment. At the same time, the presence of a dihydrolipoamide acetyltransferase validated the stress caused by the exposure to BaP. It is noteworthy that these findings provide valuable and original information on the characterization of the proteins of S. capricornutum cultures degrading BaP, whose enzymes have so far not been known. It is important to highlight that the functions of the identified proteins can help in understanding the metabolic and environmental behavior of this microalgae, and the extracts containing the degrading enzymes could be utilized in bioremediation applications.

Kynurenine Pathway Regulation at Its Critical Junctions with Fluctuation of Tryptophan

The kynurenine pathway (KP) is the primary route for the catabolism of the essential amino acid tryptophan. The central KP metabolites are neurologically active molecules or biosynthetic precursors to critical molecules, such as NAD⁺. Within this pathway are three enzymes of interest, HAO, ACMSD, and AMSDH, whose substrates and/or products can spontaneously cyclize to form side products such as quinolinic acid (QA or QUIN) and picolinic acid. Due to their unstable nature for spontaneous autocyclization, it might be expected that the levels of these side products would be dependent on tryptophan intake; however, this is not the case in healthy individuals. On top of that, the regulatory mechanisms of the KP remain unknown, even after a deeper understanding of the structure and mechanism of the enzymes that handle these unstable KP metabolic intermediates. Thus, the question arises, how do these enzymes compete with the autocyclization of their substrates, especially amidst increased tryptophan levels? Here, we propose the formation of a transient enzyme complex as a regulatory mechanism for metabolite distribution between enzymatic and non-enzymatic routes during periods of increased metabolic intake. Amid high levels of tryptophan, HAO, ACMSD, and AMSDH may bind together, forming a tunnel to shuttle the metabolites through each enzyme, consequently regulating the autocyclization of their products. Though further research is required to establish the formation of transient complexation as a solution to the regulatory mysteries of the KP, our docking model studies support this new hypothesis.

Rubredoxin 1 promotes the proper folding of D1 and is not required for heme b559 assembly in Chlamydomonas photosystem II

Photosystem II (PSII), the water:plastoquinone oxidoreductase of oxygenic photosynthesis, contains a heme b₅₅₉ iron whose axial ligands are provided by histidine residues from the α (PsbE) and β (PsbF) subunits. PSII assembly depends on accessory proteins that facilitate the step-wise association of its protein and pigment components into a functional complex, a process that is challenging to study due to the low accumulation of assembly intermediates. Here, we examined the putative role of the iron[1Fe-0S]-containing protein rubredoxin 1 (RBD1) as an assembly factor for cytochrome b₅₅₉, using the RBD1-lacking 2pac mutant from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, in which the accumulation of PSII was rescued by the inactivation of the thylakoid membrane FtsH protease. To this end, we constructed the double mutant 2pac ftsh1-1, which harbored PSII dimers that sustained its photoautotrophic growth. We purified PSII from the 2pac ftsh1-1 background and found that α and β cytochrome b₅₅₉ subunits are still present and coordinate heme b₅₅₉ as in the WT. Interestingly, immunoblot analysis of dark- and low light-grown 2pac ftsh1-1 showed the accumulation of a 23-kDa fragment of the D1 protein, a marker typically associated with structural changes resulting from photodamage of PSII. Its cleavage occurs in the vicinity of a nonheme iron which binds to PSII on its electron acceptor side. Altogether, our findings demonstrate that RBD1 is not required for heme b₅₅₉ assembly and point to a role for RBD1 in promoting the proper folding of D1, possibly via delivery or reduction of the nonheme iron during PSII assembly.

Charge Maintenance during Catalysis in Nonheme Iron Oxygenases

Here, the choice of the first coordination shell of the metal center is analyzed from the perspective of charge maintenance in a binary enzyme-substrate complex and an O₂-bound ternary complex in the nonheme iron oxygenases. Comparing homogentisate 1,2-dioxygenase and gentisate dioxygenase highlights the significance of charge maintenance after substrate binding as an important factor that drives the reaction coordinate. We then extend the charge analysis to several common types of nonheme iron oxygenases containing either a 2-His-1-carboxylate facial triad or a 3-His or 4-His ligand motif, including extradiol and intradiol ring-cleavage dioxygenases, thiol dioxygenases, α-ketoglutarate-dependent oxygenases, and carotenoid cleavage oxygenases. After forming the productive enzyme-substrate complex, the overall charge of the iron complex at the 0, +1, or +2 state is maintained in the remaining catalytic steps. Hence, maintaining a constant charge is crucial to promote the reaction of the iron center beginning from the formation of the Michaelis or ternary complex. The charge compensation to the iron ion is tuned not only by protein-derived carboxylate ligands but also by substrates. Overall, these analyses indicate that charge maintenance at the iron center is significant when all the necessary components form a productive complex. This charge maintenance concept may apply to most oxygen-activating metalloenzymes systems that do not draw electrons and protons step-by-step from a separate reactant, such as NADH, via a reductase. The charge maintenance perception may also be useful in proposing catalytic pathways or designing prototypical reactions using artificial or engineered enzymes for biotechnological applications.

Crystal structure of human cysteamine dioxygenase provides a structural rationale for its function as an oxygen sensor

Cysteamine dioxygenase (ADO) plays a vital role in regulating thiol metabolism and preserving oxygen homeostasis in humans by oxidizing the sulfur of cysteamine and N-terminal cysteine-containing proteins to their corresponding sulfinic acids using O₂ as a cosubstrate. However, as the only thiol dioxygenase that processes both small-molecule and protein substrates, how ADO handles diverse substrates of disparate sizes to achieve various reactions is not understood. The knowledge gap is mainly due to the three-dimensional structure not being solved, as ADO cannot be directly compared with other known thiol dioxygenases. Herein, we report the first crystal structure of human ADO at a resolution of 1.78 Å with a nickel-bound metal center. Crystallization was achieved through both metal substitution and C18S/C239S double mutations. The metal center resides in a tunnel close to an entry site flanked by loops. While ADO appears to use extensive flexibility to handle substrates of different sizes, it also employs proline and proline pairs to maintain the core protein structure and to retain the residues critical for catalysis in place. This feature distinguishes ADO from thiol dioxygenases that only oxidize small-molecule substrates, possibly explaining its divergent substrate specificity. Our findings also elucidate the structural basis for ADO functioning as an oxygen sensor by modifying N-degron substrates to transduce responses to hypoxia. Thus, this work fills a gap in structure–function relationships of the thiol dioxygenase family and provides a platform for further mechanistic investigation and therapeutic intervention targeting impaired oxygen sensing.

Observing 3-hydroxyanthranilate-3,4-dioxygenase in action through a crystalline lens

The synthesis of quinolinic acid from tryptophan is a critical step in the de novo biosynthesis of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) in mammals. Herein, the nonheme iron-based 3-hydroxyanthranilate-3,4-dioxygenase responsible for quinolinic acid production was studied by performing time-resolved in crystallo reactions monitored by UV-vis microspectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, and X-ray crystallography. Seven catalytic intermediates were kinetically and structurally resolved in the crystalline state, and each accompanies protein conformational changes at the active site. Among them, a monooxygenated, seven-membered lactone intermediate as a monodentate ligand of the iron center at 1.59-Å resolution was captured, which presumably corresponds to a substrate-based radical species observed by EPR using a slurry of small-sized single crystals. Other structural snapshots determined at around 2.0-Å resolution include monodentate and subsequently bidentate coordinated substrate, superoxo, alkylperoxo, and two metal-bound enol tautomers of the unstable dioxygenase product. These results reveal a detailed stepwise O-atom transfer dioxygenase mechanism along with potential isomerization activity that fine-tunes product profiling and affects the production of quinolinic acid at a junction of the metabolic pathway.

Crystal Structures of L-DOPA Dioxygenase from Streptomyces sclerotialus

Extradiol dioxygenases are essential biocatalysts for breaking down catechols. The vicinal oxygen chelate (VOC) superfamily contains a large number of extradiol dioxygenases, most of which are found as part of catabolic pathways degrading a variety of natural and human-made aromatic rings. The l-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) extradiol dioxygenases compose a multitude of pathways that produce various antibacterial or antitumor natural products. The structural features of these dioxygenases are anticipated to be distinct from those of other VOC extradiol dioxygenases. Herein, we identified a new L-DOPA dioxygenase from the thermophilic bacterium Streptomyces sclerotialus (SsDDO) through a sequence and genome context analysis. The activity of SsDDO was kinetically characterized with L-DOPA using an ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer and an oxygen electrode. The optimal temperature of the assay was 55 °C, at which the K_m and k_cat of SsDDO were 110 ± 10 μM and 2.0 ± 0.1 s^-1, respectively. We determined the de novo crystal structures of SsDDO in the ligand-free form and as a substrate-bound complex, refined to 1.99 and 2.31 Å resolution, respectively. These structures reveal that SsDDO possesses a form IV arrangement of βαβββ modules, the first characterization of this assembly from among the VOC/type I extradiol dioxygenase protein family. Electron paramagnetic resonance spectra of Fe-NO adducts for the resting and substrate-bound enzyme were obtained. This work contributes to our understanding of a growing class of topologically distinct VOC dioxygenases, and the obtained structural features will improve our understanding of the extradiol cleavage reaction within the VOC superfamily.

Adapting to oxygen: 3-Hydroxyanthrinilate 3,4-dioxygenase employs loop dynamics to accommodate two substrates with disparate polarities

3-Hydroxyanthranilate 3,4-dioxygenase (HAO) is an iron-dependent protein that activates O₂ and inserts both oxygen atoms into 3-hydroxyanthranilate (3-HAA). An intriguing question is how HAO can rapidly bind O₂, even though local O₂ concentrations and diffusion rates are relatively low. Here, a close inspection of the HAO structures revealed that substrate- and inhibitor-bound structures exhibit a closed conformation with three hydrophobic loop regions moving toward the catalytic iron center, whereas the ligand-free structure is open. We hypothesized that these loop movements enhance O₂ binding to the binary complex of HAO and 3-HAA. We found that the carboxyl end of 3-HAA triggers changes in two loop regions and that the third loop movement appears to be driven by an H-bond interaction between Asn²⁷ and Ile¹⁴² Mutational analyses revealed that N27A, I142A, and I142P variants cannot form a closed conformation, and steady-state kinetic assays indicated that these variants have a substantially higher K_m for O₂ than WT HAO. This observation suggested enhanced hydrophobicity at the iron center resulting from the concerted loop movements after the binding of the primary substrate, which is hydrophilic. Given that O₂ is nonpolar, the increased hydrophobicity at the iron center of the binary complex appears to be essential for rapid O₂ binding and activation, explaining the reason for the 3-HAA-induced loop movements. Because substrate binding-induced open-to-closed conformational changes are common, the results reported here may help further our understanding of how oxygen is enriched in nonheme iron-dependent dioxygenases.

Crystal structures of human 3-hydroxyanthranilate 3,4-dioxygenase with native and non-native metals bound in the active site

3-Hydroxyanthranilate 3,4-dioxygenase (3HAO) is an enzyme in the microglial branch of the kynurenine pathway of tryptophan degradation. 3HAO is a non-heme iron-containing, ring-cleaving extradiol dioxygenase that catalyzes the addition of both atoms of O2 to the kynurenine pathway metabolite 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid (3-HANA) to form quinolinic acid (QUIN). QUIN is a highly potent excitotoxin that has been implicated in a number of neurodegenerative conditions, making 3HAO a target for pharmacological downregulation. Here, the first crystal structure of human 3HAO with the native iron bound in its active site is presented, together with an additional structure with zinc (a known inhibitor of human 3HAO) bound in the active site. The metal-binding environment is examined both structurally and via inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR). The studies identified Met35 as the source of potential new interactions with substrates and inhibitors, which may prove useful in future therapeutic efforts.

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?