1
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Gonçalves D. Rethinking life and predicting its origin. Theory Biosci 2024; 143:205-215. [PMID: 38922566 DOI: 10.1007/s12064-024-00420-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2021] [Accepted: 06/24/2024] [Indexed: 06/27/2024]
Abstract
The definition, origin and recreation of life remain elusive. As others have suggested, only once we put life into reductionist physical terms will we be able to solve those questions. To that end, this work proposes the phenomenon of life to be the product of two dissipative mechanisms. From them, one characterises extant biological life and deduces a testable scenario for its origin. The proposed theory of life allows its replication, reinterprets ecological evolution and creates new constraints on the search for life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diogo Gonçalves
- Centro de Química Estrutural and Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, 1049-001, Lisbon, Portugal.
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2
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Feng X, Schut GJ, Adams MWW, Li H. Structures and Electron Transport Paths in the Four Families of Flavin-Based Electron Bifurcation Enzymes. Subcell Biochem 2024; 104:383-408. [PMID: 38963493 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-58843-3_14] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/05/2024]
Abstract
Oxidoreductases facilitating electron transfer between molecules are pivotal in metabolic pathways. Flavin-based electron bifurcation (FBEB), a recently discovered energy coupling mechanism in oxidoreductases, enables the reversible division of electron pairs into two acceptors, bridging exergonic and otherwise unfeasible endergonic reactions. This chapter explores the four distinct FBEB complex families and highlights a decade of structural insights into FBEB complexes. In this chapter, we discuss the architecture, electron transfer routes, and conformational changes across all FBEB families, revealing the structural foundation that facilitate these remarkable functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiang Feng
- Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - Gerrit J Schut
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
| | - Michael W W Adams
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
| | - Huilin Li
- Department of Structural Biology, Van Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, MI, USA.
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3
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Hessin C, Schleinitz J, Le Breton N, Choua S, Grimaud L, Fourmond V, Desage-El Murr M, Léger C. Assessing the Extent of Potential Inversion by Cyclic Voltammetry: Theory, Pitfalls, and Application to a Nickel Complex with Redox-Active Iminosemiquinone Ligands. Inorg Chem 2023; 62:3321-3332. [PMID: 36780646 DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c04365] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/15/2023]
Abstract
Potential inversion refers to the situation where a protein cofactor or a synthetic molecule can be oxidized or reduced twice in a cooperative manner; that is, the second electron transfer is easier than the first. This property is very important regarding the catalytic mechanism of enzymes that bifurcate electrons and the properties of bidirectional redox molecular catalysts that function in either direction of the reaction with no overpotential. Cyclic voltammetry is the most common technique for characterizing the thermodynamics and kinetics of electron transfer to or from these molecules. However, a gap in the literature is the absence of analytical predictions to help interpret the values of the voltammetric peak potentials when potential inversion occurs; the cyclic voltammograms are therefore often analyzed by simulating the data, with no discussion of the possibility of overfitting and often no estimation of the error on the determined parameters. Here we formulate the theory for the voltammetry of freely diffusing or surface-confined two-electron redox species in the experimentally relevant irreversible limit where the peak separation depends on the scan rate. We explain why the model is intrinsically underdetermined, and we illustrate this conclusion by analysis of the voltammetry of a nickel complex with redox-active iminosemiquinone ligands. Being able to characterize the thermodynamics of two-electron electron-transfer reactions will be crucial for designing more efficient catalysts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cheriehan Hessin
- Institut de Chimie, Université de Strasbourg, UMR CNRS 7177, Strasbourg 67000, France
| | - Jules Schleinitz
- Laboratoire des Biomolécules, Département de Chimie, Sorbonne Université, École Normale Supérieure, PSL University, CNRS, Paris 75005, France
| | - Nolwenn Le Breton
- Institut de Chimie, Université de Strasbourg, UMR CNRS 7177, Strasbourg 67000, France
| | - Sylvie Choua
- Institut de Chimie, Université de Strasbourg, UMR CNRS 7177, Strasbourg 67000, France
| | - Laurence Grimaud
- Laboratoire des Biomolécules, Département de Chimie, Sorbonne Université, École Normale Supérieure, PSL University, CNRS, Paris 75005, France
| | - Vincent Fourmond
- Laboratoire de Bioénergétique et Ingénierie des Protéines, CNRS, Aix Marseille Université, Marseille 13009, France
| | - Marine Desage-El Murr
- Institut de Chimie, Université de Strasbourg, UMR CNRS 7177, Strasbourg 67000, France
| | - Christophe Léger
- Laboratoire de Bioénergétique et Ingénierie des Protéines, CNRS, Aix Marseille Université, Marseille 13009, France
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4
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Matsubara Y, Ishitani O. Photochemical formation of hydride using transition metal complexes and its application to photocatalytic reduction of the coenzyme NAD(P)+ and its model compounds. Coord Chem Rev 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ccr.2022.214955] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
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5
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Van Galen CJ, Pauszek RF, Koder RL, Stanley RJ. Flavin Charge Redistribution upon Optical Excitation Is Independent of Solvent Polarity. J Phys Chem B 2023; 127:661-672. [PMID: 36649202 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c07266] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
Flavin absorption spectra encode molecular details of the flavin's local environment through coupling of local electric fields with the chromophore's charge redistribution upon optical excitation. Translating experimentally measured field-tuned transition energies to local electric field magnitudes and directions across a wide range of field magnitudes requires that the charge redistribution be independent of the local field. We have measured the charge redistribution upon optical excitation of the derivatized flavin TPARF in the non-hydrogen-bonding, nonpolar solvent toluene, with and without a tridentate hydrogen-bonding ligand, DBAP, using electronic Stark spectroscopy. These measurements were interpreted using TD-DFT finite field and difference density calculations. In comparing our present results to previous Stark spectroscopic analyses of flavin in more polar solvents, we conclude that flavin charge redistribution upon optical excitation is independent of solvent polarity, indicating that dependence of flavin transition energies on local field magnitude is linear with local field magnitude.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cornelius J Van Galen
- Department of Chemistry, Temple University, 1901 N. 13th St., 250B Beury Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania19122, United States
| | - Raymond F Pauszek
- Department of Chemistry, Temple University, 1901 N. 13th St., 250B Beury Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania19122, United States
| | - Ronald L Koder
- Department of Physics, The City College of New York, 1.308 CDI Bldg., 85 St. Nicholas Terrace, New York, New York10031, United States
| | - Robert J Stanley
- Department of Chemistry, Temple University, 1901 N. 13th St., 250B Beury Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania19122, United States
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6
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Schmid L, Fokin I, Brändlin M, Wagner D, Siewert I, Wenger OS. Accumulation of Four Electrons on a Terphenyl (Bis)disulfide. Chemistry 2022; 28:e202202386. [PMID: 36351246 PMCID: PMC10098965 DOI: 10.1002/chem.202202386] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
The activation of N2 , CO2 or H2 O to energy-rich products relies on multi-electron transfer reactions, and consequently it seems desirable to understand the basics of light-driven accumulation of multiple redox equivalents. Most of the previously reported molecular acceptors merely allow the storage of up to two electrons. We report on a terphenyl compound including two disulfide bridges, which undergoes four-electron reduction in two separate electrochemical steps, aided by a combination of potential compression and inversion. Under visible-light irradiation using the organic super-electron donor tetrakis(dimethylamino)ethylene, a cascade of light-induced reaction steps is observed, leading to the cleavage of both disulfide bonds. Whereas one of them undergoes extrusion of sulfur to result in a thiophene, the other disulfide is converted to a dithiolate. These insights seem relevant to enhance the current fundamental understanding of photochemical energy storage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucius Schmid
- Department of Chemistry, University of Basel, St. Johanns-Ring 19, 4056, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Igor Fokin
- University of Göttingen, Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Tammannstrasse 4, 37077, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Mathis Brändlin
- Department of Chemistry, University of Basel, St. Johanns-Ring 19, 4056, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Dorothee Wagner
- Department of Chemistry, University of Basel, St. Johanns-Ring 19, 4056, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Inke Siewert
- University of Göttingen, Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Tammannstrasse 4, 37077, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Oliver S Wenger
- Department of Chemistry, University of Basel, St. Johanns-Ring 19, 4056, Basel, Switzerland
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7
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Galuzzi B, Mirarchi A, Viganò EL, De Gioia L, Damiani C, Arrigoni F. Machine Learning for Efficient Prediction of Protein Redox Potential: The Flavoproteins Case. J Chem Inf Model 2022; 62:4748-4759. [PMID: 36126254 PMCID: PMC9554915 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.2c00858] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Determining the redox potentials of protein cofactors and how they are influenced by their molecular neighborhoods is essential for basic research and many biotechnological applications, from biosensors and biocatalysis to bioremediation and bioelectronics. The laborious determination of redox potential with current experimental technologies pushes forward the need for computational approaches that can reliably predict it. Although current computational approaches based on quantum and molecular mechanics are accurate, their large computational costs hinder their usage. In this work, we explored the possibility of using more efficient QSPR models based on machine learning (ML) for the prediction of protein redox potential, as an alternative to classical approaches. As a proof of concept, we focused on flavoproteins, one of the most important families of enzymes directly involved in redox processes. To train and test different ML models, we retrieved a dataset of flavoproteins with a known midpoint redox potential (Em) and 3D structure. The features of interest, accounting for both short- and long-range effects of the protein matrix on the flavin cofactor, have been automatically extracted from each protein PDB file. Our best ML model (XGB) has a performance error below 1 kcal/mol (∼36 mV), comparing favorably to more sophisticated computational approaches. We also provided indications on the features that mostly affect the Em value, and when possible, we rationalized them on the basis of previous studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bruno
Giovanni Galuzzi
- Department
of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University
of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 2, 20126 Milan, Italy
- SYSBIO
Centre of Systems Biology/ISBE.IT, Piazza della Scienza 2, 20126, Milan, Italy
| | - Antonio Mirarchi
- Department
of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University
of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 2, 20126 Milan, Italy
| | - Edoardo Luca Viganò
- Istituto
di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, Via Mario Negri 2, 20156 Milan, Italy
| | - Luca De Gioia
- Department
of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University
of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 2, 20126 Milan, Italy
| | - Chiara Damiani
- Department
of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University
of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 2, 20126 Milan, Italy
- SYSBIO
Centre of Systems Biology/ISBE.IT, Piazza della Scienza 2, 20126, Milan, Italy
| | - Federica Arrigoni
- Department
of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University
of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 2, 20126 Milan, Italy
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8
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Graham JE, Niks D, Zane GM, Gui Q, Hom K, Hille R, Wall JD, Raman CS. How a Formate Dehydrogenase Responds to Oxygen: Unexpected O 2 Insensitivity of an Enzyme Harboring Tungstopterin, Selenocysteine, and [4Fe–4S] Clusters. ACS Catal 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.2c00316] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Joel E. Graham
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland21201, United States
| | - Dimitri Niks
- Department of Biochemistry, University of California, Riverside, California92521, United States
| | - Grant M. Zane
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri65211, United States
| | - Qin Gui
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri65211, United States
| | - Kellie Hom
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland21201, United States
| | - Russ Hille
- Department of Biochemistry, University of California, Riverside, California92521, United States
| | - Judy D. Wall
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri65211, United States
| | - C. S. Raman
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland21201, United States
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9
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Kayastha K, Katsyv A, Himmrich C, Welsch S, Schuller JM, Ermler U, Müller V. Structure-based electron-confurcation mechanism of the Ldh-EtfAB complex. eLife 2022; 11:77095. [PMID: 35748623 PMCID: PMC9232219 DOI: 10.7554/elife.77095] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2022] [Accepted: 05/22/2022] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Lactate oxidation with NAD+ as electron acceptor is a highly endergonic reaction. Some anaerobic bacteria overcome the energetic hurdle by flavin-based electron bifurcation/confurcation (FBEB/FBEC) using a lactate dehydrogenase (Ldh) in concert with the electron-transferring proteins EtfA and EtfB. The electron cryo-microscopically characterized (Ldh-EtfAB)2 complex of Acetobacterium woodii at 2.43 Å resolution consists of a mobile EtfAB shuttle domain located between the rigid central Ldh and the peripheral EtfAB base units. The FADs of Ldh and the EtfAB shuttle domain contact each other thereby forming the D (dehydrogenation-connected) state. The intermediary Glu37 and Glu139 may harmonize the redox potentials between the FADs and the pyruvate/lactate pair crucial for FBEC. By integrating Alphafold2 calculations a plausible novel B (bifurcation-connected) state was obtained allowing electron transfer between the EtfAB base and shuttle FADs. Kinetic analysis of enzyme variants suggests a correlation between NAD+ binding site and D-to-B-state transition implicating a 75° rotation of the EtfAB shuttle domain. The FBEC inactivity when truncating the ferredoxin domain of EtfA substantiates its role as redox relay. Lactate oxidation in Ldh is assisted by the catalytic base His423 and a metal center. On this basis, a comprehensive catalytic mechanism of the FBEC process was proposed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kanwal Kayastha
- Departments of Molecular Membrane Biology of the Max-Planck-Institut for Biophysics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Alexander Katsyv
- Department of Molecular Microbiology & Bioenergetics, Institute of Molecular Biosciences, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Christina Himmrich
- Department of Molecular Microbiology & Bioenergetics, Institute of Molecular Biosciences, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Sonja Welsch
- Central Electron Microscopy Facility, Max Planck Institute of Biophysics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Jan M Schuller
- SYNMICRO Research Center and Department of Chemistry, Philipps University, Marburg, Germany
| | - Ulrich Ermler
- Departments of Molecular Membrane Biology of the Max-Planck-Institut for Biophysics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Volker Müller
- Department of Molecular Microbiology & Bioenergetics, Institute of Molecular Biosciences, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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10
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An uncharacteristically low-potential flavin governs the energy landscape of electron bifurcation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2117882119. [PMID: 35290111 PMCID: PMC8944662 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2117882119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Nature has long been an inspiration for materials design, as it exemplifies exquisite control of both matter and energy. Electron bifurcation, a mechanism employed in biological systems to drive thermodynamically unfavorable and energetically challenging chemical reactions, is one such example. A key feature of bifurcating enzymes is the ability of a single redox cofactor to distribute a pair of electrons across two spatially separated electron transfer pathways. Here, we report on the empirical determination of both the one-electron potential and two-electron potential of the bifurcating flavin cofactor in the NADH-dependent ferredoxin-NADP+ oxidoreductase I (NfnSL) enzyme. Insights arising from the defined energy landscape of this bifurcation site may underlie the design of synthetic catalysts capable of generating high-energy intermediates. Electron bifurcation, an energy-conserving process utilized extensively throughout all domains of life, represents an elegant means of generating high-energy products from substrates with less reducing potential. The coordinated coupling of exergonic and endergonic reactions has been shown to operate over an electrochemical potential of ∼1.3 V through the activity of a unique flavin cofactor in the enzyme NADH-dependent ferredoxin-NADP+ oxidoreductase I. The inferred energy landscape has features unprecedented in biochemistry and presents novel energetic challenges, the most intriguing being a large thermodynamically uphill step for the first electron transfer of the bifurcation reaction. However, ambiguities in the energy landscape at the bifurcating site deriving from overlapping flavin spectral signatures have impeded a comprehensive understanding of the specific mechanistic contributions afforded by thermodynamic and kinetic factors. Here, we elucidate an uncharacteristically low two-electron potential of the bifurcating flavin, resolving the energetic challenge of the first bifurcation event.
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11
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Nitschke W, Schoepp‐Cothenet B, Duval S, Zuchan K, Farr O, Baymann F, Panico F, Minguzzi A, Branscomb E, Russell MJ. Aqueous electrochemistry: The toolbox for life's emergence from redox disequilibria. ELECTROCHEMICAL SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/elsa.202100192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Simon Duval
- CNRS, BIP (UMR 7281), Aix Marseille Univ Marseille France
| | - Kilian Zuchan
- CNRS, BIP (UMR 7281), Aix Marseille Univ Marseille France
| | - Orion Farr
- CNRS, BIP (UMR 7281), Aix Marseille Univ Marseille France
- Aix Marseille Univ CINaM (UMR 7325) Luminy France
| | - Frauke Baymann
- CNRS, BIP (UMR 7281), Aix Marseille Univ Marseille France
| | - Francesco Panico
- Dipartimento di Chimica Università degli Studi di Milano Milan Italy
| | | | - Elbert Branscomb
- Department of Physics Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois Urbana Illinois USA
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12
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Structural Features of Cytochrome b5–Cytochrome b5 Reductase Complex Formation and Implications for the Intramolecular Dynamics of Cytochrome b5 Reductase. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 23:ijms23010118. [PMID: 33918863 PMCID: PMC8745658 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23010118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2021] [Revised: 12/10/2021] [Accepted: 12/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Membrane cytochrome b5 reductase is a pleiotropic oxidoreductase that uses primarily soluble reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) as an electron donor to reduce multiple biological acceptors localized in cellular membranes. Some of the biological acceptors of the reductase and coupled redox proteins might eventually transfer electrons to oxygen to form reactive oxygen species. Additionally, an inefficient electron transfer to redox acceptors can lead to electron uncoupling and superoxide anion formation by the reductase. Many efforts have been made to characterize the involved catalytic domains in the electron transfer from the reduced flavoprotein to its electron acceptors, such as cytochrome b5, through a detailed description of the flavin and NADH-binding sites. This information might help to understand better the processes and modifications involved in reactive oxygen formation by the cytochrome b5 reductase. Nevertheless, more than half a century since this enzyme was first purified, the one-electron transfer process toward potential electron acceptors of the reductase is still only partially understood. New advances in computational analysis of protein structures allow predicting the intramolecular protein dynamics, identifying potential functional sites, or evaluating the effects of microenvironment changes in protein structure and dynamics. We applied this approach to characterize further the roles of amino acid domains within cytochrome b5 reductase structure, part of the catalytic domain, and several sensors and structural domains involved in the interactions with cytochrome b5 and other electron acceptors. The computational analysis results allowed us to rationalize some of the available spectroscopic data regarding ligand-induced conformational changes leading to an increase in the flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) solvent-exposed surface, which has been previously correlated with the formation of complexes with electron acceptors.
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13
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Yuly JL, Zhang P, Ru X, Terai K, Singh N, Beratan DN. Efficient and reversible electron bifurcation with either normal or inverted potentials at the bifurcating cofactor. Chem 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chempr.2021.03.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
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14
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Vanoni MA. Iron-sulfur flavoenzymes: the added value of making the most ancient redox cofactors and the versatile flavins work together. Open Biol 2021; 11:210010. [PMID: 33947244 PMCID: PMC8097209 DOI: 10.1098/rsob.210010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Iron-sulfur (Fe-S) flavoproteins form a broad and growing class of complex, multi-domain and often multi-subunit proteins coupling the most ancient cofactors (the Fe-S clusters) and the most versatile coenzymes (the flavin coenzymes, FMN and FAD). These enzymes catalyse oxidoreduction reactions usually acting as switches between donors of electron pairs and acceptors of single electrons, and vice versa. Through selected examples, the enzymes' structure−function relationships with respect to rate and directionality of the electron transfer steps, the role of the apoprotein and its dynamics in modulating the electron transfer process will be discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Antonietta Vanoni
- Dipartimento di Bioscienze, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milano, Italy
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15
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Duan HD, Khan SA, Miller AF. Photogeneration and reactivity of flavin anionic semiquinone in a bifurcating electron transfer flavoprotein. BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-BIOENERGETICS 2021; 1862:148415. [PMID: 33727071 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbabio.2021.148415] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2020] [Revised: 02/15/2021] [Accepted: 03/10/2021] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Electron transfer bifurcation allows production of a strongly reducing carrier at the expense of a weaker one, by redistributing energy among a pair of electrons. Thus, two weakly-reducing electrons from NADH are consumed to produce a strongly reducing ferredoxin or flavodoxin, paid for by reduction of an oxidizing acceptor. The prevailing mechanism calls for participation of a strongly reducing flavin semiquinone which has been difficult to observe with site-certainly in multi-flavin systems. Using blue light (450 nm) to photoexcite the flavins of bifurcating electron transfer flavoprotein (ETF), we demonstrate accumulation of anionic flavin semiquinone in excess of what is observed in equilibrium titrations, and establish its ability to reduce the low-potential electron acceptor benzyl viologen. This must occur at the bifurcating flavin because the midpoint potentials of the electron transfer (ET) flavin are not sufficiently negative. We show that bis-tris propane buffer is an effective electron donor to the flavin photoreduction, but that if the system is prepared with the ET flavin chemically reduced, so that only the bifurcating flavin is oxidized and photochemically active, flavin anionic semiquinone is formed more rapidly. Thus, excited bifurcating flavin is able to draw on an electron stored at the ET flavin. Flavin semiquinone photogenerated at the bifurcation site must therefore be accompanied by additional semiquinone formation by oxidation of the ET flavin. Consistent with the expected instability of bifurcating flavin semiquinone, it subsides immediately upon cessation of illumination. However comparison with yields of semiquinone in equilibrium titrations suggest that during continuous illumination at pH 9 a steady state population of 0.3 equivalents of bifurcating flavin semiquinone accumulates, and then undergoes further photoreduction to the hydroquinone. Although transient, the population of bifurcating flavin semiquinone explains the system's ability to conduct light-driven electron transfer from bis-tris propane to benzyl viologen, in effect trapping energy from light.
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Affiliation(s)
- H Diessel Duan
- Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA
| | - Sharique A Khan
- Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA
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16
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Kayastha K, Vitt S, Buckel W, Ermler U. Flavins in the electron bifurcation process. Arch Biochem Biophys 2021; 701:108796. [PMID: 33609536 DOI: 10.1016/j.abb.2021.108796] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Revised: 02/01/2021] [Accepted: 02/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
The discovery of a new energy-coupling mechanism termed flavin-based electron bifurcation (FBEB) in 2008 revealed a novel field of application for flavins in biology. The key component is the bifurcating flavin endowed with strongly inverted one-electron reduction potentials (FAD/FAD•- ≪ FAD•-/FADH-) that cooperatively transfers in its reduced state one low and one high-energy electron into different directions and thereby drives an endergonic with an exergonic reduction reaction. As energy splitting at the bifurcating flavin apparently implicates one-electron chemistry, the FBEB machinery has to incorporate prior to and behind the central bifurcating flavin 2e-to-1e and 1e-to-2e switches, frequently also flavins, for oxidizing variable medium-potential two-electron donating substrates and for reducing high-potential two-electron accepting substrates. The one-electron carriers ferredoxin or flavodoxin serve as low-potential (high-energy) electron acceptors, which power endergonic processes almost exclusively in obligate anaerobic microorganisms to increase the efficiency of their energy metabolism. In this review, we outline the global organization of FBEB enzymes, the functions of the flavins therein and the surrounding of the isoalloxazine rings by which their reduction potentials are specifically adjusted in a finely tuned energy landscape.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kanwal Kayastha
- Max-Planck-Institut für Biophysik, Max-von-Laue-Str. 3, 60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Stella Vitt
- Max-Planck-Institut für Biophysik, Max-von-Laue-Str. 3, 60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Laboratorium für Mikrobiologie, Fachbereich Biologie and SYNMIKRO, Philipps-Universität, 35032, Marburg, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Buckel
- Laboratorium für Mikrobiologie, Fachbereich Biologie and SYNMIKRO, Philipps-Universität, 35032, Marburg, Germany; Max-Planck-Institut für terrestrische Mikrobiologie, Karl-von-Frisch-Str. 10, 35043, Marburg, Germany
| | - Ulrich Ermler
- Max-Planck-Institut für Biophysik, Max-von-Laue-Str. 3, 60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
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17
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Jacq-Bailly A, Benvenuti M, Payne N, Kpebe A, Felbek C, Fourmond V, Léger C, Brugna M, Baffert C. Electrochemical Characterization of a Complex FeFe Hydrogenase, the Electron-Bifurcating Hnd From Desulfovibrio fructosovorans. Front Chem 2021; 8:573305. [PMID: 33490032 PMCID: PMC7820892 DOI: 10.3389/fchem.2020.573305] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2020] [Accepted: 12/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Hnd, an FeFe hydrogenase from Desulfovibrio fructosovorans, is a tetrameric enzyme that can perform flavin-based electron bifurcation. It couples the oxidation of H2 to both the exergonic reduction of NAD+ and the endergonic reduction of a ferredoxin. We previously showed that Hnd retains activity even when purified aerobically unlike other electron-bifurcating hydrogenases. In this study, we describe the purification of the enzyme under O2-free atmosphere and its biochemical and electrochemical characterization. Despite its complexity due to its multimeric composition, Hnd can catalytically and directly exchange electrons with an electrode. We characterized the catalytic and inhibition properties of this electron-bifurcating hydrogenase using protein film electrochemistry of Hnd by purifying Hnd aerobically or anaerobically, then comparing the electrochemical properties of the enzyme purified under the two conditions via protein film electrochemistry. Hydrogenases are usually inactivated under oxidizing conditions in the absence of dioxygen and can then be reactivated, to some extent, under reducing conditions. We demonstrate that the kinetics of this high potential inactivation/reactivation for Hnd show original properties: it depends on the enzyme purification conditions and varies with time, suggesting the coexistence and the interconversion of two forms of the enzyme. We also show that Hnd catalytic properties (Km for H2, diffusion and reaction at the active site of CO and O2) are comparable to those of standard hydrogenases (those which cannot catalyze electron bifurcation). These results suggest that the presence of the additional subunits, needed for electron bifurcation, changes neither the catalytic behavior at the active site, nor the gas diffusion kinetics but induces unusual rates of high potential inactivation/reactivation.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Natalie Payne
- CNRS, Aix Marseille University, BIP, Marseille, France
| | - Arlette Kpebe
- CNRS, Aix Marseille University, BIP, Marseille, France
| | | | | | | | - Myriam Brugna
- CNRS, Aix Marseille University, BIP, Marseille, France
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18
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Appel L, Willistein M, Dahl C, Ermler U, Boll M. Functional diversity of prokaryotic HdrA(BC) modules: Role in flavin-based electron bifurcation processes and beyond. BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-BIOENERGETICS 2021; 1862:148379. [PMID: 33460586 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbabio.2021.148379] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Revised: 01/08/2021] [Accepted: 01/11/2021] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
In methanogenic archaea, the archetypical complex of heterodisulfide reductase (HdrABC) and hydrogenase (MvhAGD) couples the endergonic reduction of CO2 by H2 to the exergonic reduction of the CoB-S-S-CoM heterodisulfide by H2 via flavin-based electron bifurcation. Presently known enzymes containing HdrA(BC)-like components play key roles in methanogenesis, acetogenesis, respiratory sulfate reduction, lithotrophic reduced sulfur compound oxidation, aromatic compound degradation, fermentations, and probably many further processes. This functional diversity is achieved by a modular architecture of HdrA(BC) enzymes, where a big variety of electron input/output modules may be connected either directly or via adaptor modules to the HdrA(BC) components. Many, but not all HdrA(BC) complexes are proposed to catalyse a flavin-based electron bifurcation/confurcation. Despite the availability of HdrA(BC) crystal structures, fundamental questions of electron transfer and energy coupling processes remain. Here, we address the common properties and functional diversity of HdrA(BC) core modules integrated into electron-transfer machineries of outstanding complexity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lena Appel
- Fakultät für Biologie - Mikrobiologie, Universität Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Max Willistein
- Fakultät für Biologie - Mikrobiologie, Universität Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Christiane Dahl
- Institut für Mikrobiologie & Biotechnologie, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Ulrich Ermler
- Max-Planck-Institut für Biophysik, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Matthias Boll
- Fakultät für Biologie - Mikrobiologie, Universität Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
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19
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Wise CE, Ledinina AE, Yuly JL, Artz JH, Lubner CE. The role of thermodynamic features on the functional activity of electron bifurcating enzymes. BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-BIOENERGETICS 2021; 1862:148377. [PMID: 33453185 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbabio.2021.148377] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2020] [Revised: 01/05/2021] [Accepted: 01/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Electron bifurcation is a biological mechanism to drive a thermodynamically unfavorable redox reaction through direct coupling with an exergonic reaction. This process allows microorganisms to generate high energy reducing equivalents in order to sustain life and is often found in anaerobic metabolism, where the energy economy of the cell is poor. Recent work has revealed details of the redox energy landscapes for a variety of electron bifurcating enzymes, greatly expanding the understanding of how energy is transformed by this unique mechanism. Here we highlight the plasticity of these emerging landscapes, what is known regarding their mechanistic underpinnings, and provide a context for interpreting their biochemical activity within the physiological framework. We conclude with an outlook for propelling the field toward an integrative understanding of the impact of electron bifurcation.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Jacob H Artz
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO, USA
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20
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Mounkoro P, Michel T, Golinelli-Cohen MP, Blandin S, Davioud-Charvet E, Meunier B. A role for the succinate dehydrogenase in the mode of action of the redox-active antimalarial drug, plasmodione. Free Radic Biol Med 2021; 162:533-541. [PMID: 33232753 DOI: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2020.11.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2020] [Revised: 11/02/2020] [Accepted: 11/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Malaria, caused by protozoan parasites, is a major public health issue in subtropical countries. An arsenal of antimalarial treatments is available, however, resistance is spreading, calling for the development of new antimalarial compounds. The new lead antimalarial drug plasmodione is a redox-active compound that impairs the redox balance of parasites leading to cell death. Based on extensive in vitro assays, a model of its mode of action was drawn, involving the generation of active plasmodione metabolites that act as subversive substrates of flavoproteins, initiating a redox cycling process producing reactive oxygen species. We showed that, in yeast, the mitochondrial respiratory chain NADH-dehydrogenases are the main redox-cycling target enzymes. Furthermore, our data supported the proposal that plasmodione is a pro-drug acting via its benzhydrol and benzoyl metabolites. Here, we selected plasmodione-resistant yeast mutants to further decipher plasmodione mode of action. Of the eleven mutants analysed, nine harboured a mutation in the FAD binding subunit of succinate dehydrogenase (SDH). The analysis of the SDH mutations points towards a specific role for SDH-bound FAD in plasmodione bioactivation, possibly in the first step of the process, highlighting a novel property of SDH.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pierre Mounkoro
- Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, CNRS, Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, cedex, France
| | - Thomas Michel
- Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, CNRS, Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, cedex, France
| | - Marie-Pierre Golinelli-Cohen
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles (ICSN), 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, cedex, France
| | - Stéphanie Blandin
- Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Inserm, UPR9022/U1257, Mosquito Immune Responses (MIR), F-67000, Strasbourg, France
| | - Elisabeth Davioud-Charvet
- Université de Strasbourg, Université de Haute-Alsace, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), UMR 7042 LIMA, Team Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, ECPM, 25 Rue Becquerel, 67087, Strasbourg, France
| | - Brigitte Meunier
- Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, CNRS, Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, cedex, France.
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21
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Das A, Hessin C, Ren Y, Desage-El Murr M. Biological concepts for catalysis and reactivity: empowering bioinspiration. Chem Soc Rev 2020; 49:8840-8867. [PMID: 33107878 DOI: 10.1039/d0cs00914h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Biological systems provide attractive reactivity blueprints for the design of challenging chemical transformations. Emulating the operating mode of natural systems may however not be so easy and direct translation of structural observations does not always afford the anticipated efficiency. Metalloenzymes rely on earth-abundant metals to perform an incredibly wide range of chemical transformations. To do so, enzymes in general have evolved tools and tricks to enable control of such reactivity. The underlying concepts related to these tools are usually well-known to enzymologists and bio(inorganic) chemists but may be a little less familiar to organometallic chemists. So far, the field of bioinspired catalysis has greatly focused on the coordination sphere and electronic effects for the design of functional enzyme models but might benefit from a paradigm shift related to recent findings in biological systems. The goal of this review is to bring these fields closer together as this could likely result in the development of a new generation of highly efficient bioinspired systems. This contribution covers the fields of redox-active ligands, entatic state reactivity, energy conservation through electron bifurcation, and quantum tunneling for C-H activation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Agnideep Das
- Université de Strasbourg, Institut de Chimie, UMR CNRS 7177, 67000 Strasbourg, France.
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22
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Arrigoni F, Rizza F, Vertemara J, Breglia R, Greco C, Bertini L, Zampella G, De Gioia L. Rational Design of Fe 2 (μ-PR 2 ) 2 (L) 6 Coordination Compounds Featuring Tailored Potential Inversion. Chemphyschem 2020; 21:2279-2292. [PMID: 32815583 DOI: 10.1002/cphc.202000623] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2020] [Revised: 08/19/2020] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
It was recently discovered that some redox proteins can thermodynamically and spatially split two incoming electrons towards different pathways, resulting in the one-electron reduction of two different substrates, featuring reduction potential respectively higher and lower than the parent reductant. This energy conversion process, referred to as electron bifurcation, is relevant not only from a biochemical perspective, but also for the ground-breaking applications that electron-bifurcating molecular devices could have in the field of energy conversion. Natural electron-bifurcating systems contain a two-electron redox centre featuring potential inversion (PI), i. e. with second reduction easier than the first. With the aim of revealing key factors to tailor the span between first and second redox potentials, we performed a systematic density functional study of a 26-molecule set of models with the general formula Fe2 (μ-PR2 )2 (L)6 . It turned out that specific features such as i) a Fe-Fe antibonding character of the LUMO, ii) presence of electron-donor groups and iii) low steric congestion in the Fe's coordination sphere, are key ingredients for PI. In particular, the synergic effects of i)-iii) can lead to a span between first and second redox potentials larger than 700 mV. More generally, the "molecular recipes" herein described are expected to inspire the synthesis of Fe2 P2 systems with tailored PI, of primary relevance to the design of electron-bifurcating molecular devices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federica Arrigoni
- Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University of Milano - Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 2, 20126, Milan, Italy
| | - Fabio Rizza
- Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University of Milano - Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 2, 20126, Milan, Italy
| | - Jacopo Vertemara
- Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University of Milano - Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 2, 20126, Milan, Italy
| | - Raffaella Breglia
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milano - Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126, Milan, Italy
| | - Claudio Greco
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milano - Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126, Milan, Italy
| | - Luca Bertini
- Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University of Milano - Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 2, 20126, Milan, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Zampella
- Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University of Milano - Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 2, 20126, Milan, Italy
| | - Luca De Gioia
- Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University of Milano - Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 2, 20126, Milan, Italy
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23
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Universal free-energy landscape produces efficient and reversible electron bifurcation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020; 117:21045-21051. [PMID: 32801212 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2010815117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
For decades, it was unknown how electron-bifurcating systems in nature prevented energy-wasting short-circuiting reactions that have large driving forces, so synthetic electron-bifurcating molecular machines could not be designed and built. The underpinning free-energy landscapes for electron bifurcation were also enigmatic. We predict that a simple and universal free-energy landscape enables electron bifurcation, and we show that it enables high-efficiency bifurcation with limited short-circuiting (the EB scheme). The landscape relies on steep free-energy slopes in the two redox branches to insulate against short-circuiting using an electron occupancy blockade effect, without relying on nuanced changes in the microscopic rate constants for the short-circuiting reactions. The EB scheme thus unifies a body of observations on biological catalysis and energy conversion, and the scheme provides a blueprint to guide future campaigns to establish synthetic electron bifurcation machines.
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24
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Duan HD, Mohamed-Raseek N, Miller AF. Spectroscopic evidence for direct flavin-flavin contact in a bifurcating electron transfer flavoprotein. J Biol Chem 2020; 295:12618-12634. [PMID: 32661195 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.ra120.013174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2020] [Revised: 07/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
A remarkable charge transfer (CT) band is described in the bifurcating electron transfer flavoprotein (Bf-ETF) from Rhodopseudomonas palustris (RpaETF). RpaETF contains two FADs that play contrasting roles in electron bifurcation. The Bf-FAD accepts electrons pairwise from NADH, directs one to a lower-reduction midpoint potential (E°) carrier, and the other to the higher-E° electron transfer FAD (ET-FAD). Previous work noted that a CT band at 726 nm formed when ET-FAD was reduced and Bf-FAD was oxidized, suggesting that both flavins participate. However, existing crystal structures place them too far apart to interact directly. We present biochemical experiments addressing this conundrum and elucidating the nature of this CT species. We observed that RpaETF missing either FAD lacked the 726 nm band. Site-directed mutagenesis near either FAD produced altered yields of the CT species, supporting involvement of both flavins. The residue substitutions did not alter the absorption maximum of the signal, ruling out contributions from residue orbitals. Instead, we propose that the residue identities modulate the population of a protein conformation that brings the ET-flavin and Bf-flavin into direct contact, explaining the 726 nm band based on a CT complex of reduced ET-FAD and oxidized Bf-FAD. This is corroborated by persistence of the 726 nm species during gentle protein denaturation and simple density functional theory calculations of flavin dimers. Although such a CT complex has been demonstrated for free flavins, this is the first observation of such, to our knowledge, in an enzyme. Thus, Bf-ETFs may optimize electron transfer efficiency by enabling direct flavin-flavin contact.
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Affiliation(s)
- H Diessel Duan
- Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA
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25
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Losey NA, Poudel S, Boyd ES, McInerney MJ. The Beta Subunit of Non-bifurcating NADH-Dependent [FeFe]-Hydrogenases Differs From Those of Multimeric Electron-Bifurcating [FeFe]-Hydrogenases. Front Microbiol 2020; 11:1109. [PMID: 32625172 PMCID: PMC7311640 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.01109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2020] [Accepted: 05/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
A non-bifurcating NADH-dependent, dimeric [FeFe]-hydrogenase (HydAB) from Syntrophus aciditrophicus was heterologously produced in Escherichia coli, purified and characterized. Purified recombinant HydAB catalyzed NAD+ reduction coupled to hydrogen oxidation and produced hydrogen from NADH without the involvement of ferredoxin. Hydrogen partial pressures (2.2-40.2 Pa) produced by the purified recombinant HydAB at NADH to NAD+ ratios of 1-5 were similar to the hydrogen partial pressures generated by pure and cocultures of S. aciditrophicus (5.9-36.6 Pa). Thus, the hydrogen partial pressures observed in metabolizing cultures and cocultures of S. aciditrophicus can be generated by HydAB if S. aciditrophicus maintains NADH to NAD+ ratios greater than one. The flavin-containing beta subunits from S. aciditrophicus HydAB and the non-bifurcating NADH-dependent S. wolfei Hyd1ABC share a number of conserved residues with the flavin-containing beta subunits from non-bifurcating NADH-dependent enzymes such as NADH:quinone oxidoreductases and formate dehydrogenases. A number of differences were observed between sequences of these non-bifurcating NADH-dependent enzymes and [FeFe]-hydrogenases and formate dehydrogenases known to catalyze electron bifurcation including differences in the number of [Fe-S] centers and in conserved residues near predicted cofactor binding sites. These differences can be used to distinguish members of these two groups of enzymes and may be relevant to the differences in ferredoxin-dependence and ability to mediate electron-bifurcation. These results show that two phylogenetically distinct syntrophic fatty acid-oxidizing bacteria, Syntrophomonas wolfei a member of the phylum Firmicutes, and S. aciditrophicus, a member of the class Deltaproteobacteria, possess functionally similar [FeFe]-hydrogenases that produce hydrogen from NADH during syntrophic fatty acid oxidation without the involvement of reduced ferredoxin. The reliance on a non-bifurcating NADH-dependent [FeFe]-hydrogenases may explain the obligate requirement that many syntrophic metabolizers have for a hydrogen-using partner microorganism when grown on fatty, aromatic and alicyclic acids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathaniel A Losey
- Department of Plant Biology and Microbiology, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, United States
| | - Saroj Poudel
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, United States
| | - Eric S Boyd
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, United States
| | - Michael J McInerney
- Department of Plant Biology and Microbiology, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, United States
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26
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Abstract
Books with titles like 'The Call of the Wild' seemed to set a path for a life. Thus, I would be an explorer-a plan that did not work out so well, at least at first. On leaving school I got a job as a 'Works Chemist Improver', testing Ni catalysts for the hydrogenation of phenol to cyclohexanol. Taking night classes I passed enough exams to study geology at Queen Mary College, London. Armed thus I travelled to the Solomon Islands where geology is a 'happening'! Next was Canada to visit a mine sunk into a 1.5 billion year old Pb-Zn orebody precipitated from submarine hot springs. At last I reached the Yukon to prospect for silver. Thence to Ireland researching what I also took to be 'exhalative' (i.e. hot spring-related) Pb-Zn orebodies. While there in 1979, the discovery of 350°C metal-bearing acidic waters issuing from submarine Black Smoker chimneys in the Pacific sent us searching for fossil examples in the Irish mines. However, the chimneys we found were more like chemical gardens than Black Smokers, a finding that made us think about the emergence of life. After all, what better for life's emergence than to have a membrane comprising Fe minerals dosed with Ni in our chimneys to mediate the 'hydrogenation' of CO2-life's job anyway. Indeed, such a membrane would keep redox and pH disequilibria at bay, just like biological membranes. At the same time, my field research among Alpine ophiolites-ocean floor mafic rocks obducted to the Alps-indicated that alkaline waters bearing H2 and CH4 were a result of serpentinization, a process that must have operated in all ocean floors over all time. Thus it was that we could predict the Lost City hydrothermal field 10 years before its discovery in the North Atlantic in the year 2000. Lost City comprises a number of alkaline springs at up to 90°C that produce carbonate and brucite (Mg[OH]2) chimneys. We had surmised that Ni-enriched FeS chimneys would have precipitated at comparable alkaline springs issuing into a metal-rich carbonic ocean on the very early Earth (inducing membrane potentials comparable to those capable of succouring all life, and presumably, sufficient to drive life into being). However, our laboratory precipitates also revealed green rust, thought to be the precursor to the magnetite now comprising the Archaean Banded Iron Formations. We now look upon green rust, also known as fougèrite, as the tangible, base fractal of life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael J. Russell
- NASA Astrobiology Institute, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA
- http://bip.cnrs-mrs.fr/bip09/AHVics.html
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27
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Duval S, Baymann F, Schoepp-Cothenet B, Trolard F, Bourrié G, Grauby O, Branscomb E, Russell MJ, Nitschke W. Fougerite: the not so simple progenitor of the first cells. Interface Focus 2019; 9:20190063. [PMID: 31641434 DOI: 10.1098/rsfs.2019.0063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/09/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
We here review the extraordinary mineralogical properties of green rusts and their naturally occurring form, fougerite, and discuss the pertinence of these properties within the alkaline hydrothermal vent (AHV) hypothesis for life's emergence. We put forward an extended version of the AHV scenario which enhances the conformity between extant life and its earliest progenitor by extensively making use of fougerite's mechanistic and catalytic particularities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon Duval
- Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, BIP (UMR 7281), Marseille, France
| | - Frauke Baymann
- Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, BIP (UMR 7281), Marseille, France
| | | | | | | | - Olivier Grauby
- Aix Marseille Université, CINaM (UMR 7325), Luminy, France
| | - Elbert Branscomb
- Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, and Department of Physics, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
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28
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Walker LM, Li B, Niks D, Hille R, Elliott SJ. Deconvolution of reduction potentials of formate dehydrogenase from Cupriavidus necator. J Biol Inorg Chem 2019; 24:889-898. [PMID: 31463592 DOI: 10.1007/s00775-019-01701-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2019] [Accepted: 08/06/2019] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
The formate dehydrogenase enzyme from Cupriavidus necator (FdsABG) carries out the two-electron oxidation of formate to CO2, but is also capable of reducing CO2 back to formate, a potential biofuel. FdsABG is a heterotrimeric enzyme that performs this transformation using nine redox-active cofactors: a bis(molybdopterin guanine dinucleotide) (bis-MGD) at the active site coupled to seven iron-sulfur clusters, and one equivalent of flavin mononucleotide (FMN). To better understand the pathway of electron flow in FdsABG, the reduction potentials of the various cofactors were examined through direct electrochemistry. Given the redundancy of cofactors, a truncated form of the FdsA subunit was developed that possesses only the bis-MGD active site and a singular [4Fe-4S] cluster. Electrochemical characterization of FdsABG compared to truncated FdsA shows that the measured reduction potentials are remarkably similar despite the truncation with two observable features at - 265 mV and - 455 mV vs SHE, indicating that the voltammetry of the truncated enzyme is representative of the reduction potentials of the intact heterotrimer. By producing truncated FdsA without the necessary maturation factors required for bis-MGD insertion, a form of the truncated FdsA that possesses only the [4Fe-4S] was produced, which gives a single voltammetric feature at - 525 mV, allowing the contributions of the molybdenum cofactor to be associated with the observed feature at - 265 mV. This method allowed for the deconvolution of reduction potentials for an enzyme with highly complex cofactor content to know more about the thermodynamic landscape of catalysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsey M Walker
- Department of Chemistry, Boston University, 590 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA, 02215, USA
| | - Bin Li
- Department of Chemistry, Boston University, 590 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA, 02215, USA
- Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - Dimitri Niks
- Department of Biochemistry, University of California Riverside, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA
| | - Russ Hille
- Department of Biochemistry, University of California Riverside, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA
| | - Sean J Elliott
- Department of Chemistry, Boston University, 590 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA, 02215, USA.
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29
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Low potential enzymatic hydride transfer via highly cooperative and inversely functionalized flavin cofactors. Nat Commun 2019; 10:2074. [PMID: 31061390 PMCID: PMC6502838 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-10078-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2019] [Accepted: 04/12/2019] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Hydride transfers play a crucial role in a multitude of biological redox reactions and are mediated by flavin, deazaflavin or nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide cofactors at standard redox potentials ranging from 0 to –340 mV. 2-Naphthoyl-CoA reductase, a key enzyme of oxygen-independent bacterial naphthalene degradation, uses a low-potential one-electron donor for the two-electron dearomatization of its substrate below the redox limit of known biological hydride transfer processes at E°’ = −493 mV. Here we demonstrate by X-ray structural analyses, QM/MM computational studies, and multiple spectroscopy/activity based titrations that highly cooperative electron transfer (n = 3) from a low-potential one-electron (FAD) to a two-electron (FMN) transferring flavin cofactor is the key to overcome the resonance stabilized aromatic system by hydride transfer in a highly hydrophobic pocket. The results evidence how the protein environment inversely functionalizes two flavins to switch from low-potential one-electron to hydride transfer at the thermodynamic limit of flavin redox chemistry. The reduction of 2-naphtoyl-CoA to 5,6 dihydro-2-naphtoyl-CoA by 2-naphtoyl-CoA reductase is below the negative redox limit usually encountered in biological hydride transfer. Here, via X-ray crystallography and spectroscopic analysis, the authors elucidated the mechanism behind this.
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Baffert C, Kpebe A, Avilan L, Brugna M. Hydrogenases and H 2 metabolism in sulfate-reducing bacteria of the Desulfovibrio genus. Adv Microb Physiol 2019; 74:143-189. [PMID: 31126530 DOI: 10.1016/bs.ampbs.2019.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
Hydrogen metabolism plays a central role in sulfate-reducing bacteria of the Desulfovibrio genus and is based on hydrogenases that catalyze the reversible conversion of protons into dihydrogen. These metabolically versatile microorganisms possess a complex hydrogenase system composed of several enzymes of both [FeFe]- and [NiFe]-type that can vary considerably from one Desulfovibrio species to another. This review covers the molecular and physiological aspects of hydrogenases and H2 metabolism in Desulfovibrio but focuses particularly on our model bacterium Desulfovibrio fructosovorans. The search of hydrogenase genes in more than 30 sequenced genomes provides an overview of the distribution of these enzymes in Desulfovibrio. Our discussion will consider the significance of the involvement of electron-bifurcation in H2 metabolism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carole Baffert
- Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, BIP, 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402 Marseille, France
| | - Arlette Kpebe
- Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, BIP, 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402 Marseille, France
| | - Luisana Avilan
- Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, BIP, 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402 Marseille, France
| | - Myriam Brugna
- Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, BIP, 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402 Marseille, France
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One-megadalton metalloenzyme complex in Geobacter metallireducens involved in benzene ring reduction beyond the biological redox window. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019; 116:2259-2264. [PMID: 30674680 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1819636116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Reversible biological electron transfer usually occurs between redox couples at standard redox potentials ranging from +0.8 to -0.5 V. Dearomatizing benzoyl-CoA reductases (BCRs), key enzymes of the globally relevant microbial degradation of aromatic compounds at anoxic sites, catalyze a biological Birch reduction beyond the negative limit of this redox window. The structurally characterized BamBC subunits of class II BCRs accomplish benzene ring reduction at an active-site tungsten cofactor; however, the mechanism and components involved in the energetic coupling of endergonic benzene ring reduction have remained hypothetical. We present a 1-MDa, membrane-associated, Bam[(BC)2DEFGHI]2 complex from the anaerobic bacterium Geobacter metallireducens harboring 4 tungsten, 4 zinc, 2 selenocysteines, 6 FAD, and >50 FeS cofactors. The results suggest that class II BCRs catalyze electron transfer to the aromatic ring, yielding a cyclic 1,5-dienoyl-CoA via two flavin-based electron bifurcation events. This work expands our knowledge of energetic couplings in biology by high-molecular-mass electron bifurcating machineries.
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Yuly JL, Lubner CE, Zhang P, Beratan DN, Peters JW. Electron bifurcation: progress and grand challenges. Chem Commun (Camb) 2019; 55:11823-11832. [DOI: 10.1039/c9cc05611d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Electron bifurcation moves electrons from a two-electron donor to reduce two spatially separated one-electron acceptors.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Peng Zhang
- Department of Chemistry
- Duke University
- Durham
- USA
| | - David N. Beratan
- Department of Physics
- Duke University
- Durham
- USA
- Department of Chemistry
| | - John W. Peters
- Institute of Biological Chemistry
- Washington State University
- Pullman
- USA
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Schuchmann K, Chowdhury NP, Müller V. Complex Multimeric [FeFe] Hydrogenases: Biochemistry, Physiology and New Opportunities for the Hydrogen Economy. Front Microbiol 2018; 9:2911. [PMID: 30564206 PMCID: PMC6288185 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.02911] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2018] [Accepted: 11/13/2018] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Hydrogenases are key enzymes of the energy metabolism of many microorganisms. Especially in anoxic habitats where molecular hydrogen (H2) is an important intermediate, these enzymes are used to expel excess reducing power by reducing protons or they are used for the oxidation of H2 as energy and electron source. Despite the fact that hydrogenases catalyze the simplest chemical reaction of reducing two protons with two electrons it turned out that they are often parts of multimeric enzyme complexes catalyzing complex chemical reactions with a multitude of functions in the metabolism. Recent findings revealed multimeric hydrogenases with so far unknown functions particularly in bacteria from the class Clostridia. The discovery of [FeFe] hydrogenases coupled to electron bifurcating subunits solved the enigma of how the otherwise highly endergonic reduction of the electron carrier ferredoxin can be carried out and how H2 production from NADH is possible. Complexes of [FeFe] hydrogenases with formate dehydrogenases revealed a novel enzymatic coupling of the two electron carriers H2 and formate. These novel hydrogenase enzyme complex could also contribute to biotechnological H2 production and H2 storage, both processes essential for an envisaged economy based on H2 as energy carrier.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kai Schuchmann
- Molecular Microbiology and Bioenergetics, Institute of Molecular Biosciences, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Nilanjan Pal Chowdhury
- Molecular Microbiology and Bioenergetics, Institute of Molecular Biosciences, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Volker Müller
- Molecular Microbiology and Bioenergetics, Institute of Molecular Biosciences, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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Kpebe A, Benvenuti M, Guendon C, Rebai A, Fernandez V, Le Laz S, Etienne E, Guigliarelli B, García-Molina G, de Lacey AL, Baffert C, Brugna M. A new mechanistic model for an O 2-protected electron-bifurcating hydrogenase, Hnd from Desulfovibrio fructosovorans. BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-BIOENERGETICS 2018; 1859:1302-1312. [PMID: 30463674 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbabio.2018.09.364] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2018] [Revised: 08/22/2018] [Accepted: 09/16/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
The genome of the sulfate-reducing and anaerobic bacterium Desulfovibrio fructosovorans encodes different hydrogenases. Among them is Hnd, a tetrameric cytoplasmic [FeFe] hydrogenase that has previously been described as an NADP-specific enzyme (Malki et al., 1995). In this study, we purified and characterized a recombinant Strep-tagged form of Hnd and demonstrated that it is an electron-bifurcating enzyme. Flavin-based electron-bifurcation is a mechanism that couples an exergonic redox reaction to an endergonic one allowing energy conservation in anaerobic microorganisms. One of the three ferredoxins of the bacterium, that was named FdxB, was also purified and characterized. It contains a low-potential (Em = -450 mV) [4Fe4S] cluster. We found that Hnd was not able to reduce NADP+, and that it catalyzes the simultaneous reduction of FdxB and NAD+. Moreover, Hnd is the first electron-bifurcating hydrogenase that retains activity when purified aerobically due to formation of an inactive state of its catalytic site protecting against O2 damage (Hinact). Hnd is highly active with the artificial redox partner (methyl viologen) and can perform the electron-bifurcation reaction to oxidize H2 with a specific activity of 10 μmol of NADH/min/mg of enzyme. Surprisingly, the ratio between NADH and reduced FdxB varies over the reaction with a decreasing amount of FdxB reduced per NADH produced, indicating a more complex mechanism than previously described. We proposed a new mechanistic model in which the ferredoxin is recycled at the hydrogenase catalytic subunit.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arlette Kpebe
- Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, BIP, 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402, Marseille Cedex 09, France.
| | - Martino Benvenuti
- Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, BIP, 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402, Marseille Cedex 09, France.
| | - Chloé Guendon
- Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, BIP, 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402, Marseille Cedex 09, France.
| | - Amani Rebai
- Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, BIP, 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402, Marseille Cedex 09, France
| | - Victoria Fernandez
- Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, BIP, 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402, Marseille Cedex 09, France
| | - Sébastien Le Laz
- Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, BIP, 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402, Marseille Cedex 09, France
| | - Emilien Etienne
- Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, BIP, 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402, Marseille Cedex 09, France.
| | - Bruno Guigliarelli
- Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, BIP, 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402, Marseille Cedex 09, France.
| | | | - Antonio L de Lacey
- Instituto de Catálisis y Petroleoquímica, CSIC, c/ Marie Curie 2, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Carole Baffert
- Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, BIP, 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402, Marseille Cedex 09, France.
| | - Myriam Brugna
- Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, BIP, 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402, Marseille Cedex 09, France.
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Russell MJ. Green Rust: The Simple Organizing 'Seed' of All Life? Life (Basel) 2018; 8:E35. [PMID: 30150570 PMCID: PMC6161180 DOI: 10.3390/life8030035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2018] [Revised: 06/28/2018] [Accepted: 08/14/2018] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Korenaga and coworkers presented evidence to suggest that the Earth's mantle was dry and water filled the ocean to twice its present volume 4.3 billion years ago. Carbon dioxide was constantly exhaled during the mafic to ultramafic volcanic activity associated with magmatic plumes that produced the thick, dense, and relatively stable oceanic crust. In that setting, two distinct and major types of sub-marine hydrothermal vents were active: ~400 °C acidic springs, whose effluents bore vast quantities of iron into the ocean, and ~120 °C, highly alkaline, and reduced vents exhaling from the cooler, serpentinizing crust some distance from the heads of the plumes. When encountering the alkaline effluents, the iron from the plume head vents precipitated out, forming mounds likely surrounded by voluminous exhalative deposits similar to the banded iron formations known from the Archean. These mounds and the surrounding sediments, comprised micro or nano-crysts of the variable valence FeII/FeIII oxyhydroxide known as green rust. The precipitation of green rust, along with subsidiary iron sulfides and minor concentrations of nickel, cobalt, and molybdenum in the environment at the alkaline springs, may have established both the key bio-syntonic disequilibria and the means to properly make use of them-the elements needed to effect the essential inanimate-to-animate transitions that launched life. Specifically, in the submarine alkaline vent model for the emergence of life, it is first suggested that the redox-flexible green rust micro- and nano-crysts spontaneously precipitated to form barriers to the complete mixing of carbonic ocean and alkaline hydrothermal fluids. These barriers created and maintained steep ionic disequilibria. Second, the hydrous interlayers of green rust acted as engines that were powered by those ionic disequilibria and drove essential endergonic reactions. There, aided by sulfides and trace elements acting as catalytic promoters and electron transfer agents, nitrate could be reduced to ammonia and carbon dioxide to formate, while methane may have been oxidized to methyl and formyl groups. Acetate and higher carboxylic acids could then have been produced from these C1 molecules and aminated to amino acids, and thence oligomerized to offer peptide nests to phosphate and iron sulfides, and secreted to form primitive amyloid-bounded structures, leading conceivably to protocells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael J Russell
- Planetary Chemistry and Astrobiology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109-8099, USA.
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Poudel S, Dunham EC, Lindsay MR, Amenabar MJ, Fones EM, Colman DR, Boyd ES. Origin and Evolution of Flavin-Based Electron Bifurcating Enzymes. Front Microbiol 2018; 9:1762. [PMID: 30123204 PMCID: PMC6085437 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.01762] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2018] [Accepted: 07/13/2018] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Twelve evolutionarily unrelated oxidoreductases form enzyme complexes that catalyze the simultaneous coupling of exergonic and endergonic oxidation–reduction reactions to circumvent thermodynamic barriers and minimize free energy loss in a process known as flavin-based electron bifurcation. Common to these 12 bifurcating (Bf) enzymes are protein-bound flavin, the proposed site of bifurcation, and the electron carrier ferredoxin. Despite the documented role of Bf enzymes in balancing the redox state of intracellular electron carriers and in improving the efficiency of cellular metabolism, a comprehensive description of the diversity and evolutionary history of Bf enzymes is lacking. Here, we report the taxonomic distribution, functional diversity, and evolutionary history of Bf enzyme homologs in 4,588 archaeal, bacterial, and eukaryal genomes and 3,136 community metagenomes. Bf homologs were primarily detected in the genomes of anaerobes, including those of sulfate-reducers, acetogens, fermenters, and methanogens. Phylogenetic analyses of Bf enzyme catalytic subunits (oxidoreductases) suggest they were not a property of the Last Universal Common Ancestor of Archaea and Bacteria, which is consistent with the limited and unique taxonomic distributions of enzyme homologs among genomes. Further, phylogenetic analyses of oxidoreductase subunits reveal that non-Bf homologs predate Bf homologs. These observations indicate that multiple independent recruitments of flavoproteins to existing oxidoreductases enabled coupling of numerous new electron Bf reactions. Consistent with the role of these enzymes in the energy metabolism of anaerobes, homologs of Bf enzymes were enriched in metagenomes from subsurface environments relative to those from surface environments. Phylogenetic analyses of homologs from metagenomes reveal that the earliest evolving homologs of most Bf enzymes are from subsurface environments, including fluids from subsurface rock fractures and hydrothermal systems. Collectively, these data suggest strong selective pressures drove the emergence of Bf enzyme complexes via recruitment of flavoproteins that allowed for an increase in the efficiency of cellular metabolism and improvement in energy capture in anaerobes inhabiting a variety of subsurface anoxic habitats where the energy yield of oxidation-reduction reactions is generally low.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saroj Poudel
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, United States
| | - Eric C Dunham
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, United States
| | - Melody R Lindsay
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, United States
| | - Maximiliano J Amenabar
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, United States
| | - Elizabeth M Fones
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, United States
| | - Daniel R Colman
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, United States
| | - Eric S Boyd
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, United States
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