The binding of a fluorescent activator 2-(N-decyl)aminonaphthalene-6-sulfonic acid to pyruvate oxidase

E. coli pyruvate oxidase (pyruvate:ferricytochrome b1 oxidoreductase, EC 1.2.2.2) is a peripheral membrane flavoenzyme which has been purified to homogeneity. In vivo the oxidase resides on the inner surface of the cytoplasmic membrane and is coupled to the bacterial electron transport chain. In vitro, the purified oxidase requires lipids for full enzymatic activity. Previous studies have characterized the conformational and energetic coupling between the lipid-binding site(s) and the catalytic active site. The affinity of the enzyme for phospholipids and detergents is significantly enhanced when the flavoprotein is in the reduced form, i.e., in the presence of pyruvate and the required cofactor, thiamin pyrophosphate. The lipid-binding studies were hindered due to the complicating factor of the self-association of the substrate-reduced flavoprotein. In this paper, fluorescence techniques are employed to measure the binding of a detergent-like activator to the oxidase. The experiments are performed at much lower protein concentrations than previously employed, so that protein aggregation is not a problem. The chromophore on the activator, 2-(N-decyl)aminonaphthalene-6-sulfonic acid is effective at quenching the pyruvate oxidase intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence. Quenching titrations are used to obtain the binding isotherm. AT DNS concentrations less than 10(-5) M, the results show a larger amount of DNS binding to the reduced flavoprotein than to the oxidized form of the enzyme. This is the concentration range where DNS is an effective activator of the enzyme. This represents a class of binding sites specifically found on pyruvate oxidase and not apparent in other proteins such as lysozyme or aldolase. At the DNS concentration which is optimum for activation approx. 20 molecules of DNS are bound per enzyme tetramer in the absence of the substrate. The pyruvate-reduced form of the enzyme binds about 40--50 molecules of DNS per tetramer. Qualitatively, the results are similar to what was previously found for both sodium dodecyl sulfate and cetyl trimethylammonium bromide. However, in both these cases, the amount of bound detergent was nearly an order of magnitude less than the values obtained using DNS.     

Characterization of monoclonal antibodies directed against pyruvate oxidase from Escherichia coli: modulation of antibody-induced inhibition by enzyme conformation

Monoclonal antibodies have been prepared against pyruvate oxidase, a flavoprotein dehydrogenase isolated from Escherichia coli. Six monoclonals were obtained, but only one was found to bind to the native form of the enzyme. This monoclonal, 1I1, was a potent inhibitor. Although this antibody inhibited the unactivated and lipid-activated forms of the enzyme, it had much less of an inhibitory effect on the protease-activated form of the enzyme, although the antibody still bound to this form. Hence, the coupling between antibody binding and the conformation at the active site can itself be modulated by the conformation of the protein.     

Activation of Escherichia coli pyruvate oxidase enhances the oxidation of hydroxyethylthiamin pyrophosphate

The catalytic efficiency (kcat/Km) of Escherichia coli flavin pyruvate oxidase can be stimulated 450-fold either by the addition of lipid activators or by limited proteolytic hydrolysis. Previous studies have shown that a functional lipid binding site is a mandatory prerequisite for the in vivo functioning of this enzyme (Grabau, C., and Cronan, J. E., Jr. (1986) Biochemistry 25, 3748-3751). The effect of activation on the transient state kinetics of partial reactions in the overall oxidative conversion of pyruvate to acetate and CO2 has now been examined. The rate of decarboxylation of pyruvate to form CO2 and hydroxyethylthiamin pyrophosphate for both activated and unactivated forms of the enzyme is identical within experimental error. The decarboxylation step was measured using substrate concentrations of the enzyme in the absence of an electron acceptor. The pseudo-first order rate constant for the decarboxylation step is 60-80 s-1. The rate of oxidation of hydroxyethylthiamin pyrophosphate and concomitant enzyme-bound flavin reduction was analyzed by stopped-flow methods utilizing synthetic hydroxyethylthiamin pyrophosphate. The pseudo-first order rate for this step with unactivated enzyme was 2.85 s-1 and increased 145-fold for lipid-activated enzyme to 413 s-1 and 61-fold for the proteolytically activated enzyme to 173 s-1. The analysis of a third reaction step, the reoxidation of enzyme-bound FADH, was also investigated by stopped-flow techniques utilizing ferricyanide as the electron acceptor. The rate of oxidation of enzyme.FADH is very fast for both unactivated (1041 s-1) and activated enzyme (645 s-1). The data indicate that the FAD reduction step is the rate-limiting step in the overall reaction for unactivated enzyme. Alternatively, the rate-limiting step in the overall reaction with the activated enzyme shifts to one of the partial steps in the decarboxylation reaction.     

Common ancestry of Escherichia coli pyruvate oxidase and the acetohydroxy acid synthases of the branched-chain amino acid biosynthetic pathway

A number of enzymes require flavin for their catalytic activity, although the reaction catalyzed involves no redox reaction. The best studied of these enigmatic nonredox flavoproteins are the acetohydroxy acid synthases (AHAS), which catalyze early steps in the synthesis of branched-chain amino acids in bacteria, yeasts, and plants. Previously, work from our laboratory showed strong amino acid sequence homology between these enzymes and Escherichia coli pyruvate oxidase, a classical flavoprotein dehydrogenase that catalyzes the decarboxylation of pyruvate to acetate. We have now shown this homology (i) to also be present in the DNA sequences and (ii) to represent functional homology in that pyruvate oxidase has AHAS activity and a protein consisting of the amino-terminal half of pyruvate oxidase and the carboxy-terminal half of E. coli AHAS I allows native E. coli AHAS I to function without added flavin. The hybrid protein contains tightly bound flavin, which is essential for the flavin substitution activity. These data, together with the sequence homologies and identical cofactors and substrates, led us to propose that the AHAS enzymes are descended from pyruvate oxidase (or a similar protein) and, thus, that the flavin requirement of the AHAS enzymes is a vestigial remnant, which may have been conserved to play a structural rather than a chemical function.     

丙酮酸氧化酶激活机制的研究——α-肽与磷脂囊的结合

 丙酮酸氧化酶既能被两性脂类激活,也能被蛋白酶从羧基端切下一个23肽(称α-肽)激活,而且这两种激活方式相互排斥。本文用分离纯化的α-肽,通过测定色氨酸荧光能量转移的方法,证明α-肽能与磷脂囊(vesicle)结合。我们选用两种不同类型的荧光探针,发现α-肽对它们表现不同的色氨酸能量转移效率。α-肽对Dan-syl-DPPE为7.4±1.0％对Dansyl-UAPC为12.5±2.0％。由此推测α-肽的色氨酸残基易与磷脂双层内部疏水区结合,说明α-肽是一种较为疏水的肽。我们推测α-肽在这种外膜酶的激活过程中,提供了与膜结合的部位,在生理过程中起着重要作用。     

Purification and some properties of cholesterol oxidase from Schizophyllum commune with covalently bound flavin.

Cholesterol oxidase [EC 1.1.3.6] from Schizophyllum commune was purified by an affinity chromatography using 3-O-succinylcholesterol-ethylenediamine (3-cholesteryl-3-[2-aminoethylamido]propionate) Sepharose gels. The resulting preparation was homogeneous as judged by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The molecular weight of the enzyme was estimated to be 53,000 by SDS-gel electrophoresis and 46,000 by sedimentation equilibrium. The enzyme contained 483 amino acid residues as calculated on the basis of the molecular weight of 53,000. The enzyme consumed 60 mumol of O2/min per mg of protein with 1.3 mM cholesterol at 37 degrees C. The enzyme showed the highest activity with cholesterol; 3 beta-hydroxysteroids, such as dehydroepiandrosterone, pregnenolone, and lanosterol, were also oxidized at slower rates. Ergosterol was not oxidized by the enzyme. The Km for cholesterol was 0.33 mM and the optimal pH was 5.0. The enzyme is a flavoprotein which shows a visible absorption spectrum having peaks at 353 nm and 455 nm in 0.1 M acetate buffer, pH 4.0. The spectrum was characterized by the hypsochromic shift of the second absorption peak of the bound flavin. The bound flavin was reduced on anaerobic addition of a model substrate, dehydroepiandrosterone. Neither acid not heat treatment released the flavin coenzyme from the enzyme protein. The flavin of the enzyme could be easily released from the enzyme protein in acid-soluble form as flavin peptides when the enzyme protein was digested with trypsin plus chymotrypsin. The mobilities of the aminoacyl flavin after hydrolysis of the flavin peptides on thin layer chromatography and high voltage electrophoresis differed from those of free FAD, FMN, and riboflavin. A pKa value of 5.1 was obtained from pH-dependent fluorescence quenching process of the aminoacyl flavin. AMP was detected by hydrolysis of the flavin peptides with nucleotide pyrophosphatase. The results indicate strongly that cholesterol oxidase from Schizophyllum commune contains FAD as the prothetic group, which is covalently linked to the enzyme protein. The properties of the bound FAD were comparable to those of N (1)-histidyl FAD.     

Kinetic studies of the lipid-activated pyruvate oxidase flavoprotein of Escherichia coli

Pyruvate oxidase is a flavoprotein dehydrogenase isolated from Escherichia coli which catalyzes the oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvate to acetate and CO2. In vivo, the enzyme can bind to the bacterial membrane and reduce ubiquinone-8, feeding electrons into the respiratory chain. The purified enzyme has been shown previously to bind to phospholipids and detergents and, upon doing so, is activated. The turnover with ferricyanide as an electron acceptor increases 20- to 30-fold upon lipid binding. In this work, initial velocity and stop-flow kinetics are used to investigate the activation of this enzyme. It is shown that the unactivated form of the enzyme is markedly hysteretic. Progress curves at low substrate concentrations show an initial acceleration in enzyme turnover. This is consistent with the results of stop-flow experiments. Rates obtained for either the reduction of the unactivated flavoprotein by pyruvate or its reoxidation by ferricyanide in single turnover experiments are much slower than the rates predicted by observed turnover in initial velocity studies, in some cases by more than 2 orders of magnitude. The data are best explained by the slow interconversion between two forms of the enzyme, one with low turnover and one which rapidly turns over. As isolated, the enzyme is highly unreactive, as revealed by the stop-flow experiments. During turnover, even in the absence of lipid activators, some of the enzyme converts to the rapid-turnover form. This slow interconversion is shown by kinetic simulation to preclude a steady state from being established. Lipid activators appear to shift the equilibrium to favor the rapid-turnover form of the enzyme. Once the enzyme is "locked" into an activated conformation, the hysteresis is no longer observed, and the stop-flow results are in agreement with data obtained from initial velocity experiments. Activation appears to result in both increased rates of electron transfer into and out of the flavin.     

Purification and characterization of vanillyl-alcohol oxidase from Penicillium simplicissimum. A novel aromatic alcohol oxidase containing covalently bound FAD.

Vanillyl-alcohol oxidase was purified 32-fold from Penicillium simplicissimum, grown on veratryl alcohol as its sole source of carbon and energy. SDS/PAGE of the purified enzyme reveals a single fluorescent band of 65 kDa. Gel filtration and sedimentation-velocity experiments indicate that the purified enzyme exists in solution as an octamer, containing 1 molecule flavin/subunit. The covalently bound prosthetic group of the enzyme was identified as 8 alpha-(N3-histidyl)-FAD from pH-dependent fluorescence quenching (pKa = 4.85) and no decrease in fluorescence upon reduction with sodium borohydride. The enzyme shows a narrow substrate specificity, only vanillyl alcohol and 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol are substrates for the enzyme. Cinnamyl alcohol is a strong competitive inhibitor of vanillyl-alcohol oxidation. The visible absorption spectrum of the oxidized enzyme shows maxima at 354 nm and 439 nm, and shoulders at 370, 417 and 461 nm. Under anaerobic conditions, the enzyme is easily reduced by vanillyl alcohol to the two-electron reduced form. Upon mixing with air, rapid reoxidation of the flavin occurs. Both with dithionite reduction and photoreduction in the presence of EDTA and 5-deazaflavin the red semiquinone flavin radical is transiently stabilized. Opposite to most flavoprotein oxidases, vanillyl-alcohol oxidase does not form a flavin N5-sulfite adduct. Photoreduction of the enzyme in the presence of the competitive inhibitor cinnamyl alcohol gives rise to a complete, irreversible bleaching of the flavin spectrum.     

Purification of the peroxisomal fatty acyl-CoA oxidase from rat liver

Fatty acyl-CoA oxidase, the rate limiting enzyme of the peroxisomal fatty acid oxidizing system, has been purified from rat liver to near homogeneity by a procedure involving affinity chromatography of its apoenzyme on flavin adenin dinucleotide-Sepharose. The oxidase presents an absolute requirement for the dinucleotide which is weakly bound to the apoenzyme (K_D, 0.6 μM). The highest specific activity obtained was 27 units/mg protein. The purified enzyme has two major polypeptides with apparent molecular weights of 45,000 and 22,000. These results suggest that the enzyme is a flavoprotein with non covalently bound flavin adenin dinucleotide composed of four subunits, two of 45,000 m.w. and two of 22,000 m.w.     

Quasi-elastic light scattering studies on pyruvate oxidase.

Quasi-elastic or dynamic light scattering has been used to examine the translational diffusion properties of the enzyme pyruvate oxidase (pyruvate: ferricytochrome beta 1 oxidoreductase, EC 1.2.2.2.). Controlled proteolysis of the enzyme converts the native form of the enzyme to a protease-activated form which has a specific activity about 20-fold greater than the native oxidase. Light scattering studies indicate no significant change in the size or shape of pyruvate oxidase as a result of this proteolytic activation. In both cases the enzyme may be characterized as a hydrated sphere with a Stokes radius of about 53A. The sedimentation velocity-diffusion technique was used to obtain the molecular weight of this tetrameric enzyme, about 252 000 with a value of f/f0 of 1.25.     

Purification and biochemical characterization of pyruvate oxidase from Lactobacillus plantarum

Pyruvate oxidase (EC 1.2.3.3) was isolated and characterized from Lactobacillus plantarum. The enzyme catalyzes the oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvate in the presence of phosphate and oxygen, yielding acetyl phosphate, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen peroxide. This pyruvate oxidase is a flavoprotein, with the relatively tightly bound cofactors flavin adenine dinucleotide, thiamine pyrophosphate, and a divalent metal ion, with Mn2+ being the most effective. The enzyme is only slightly inhibited by EDTA, implying that the enzyme-bound metal ion is poorly accessible to EDTA. Only under relatively drastic conditions, such as acid ammonium sulfate precipitation, could a colorless and entirely inactive apoenzyme be obtained. A partial reactivation of the enzyme was only possible by the combined addition of flavin adenine dinucleotide, thiamine pyrophosphate, and MnSO4. The enzyme has a molecular weight of ca. 260,000 and consists of four subunits with apparently identical molecular weights of 68,000. For catalytic activity the optimum pH is 5.7, and the optimum temperature is 30 degrees C. The Km values for pyruvate, phosphate, and arsenate are 0.4, 2.3, and 1.2 mM, respectively. The substrate specificity revealed that the enzyme reacts also with certain aldehydes and that phosphate can be replaced by arsenate. In addition to oxygen, several artificial compounds can function as electron acceptors.     

Effects of reversing the protein positive charge in the proximity of the flavin N(1) locus of choline oxidase

A protein positive charge near the flavin N(1) locus is a distinguishing feature of most flavoprotein oxidases, with mechanistic implications for the modulation of flavin reactivity. A recent study showed that in the active site of choline oxidase the protein positive charge is provided by His(466). Here, we have reversed the charge by substitution with aspartate (CHO-H466D) and, for the first time, characterized a flavoprotein oxidase with a negative charge near the flavin N(1) locus. CHO-H466D formed a stable complex with choline but lost the ability to oxidize the substrate. In contrast to the wild-type enzyme, which binds FAD covalently in a 1:1 ratio, CHO-H466D contained approximately 0.3 FAD per protein, of which 75% was not covalently bound to the enzyme. Anaerobic reduction of CHO-H466D resulted in the formation of a neutral hydroquinone, with no stabilization of the flavin semiquinone; in contrast, the anionic semiquinone and hydroquinone species were observed with the wild type and a H466A variant of the enzyme. The midpoint reduction potential for the oxidized-reduced couple in CHO-H466D was approximately 160 mV lower than that of the wild-type enzyme. Finally, CHO-H466D lost the ability to form complexes with glycine betaine or sulfite. Thus, with a reversal of the protein charge near the FAD N(1) locus, choline oxidase lost the ability to stabilize negative charges in the active site, irrespective of whether they develop on the flavin or are borne on ligands, resulting in defective flavinylation of the protein, the decreased electrophilicity of the flavin, and the consequent loss of catalytic activity.     

Characterization of the alpha-peptide released upon protease activation of pyruvate oxidase

The pyruvate oxidase of Escherichia coli is a homo-tetrameric enzyme which can be activated greater than 500-fold (kcat/Km) by limited proteolytic digestion with alpha-chymotrypsin in the presence of pyruvate and thiamine pyrophosphate. The cleavage produces an Mr 2000 peptide (the alpha-peptide) from each subunit and mimics the physiologically important activation of the enzyme by phospholipids. Moreover, the proteolytic cleavage results in the loss of the high affinity lipid-binding site of the enzyme. We now report the isolation and characterization of the alpha-peptide fragment which is cleaved from the carboxyl terminus of each subunit by protease activation. Both the site of cleavage and the sequence of the alpha-peptide have been determined by a combination of Edman degradation of the purified peptide and DNA sequence analysis of the gene encoding the oxidase. The cleavage site lies within a sequence of hydrophobic amino acids predicted to form a beta-sheet. Another segment of the alpha-peptide is predicted to form an amphipathic alpha-helix. Quantitative assessment of the amphipathic nature of this alpha-helix (Eisenberg, D. (1984) Annu. Rev. Biochem. 53, 595-623) gives a value very similar to the values for several helical peptides which spontaneously bind to the surface of phospholipid vesicles. From these analyses, we propose that the alpha-peptide may play a role in binding pyruvate oxidase to cell membrane phospholipids in vivo.     

Proteolysis of L-(+)-lactate cytochrome c oxidoreductase (cytochrome b2) extracted from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Hansenula anomala yeasts.

The L-(+)-Lactate:cytochrome c oxidoreductase or cytochrome b2 from the yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Hansenula anomala were partially hydrolysed in various concentrations of trypsin. Conditions were found which allowed the isolation from the Hansenula enzyme of a 140 000 +/- 10 000-dalton flavoprotein. The prosthetic flavin groups were still reducible by substrate (spectroscopic evidence) but the flavoprotein was unable to form a complex with cytochrome c, the physiological acceptor in the enzymatic reaction. No such flavoprotein units could be found during proteolysis of the Saccharomyces enzyme. The heme prosthetic group of the Hansenula enzyme remained bound to a 15 500 +/- 1000-dalton protein unit which was larger than, but very similar to, the well known 'cytochrome b2 core' of the Saccharomyces enzyme. Moreover, the degradation of different enzyme samples by contaminated proteases allowed the isolation of a particular form of Hansenula enzyme: each tetramer had, on the mean, four bound flavins and only two heme groups. These molecules completely retained their ability to form a complex with cytochrome c.     

The streptococcal flavoprotein NADH oxidase. II. Interactions of pyridine nucleotides with reduced and oxidized enzyme forms

Anaerobic addition of 0.5 eq of NADH/FAD to the streptococcal NADH oxidase produces a redox form spectrally similar to that obtained with 0.5 eq of dithionite/FAD. The second phase of the titration, however, in addition to reducing the flavin with 1 eq of NADH/FAD, leads to the appearance of a long-wavelength absorbance band centered at 725 nm. Reductive titrations of the enzyme with 3-acetylpyridine-adenine dinucleotide, which has a redox potential 72 mV more positive than that of NADH, yield a similar reduced enzyme species. Dithionite reduction of the NADH oxidase followed by titration with NAD+ partially mimics the long-wavelength absorbance of the NADH-reduced enzyme but also leads to the oxidation of 1 FADH2/dimer. NADH is not formed, however, and a similar result is obtained when the dithionite-reduced oxidase is titrated with the nonreducible substrate analog 3-aminopyridine-adenine dinucleotide. These data indicate that the FADH2 oxidation observed is intramolecular and suggest that the active centers of the two apparently identical subunits/dimer are not equivalent. These results also demonstrate that bound pyridine nucleotides can modulate the redox manifold of the NADH oxidase and, when taken together with the effects of these ligands on pre-steady-state behavior, suggest an important regulatory aspect of the catalytic redox function of this unique flavoprotein.     

L-amino-acid oxidase from the Malayan pit viper Calloselasma rhodostoma. Comparative sequence analysis and characterization of active and inactive forms of the enzyme.

Here we report the cDNA-deduced amino-acid sequence of L-amino-acid oxidase (LAAO) from the Malayan pit viper Calloselasma rhodostoma, which shows 83% identity to LAAOs from the Eastern and Western diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus and Crotalus atrox, respectively). Phylogenetic comparison of the FAD-dependent ophidian LAAOs to FAD-dependent oxidases such as monoamine oxidases, D-amino-acid oxidases and tryptophan 2-monooxygenases reveals only distant relationships. Nevertheless, all LAAOs share a highly conserved dinucleotide-binding fold with monoamine oxidases, tryptophan 2-monooxygenases and various other proteins that also may have a requirement for FAD. In order to characterize Ca. rhodostoma LAAO biochemically, the enzyme was purified from snake venom to apparent homogeneity. It was found that the enzyme undergoes inactivation by either freezing or increasing the pH to above neutrality. Both inactivation processes are fully reversible and are associated with changes in the UV/visible range of the flavin absorbance spectrum. In addition, the spectral characteristics of the freeze-and pH-induced inactivated enzyme are the same, indicating that the flavin environments are similar in the two inactive conformational forms. Monovalent anions, such as Cl(-), prevent pH-induced inactivation. LAAO exhibits typical flavoprotein oxidase properties, such as thermodynamic stabilization of the red flavin semiquinone radical and formation of a sulfite adduct. The latter complex as well as the complex with the competitive substrate inhibitor, anthranilate, were only formed with the active form of the enzyme indicating diminished accessibility of the flavin binding site in the inactive form(s) of the enzyme.     

The liver microsomal FAD-containing monooxygenase. Spectral characterization and kinetic studies.

A FAD-containing monooxygenase isolated from pig liver microsomes migrates as a single band upon electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gels in the presence of dodecyl sulfate. The minimum molecular weight based on mass of amino acids per mole of flavin is 64,000. However, the catalytically active enzyme exists as aggregating units of the monomer. Neither oxygen nor organic substrates perturbed the spectrum of the oxidized flavoprotein and their binding to this form of the enzyme could not be detected. Anaerobically NADPH bleaches the flavoprotein, and in the presence of both NADPH and oxygen a remarkably stable intermediate form of the enzyme, with an absorption band at 375 nm, is observed. The spectrum of the intermediate resembles that of a peroxyflavin. The monooxygenase catalyzes NADPH- and oxygen-dependent oxygenations of nucleophilic nitrogen- or sulfur-containing compounds. Kinetic studies carried out with a model organic nitrogen substrate (trimethylamine) and a sulfur substrate (methimazole) gave similar patterns. The kinetic data are consistent with an ordered Ter-Bi mechanism with an irreversible step between the second and third substrate where NADPH is added first, followed by oxygen, and the oxidizable organic substrate is added last. If NADPH is the first substrate added, then NADP+ must be the last product released since NADP+ is competitive with NADPH.     

Solvent accessibility to flavin in oxynitrilase

Oxynitrilase containing 2-thioFAD [C(2) = S] in place of FAD exhibits catalytic activity similar to that of native enzyme. Reaction of methyl methanethiolsulfonate with 2-thioFAD bound to oxynitrilase results in the formation of the corresponding flavin disulfide [C(2)-SSCH3]. Normal flavin [C(2) = O] is formed by reacting 2-thioFAD oxynitrilase with m-chloroperoxybenzoate or H2O2. Both reactions proceed via a spectrally detectable flavin 2-S-oxide intermediate [C(2) = S+-O-], but sizable amounts of this intermediate accumulate only in the m-chloroperoxybenzoate reaction (about 40%). While similar reactions have been reported with free 2-thioflavin, kinetic and other data indicate that the oxynitrilase reactions occur with intact enzyme. This shows that the 2-position of the pyrimidine ring in the bound coenzyme is accessible to solvent. The data are consistent with previous studies on the reaction of peroxides with oxynitrilase-bound 5-deazaFAD which show that the pyrimidine ring is accessible at position 4. Analogous studies indicate that the pyrimidine ring is buried in the case of flavin bound to lactate oxidase, since the data indicate that both positions 2 and 4 are inaccessible to solvent.     

Bacterial sarcosine oxidase: identification of novel substrates and a biradical reaction intermediate

Corynebacterial sarcosine oxidase contains both covalently and noncovalently bound FAD and forms complexes with various heterocyclic carboxylic acids (D-proline and 2-furoic, 2-pyrrolecarboxylic, and 2-thiophenecarboxylic acids). 2-Furoic acid, a competitive inhibitor with respect to sarcosine, selectively perturbs the absorption spectrum of the noncovalent flavin, suggesting that the enzyme has a single sarcosine binding site near the noncovalent flavin. Several heterocyclic amines have been identified as new substrates for the enzyme. Similar reactivity is observed with L-proline and L-pipecolic acid whereas L-2-azetidine-carboxylic acid is less reactive. Turnover with L-proline is slow (TN = 4.4 min-1) as compared with sarcosine (TN = 1000 min-1). Anaerobic reduction of the enzyme with heterocyclic amine substrates at pH 8.0 occurs as a biphasic reaction. A similar long-wavelength intermediate is formed in the initial fast phase of each reaction and then decays in a slower second phase to yield 1,5-dihydroFAD. The slow phase is not kinetically significant during aerobic turnover at pH 8.0 and is absent when the anaerobic reactions are conducted at pH 7.0. EPR and other studies at pH 7.0 show that the long-wavelength species is a half-reduced form of the enzyme (1 electron/substrate-reducible flavin) containing 0.9 mol of flavin radical/mol of substrate-reducible flavin. This biradical intermediate exhibits an absorption spectrum similar to that expected for a 50:50 mixture of red anionic and blue neutral flavin radicals. A similar long-wavelength species is observed during titration of the enzyme with sarcosine and other reductants. Studies with L-proline suggest that reduction of the enzyme involves initial transfer of two electrons to the noncovalent flavin. The covalent flavin is not required and can be complexed with sulfite without affecting the rate of electron transfer. The initial half-reduced form of the enzyme appears to be rapidly converted to the biradical form via comproportionation of the reduced noncovalent flavin with the oxidized covalent flavin.     

D-aspartate oxidase from beef kidney. Purification and properties

The flavoprotein D-aspartate oxidase (EC 1.4.3.1) has been purified to homogeneity from beef kidney cortex. The protein is a monomer with a molecular weight of 39,000 containing 1 molecule of flavin. The enzyme as isolated is a mixture of a major active form containing FAD and a minor inactive form containing 6-hydroxy-flavin adenine dinucleotide (6-OH-FAD). The absorption and fluorescence spectral properties of the two forms have been studied separately after reconstitution of the apoprotein with FAD or 6-OH-FAD, respectively. FAD-reconstituted D-aspartate oxidase has flavin fluorescence, shows characteristic spectral perturbation upon binding of the competitive inhibitor tartaric acid, is promptly reduced by D-aspartic acid under anaerobiosis, reacts with sulfite to form a reversible covalent adduct, stabilizes the red anionic form of the flavin semiquinone upon photoreduction, and yields the 3,4-dihydro-FAD-form after reduction with borohydride. A Kd of 5 X 10(-8) M was calculated for the binding of FAD to the apoprotein. 6-OH-FAD-reconstituted D-aspartate oxidase has no flavin fluorescence, shows no spectral perturbation in the presence of tartaric acid, is not reduced by D-aspartic acid under anaerobiosis, does not stabilize any semiquinone upon photoreduction, and does not yield the 3,4-dihydro-form of the coenzyme when reduced with borohydride; the enzyme stabilizes the p-quinoid anionic form of 6-OH-FAD and lowers its pKa more than two pH units below the value observed for the free flavin. The general properties of the enzyme thus resemble those of the dehydrogenase/oxidase class of flavoprotein, particularly those of the amino acid oxidases.