Arginine 220 is a critical residue for the catalytic mechanism of the Streptomyces albus G beta-lactamase.

Residue Arg220 was found to be important for the acylation of the Streptomyces albus G beta-lactamase by classical penicillins and cephalosporins bearing a carboxylate on C3 or C4. The R220L mutant exhibited strongly decreased kcat/Km values for those compounds. Conversely the acylation rates by benzylpenicillin methylester and deacetylcephalosporin C lactone were little affected, indicating a direct or indirect role of that positively charged residue in the interaction of the enzyme cavity with the negative charge of the substrate. Surprisingly that residue is not conserved in all class A beta-lactamases but when it is not present it can be seen in the known tertiary structures that the guanidinium group of another arginine side chain (Arg244) is similarly positioned. The mutation affected the behaviour of the enzyme towards cephaloridine much less than towards cephalothin. This might represent an example of substrate-assisted catalysis where the disappearance of a positive charge on the enzyme is partly compensated by the presence of a similarly charged group on one of the substrate side chains. All the experimental results are nicely explained by computer-modelling of the enzyme-substrate interactions.     

Site-saturation mutagenesis and three-dimensional modelling of ROB-1 define a substrate binding role of Ser130 in class A beta-lactamases.

Site-saturation mutagenesis was performed on the class A ROB-1 beta-lactamase at conserved Ser130, which is centrally located in the antibiotic binding site where it can participate in both protein-protein and protein-substrate hydrogen bonding. Mutation Thr130 gave a beta-lactamase hydrolysing penicillins and cephalosporins but which showed a 3-fold lower affinity (Km) for ampicillin and cephalexin, and a 30-fold lower hydrolytic (Vmax) activity for ampicillin. In contrast, the hydrolytic activity for cephalexin was similar to the wild-type for the Thr130 mutation. Mutation Gly130 gave a beta-lactamase hydrolysing only penicillins with an affinity and hydrolysis activity for these compounds approximately 15-fold lower than the wild-type, but no detectable activity against cephalosporins. Mutation Ala130 produced an enzyme capable of hydrolysing penicillins only at a low rate. Modelling the ROB-1 active site was done from the refined 2 A X-ray structure of the homologous Bacillus licheniformis beta-lactamase. Ampicillin and cephalexin were docked into the active site and were energy minimized with the CVFF empirical force field. Dockings were stable only when Ser70 was made anionic and Glu166 was made neutral. Interaction energies and distances were calculated for fully hydrated pre-acylation complexes with the Ser, Thr, Gly and Ala130 enzymes. The catalytic data from all mutations and the computed interactions from modelling confirmed that the Ser130 has a structural as well as a functional role in binding and hydrolysis of penicillins. This highly conserved residue also plays a substrate specificity role by hydrogen binding the carboxylic acid group of cephalosporins more tightly than penicillins.     

Thermodynamic cycle analysis and inhibitor design against beta-lactamase

Beta-lactamases are the most widespread resistance mechanism to beta-lactam antibiotics, such as the penicillins and cephalosporins. Transition-state analogues that bind to the enzymes with nanomolar affinities have been introduced in an effort to reverse the resistance conferred by these enzymes. To understand the origins of this affinity, and to guide design of future inhibitors, double-mutant thermodynamic cycle experiments were undertaken. An unexpected hydrogen bond between the nonconserved Asn289 and a key inhibitor carboxylate was observed in the X-ray crystal structure of a 1 nM inhibitor (compound 1) in complex with AmpC beta-lactamase. To investigate the energy of this hydrogen bond, the mutant enzyme N289A was made, as was an analogue of 1 that lacked the carboxylate (compound 2). The differential affinity of the four different protein and analogue complexes indicates that the carboxylate-amide hydrogen bond contributes 1.7 kcal/mol to overall binding affinity. Synthesis of an analogue of 1 where the carboxylate was replaced with an aldehyde led to an inhibitor that lost all this hydrogen bond energy, consistent with the importance of the ionic nature of this hydrogen bond. To investigate the structural bases of these energies, X-ray crystal structures of N289A/1 and N289A/2 were determined to 1.49 and 1.39 A, respectively. These structures suggest that no significant rearrangement occurs in the mutant versus the wild-type complexes with both compounds. The mutant enzymes L119A and L293A were made to investigate the interaction between a phenyl ring in 1 and these residues. Whereas deletion of the phenyl itself diminishes affinity by 5-fold, the double-mutant cycles suggest that this energy does not come through interaction with the leucines, despite the close contact in the structure. The energies of these interactions provide key information for the design of improved inhibitors against beta-lactamases. The high magnitude of the ion-dipole interaction between Asn289 and the carboxylate of 1 is consistent with the idea that ionic interactions can provide significant net affinity in inhibitor complexes.     

The structural bases of antibiotic resistance in the clinically derived mutant beta-lactamases TEM-30, TEM-32, and TEM-34

Widespread use of beta-lactam antibiotics has promoted the evolution of beta-lactamase mutant enzymes that can hydrolyze ever newer classes of these drugs. Among the most pernicious mutants are the inhibitor-resistant TEM beta-lactamases (IRTs), which elude mechanism-based inhibitors, such as clavulanate. Despite much research on these IRTs, little is known about the structural bases of their action. This has made it difficult to understand how many of the resistance substitutions act as they often occur far from Ser-130. Here, three IRT structures, TEM-30 (R244S), TEM-32 (M69I/M182T), and TEM-34 (M69V), are determined by x-ray crystallography at 2.00, 1.61, and 1.52 A, respectively. In TEM-30, the Arg-244 --> Ser substitution (7.8 A from Ser-130) displaces a conserved water molecule that usually interacts with the beta-lactam C3 carboxylate. In TEM-32, the substitution Met-69 --> Ile (10 A from Ser-130) appears to distort Ser-70, which in turn causes Ser-130 to adopt a new conformation, moving its O gamma further away, 2.3 A from where the inhibitor would bind. This substitution also destabilizes the enzyme by 1.3 kcal/mol. The Met-182 --> Thr substitution (20 A from Ser-130) has no effect on enzyme activity but rather restabilizes the enzyme by 2.9 kcal/mol. In TEM-34, the Met-69 --> Val substitution similarly leads to a conformational change in Ser-130, this time causing it to hydrogen bond with Lys-73 and Lys-234. This masks the lone pair electrons of Ser-130 O gamma, reducing its nucleophilicity for cross-linking. In these three structures, distant substitutions result in accommodations that converge on the same point of action, the local environment of Ser-130.     

Inhibition of AmpC beta-lactamase through a destabilizing interaction in the active site.

Beta-lactamases hydrolyze beta-lactam antibiotics, including penicillins and cephalosporins; these enzymes are the most widespread resistance mechanism to these drugs and pose a growing threat to public health. beta-Lactams that contain a bulky 6(7)alpha substituent, such as imipenem and moxalactam, actually inhibit serine beta-lactamases and are widely used for this reason. Although mutant serine beta-lactamases have arisen that hydrolyze beta-lactamase resistant beta-lactams (e.g., ceftazidime) or avoid mechanism-based inhibitors (e.g., clavulanate), mutant serine beta-lactamases have not yet arisen in the clinic with imipenemase or moxalactamase activity. Structural and thermodynamic studies suggest that the 6(7)alpha substituents of these inhibitors form destabilizing contacts within the covalent adduct with the conserved Asn152 in class C beta-lactamases (Asn132 in class A beta-lactamases). This unfavorable interaction may be crucial to inhibition. To test this destabilization hypothesis, we replaced Asn152 with Ala in the class C beta-lactamase AmpC from Escherichia coli and examined the mutant enzyme's thermodynamic stability in complex with imipenem and moxalactam. Consistent with the hypothesis, the Asn152 --> Ala substitution relieved 0.44 and 1.10 kcal/mol of strain introduced by imipenem and moxalactam, respectively, relative to the wild-type complexes. However, the kinetic efficiency of AmpC N152A was reduced by 6300-fold relative to that of the wild-type enzyme. To further investigate the inhibitor's interaction with the mutant enzyme, the X-ray crystal structure of moxalactam in complex with N152A was determined to a resolution of 1.83 A. Moxalactam in the mutant complex is significantly displaced from its orientation in the wild-type complex; however, moxalactam does not adopt an orientation that would restore competence for hydrolysis. Although Asn152 forces beta-lactams with 6(7)alpha substituents out of a catalytically competent configuration, making them inhibitors, the residue is essential for orienting beta-lactam substrates and cannot simply be replaced with a much smaller residue to restore catalytic activity. Designing beta-lactam inhibitors that interact unfavorably with this conserved residue when in the covalent adduct merits further investigation.     

Characterization of the active-site residues asparagine 167 and lysine 161 of the IMP-1 metallo beta-lactamase

The roles of lysine at position 161 and asparagine at position 167 in IMP-1 metallo beta-lactamase were studied by site-directed mutagenesis. These residues are highly conserved in metallo beta-lactamases and are thought to be present in the active-site cavity. Mutant enzymes with alanine or aspartic acid at position 167 showed almost the same properties as the wild-type enzyme. Kinetic parameters for the mutant enzymes differing at position 161 indicated that the positive charge of lysine 161 is required for electrostatic interaction with the carboxyl moiety of the substrate, i.e. C-3 of penicillins or C-4 of cephalosporins.     

The importance of arginine 102 for the substrate specificity of Escherichia coli malate dehydrogenase.

The malate dehydrogenase from Escherichia coli has been specifically altered at a single amino acid residue by using site-directed mutagenesis. The conserved Arg residue at amino acid position 102 in the putative substrate binding site was replaced with a Gln residue. The result was the loss of the high degree of specificity for oxaloacetate. The difference in relative binding energy for oxaloacetate amounted to about 7 kcal/mol and a difference in specificity between oxaloacetate and pyruvate of 8 orders of magnitude between the wild-type and mutant enzymes. These differences may be explained by the large hydration potential of Arg and the formation of a salt bridge with a carboxylate group of oxaloacetate.     

Replacement of lysine 234 affects transition state stabilization in the active site of beta-lactamase TEM1

Lysine 234 is a residue highly conserved in all beta-lactamases, except in the carbenicillin-hydrolyzing enzymes, in which it is replaced by an arginine. Informational suppression has been used to create amino acid substitutions at this position in the broad spectrum Escherichia coli beta-lactamase TEM-1, in order to elucidate the role of this residue which lies on the wall at the closed end of the active site cavity. The mutants K234R and K234T were constructed and their kinetic constants measured. Replacement of lysine 234 by arginine yields an enzyme with similar activity toward cephalosporins and most penicillins, except toward the carboxypenicillins for which the presence of the guanidine group enhances the transition state binding. The removal of the basic group in the mutant K234T yields a protein variant which retains a low activity toward penicillins, but losts drastically its ability to hydrolyze cephalosporins. Moreover, these two mutations largely decreased the affinity of the enzyme for penicillins (10-fold for K234R and 50-fold for K234T). This can be correlated with the disruption of the predicted electrostatic binding between the C3 carboxylic group of penicillins and the amine function of the lysine. Therefore, lysine 234 in the E. coli beta-lactamase TEM-1 is involved both in the initial recognition of the substrate and in transition state stabilization.     

A strong carboxylate-arginine interaction is important in substrate orientation and recognition in lactate dehydrogenase

Using site-directed mutagenesis, Arginine-171 at the substrate-binding site of Bacillus stearothermophilus, lactate dehydrogenase has been replaced by lysine. In the closely homologous eukaryotic lactate dehydrogenase, this residue binds the carboxylate group of the substrate by forming a planar bifurcated bond. The mutation diminishes the binding energy of pyruvate, alpha-ketobutyrate and alpha-ketovalerate (measured by kcat/Km) by the same amount (about 6 kcal/mol). For each additional methylene group on the substrate, there is a loss of about 1.5 kcal/mol of binding energy in both mutant and wild-type enzymes. From these parallel trends in the two forms of enzyme, we infer that the mode of productive substrate binding is identical in each, the only difference being the loss of a strong carboxylate-guanidinium interaction in the mutant. In contrast to this simple pattern in kcat/Km, the Km alone increases with substrate-size in the wild-type enzyme, but decreases in the mutant. These results can be most simply explained by the occurrence of relatively tight unproductive enzyme-substrate complexes in the mutant enzyme as the substrate alkyl chain is extended. This does not occur in the wild-type enzyme, because the strong orienting effect of Arg-171 maximizes the frequency of substrates binding in the correct alignment.     

Quantitative analysis of the contribution of Glu46 and Asn98 to the guanosine specificity of ribonuclease T1

In the crystal structure of the ribonuclease T1 (RNase T1; EC 3.1.27.3)-2'-GMP complex the hydrogen-bonding potential of the guanine base is saturated [Arni, R., Heinemann, U., Tokuoka, R., & Saenger, W. (1988) J. Biol. Chem. 263, 15358-15368]. The oxygens of the Glu46 carboxylate and the Asn98 main-chain carbonyl act as hydrogen-bond acceptors for the N(1)H-C(2)-N(2)H2 part of the base. We measured the transesterification kinetics of wild-type and Glu46Ala RNase T1 using the GpU, IpU, and XpU series of analogous substrates. We found that the N(1)H---Glu46 O epsilon 1, the N(2)H---Glu46 O epsilon 2, and the N(2)H---Asn98 O hydrogen bonds have an apparent contribution of 2.7, 1.1, and 1.2 kcal/mol to the interaction energy of the enzyme and the transition state of the substrate. Wild-type RNase T1 discriminates guanine from nonionized xanthine (a guanine analogue in which the exocyclic amino group is replaced by an oxygen) by about 4.4 kcal/mol. Loss of the specific hydrogen bonds with the exocyclic amino group of the guanine base accounts for 2.4 kcal/mol of this discrimination energy; 2.0 kcal/mol is due to unfavorable non-H-bonded oxygen-oxygen contacts in the enzyme-xanthine complex. A pH dependence study shows that the deprotonated form of xanthine (i.e., the 6-keto-2-enolate anion; pKa = 5.4) is far less preferred, if not excluded, as substrate by wild-type RNase T1; this may be attributed to an electrostatic repulsion of the negatively charged xanthine by the Glu46 carboxylate group.     

Active-site mutants of beta-lactamase: use of an inactive double mutant to study requirements for catalysis

We have studied the catalytic activity and some other properties of mutants of Escherichia coli plasmid-encoded RTEM beta-lactamase (EC 3.5.2.6) with all combinations of serine and threonine residues at the active-site positions 70 and 71. (All natural beta-lactamases have conserved serine-70 and threonine-71.) From the inactive double mutant Ser-70----Thr, Thr-71----Ser [Dalbadie-McFarland, G., Cohen, L. W., Riggs, A. D., Morin, C., Itakura, K., & Richards, J. H. (1982) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 79, 6409-6413], an active revertant, Thr-71----Ser (i.e., residue 70 in the double mutant had changed from threonine to the serine conserved at position 70 in the wild-type enzyme), was isolated by an approach that allows identification of active revertants in the absence of a background of wild-type enzyme. This mutant (Thr-71----Ser) has about 15% of the catalytic activity of wild-type beta-lactamase. The other possible mutant involving serine and threonine residues at positions 70 and 71 (Ser-70----Thr) shows no catalytic activity. The primary nucleophiles of a serine or a cysteine residue [Sigal, I. S., Harwood, B. G., & Arentzen, R. (1982) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 79, 7157-7160] at position 70 thus seem essential for enzymatic activity. Compared to wild-type enzyme, all three mutants show significantly reduced resistance to proteolysis; for the active revertant (Thr-71----Ser), we have also observed reduced thermal stability and reduced resistance to denaturation by urea.     

Kinetic identification of a hydrogen bonding pair in the glucoamylase-maltose transition state complex.

Molecular recognition and site-directed mutagenesis are used in combination to identify kinetically, transition state interactions between glucoamylase (GA) and the substrate maltose. Earlier studies of mutant Glu180----Gln GA had indicated a role in substrate binding for Glu180 (Sierks, M.R., Ford, C., Reilly, P.J. and Svensson, B. (1990) Protein Engng, 3, 193-198). Here, changes in activation energies calculated from measured kcat/Km values for a series of deoxygenated maltose analogues indicate hydrogen bonding between the mutant enzyme and the 3-OH group of the reducing end sugar ring. Using the same substrate analogues and determining activation energies with wild-type GA an additional hydrogen bond with the 2-OH group of maltose is attributed to an interaction with the carboxylate Glu180. This novel combination of molecular recognition and site-directed mutagenesis enables an enzyme substrate transition state contact to be identified and characterized even without access to the three dimensional structure of the enzyme. Given the distant structural relationships between glucoamylases and several starch hydrolases (Svensson,B. (1988) FEBS Lett., 230, 72-76), such identified contacts may ultimately guide tailoring of the activity of these related enzymes.     

Protein-carbohydrate interactions defining substrate specificity in Bacillus 1,3-1,4-beta-D-glucan 4-glucanohydrolases as dissected by mutational analysis

The carbohydrate-binding site of Bacillus macerans 1,3-1, 4-beta-D-glucan 4-glucanohydrolase has been analyzed through a mutational analysis to probe the role of protein-carbohydrate interactions defining substrate specificity. Amino acid residues involved in substrate binding were proposed on the basis of a modeled enzyme-substrate complex [Hahn, M., Keitel, T., and Heinemann, U. (1995) Eur. J. Biochem. 232, 849-859]. The effects of the mutations at 15 selected residues on catalysis and binding were determined by steady-state kinetics using a series of chromogenic substrates of different degree of polymerization to assign the individual H-bond and hydrophobic contributions to individual subsites in the binding site cleft. The glucopyranose rings at subsites -III and -II are tightly bound by a number of H-bond interactions to Glu61, Asn24, Tyr92, and Asn180. From k(cat)/K(M) values, single H-bonds account for 1.8-2.2 kcal mol(-)(1) transition-state (TS) stabilization, and a charged H-bond contributes up to 3.5 kcal mol(-)(1). Glu61 forms a bidentated H-bond in subsites -III and -II, and provides up to 6.5 kcal mol(-)(1) TS stabilization. With a disaccharide substrate that fills subsites -I and -II, activation kinetics were observed for the wild-type and mutant enzymes except for mutations on Glu61, pointing to an important role of the bidentate interaction of Glu61 in two subsites. Whereas removal of the hydroxyl group of Tyr121, initially proposed to hydrogen-bond with the 2OH of Glcp-I, has essentially no effect (Y121F mutant), side-chain removal (Y121A mutant) gave a 100-fold reduction in k(cat)/K(M) and a 10-fold lower K(I) value with a competitive inhibitor. In subsite -IV, only a stacking interaction with Tyr22 (0.7 kcal mol(-)(1) TS stabilization) is observed.     

Role of ser-237 in the substrate specificity of the carbapenem-hydrolyzing class A beta-lactamase Sme-1.

The role of the serine residue found at position 237 in the carbapenemase Sme-1 has been investigated by constructing a mutant in which Ser-237 was replaced by an alanine. The S237A mutant showed a catalytic behavior against penicillins and aztreonam very similar to that of Sme-1. By contrast, S237A was characterized by a reduced catalytic efficiency against cephems, such as cephalothin and cephaloridine. In addition, the weak activity of Sme-1 against the cephamycin cefoxitin was hardly detectable with the mutant enzyme. Finally, the Ser-237-->Ala mutation resulted in a marked decrease in catalytic activity against imipenem, showing that Ser-237 contributes to the carbapenemase activity of the class A beta-lactamase Sme-1.     

Identification of the principal catalytically important acidic residue of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase

Kinetic analysis of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase has implicated a glutamate or aspartate residue in (i) formation of mevaldate thiohemiacetal by proton transfer to the carbonyl oxygen of mevaldate and (ii) enhanced ionization of CoASH by the resulting enzyme carboxylate anion, facilitating attack by CoAS- on the carbonyl carbon of mevaldate (Veloso, D., Cleland, W. W., and Porter, J. W. (1981) Biochemistry 81, 887-894). Although neither the identity of this acidic residue nor its location is known, the catalytic domains of 11 sequenced HMG-CoA reductases contain only 3 conserved acidic residues. For HMG-CoA reductase of Pseudomonas mevalonii, these residues are Glu52, Glu83, and Asp183. To identify the acidic residue that functions in catalysis, we generated mutants having alterations in these residues. The mutant proteins were expressed, purified, and characterized. Mutational alteration of residues Glu52 or Asp183 of P. mevalonii HMG-CoA reductase yielded enzymes with significant, but in some cases reduced, activity (Vmax = 100% Asp183----Ala, 65% Asp183----Asn, and 15% Glu52----Gln of wild-type activity, respectively). Although the activity of mutant enzymes Glu52----Gln and Asp183----Ala was undetectable under standard assay conditions, their Km values for substrates were 4-300-fold higher than those for wild-type enzyme. Km values for wild-type enzyme and for mutant enzymes Glu52----Gln and Asp183----Ala were, respectively: 0.41, 73, and 120 mM [R,S)-mevalonate); 0.080, 4.4, and 2.0 mM (coenzyme A); and 0.26, 4.4, and 1.0 mM (NAD+). By these criteria, neither Glu52 nor Asp183 is the acidic catalytic residue although each may function in substrate recognition. During chromatography on coenzyme A agarose or HMG-CoA agarose, mutant enzymes Asp183----Asn and Glu83----Gln behaved like wild-type enzyme. By contrast, and in support of a role for these residues in substrate recognition, mutant enzymes Glu52----Gln and Asp183----Ala exhibited impaired ability to bind to either support. Despite displaying Km values for substrates and chromatographic behavior on substrate affinity supports comparable to wild-type enzyme, only mutant enzyme Glu83----Gln was essentially inactive under all conditions studied (Vmax = 0.2% that of wild-type enzyme). Glutamate residue 83 of P. mevalonii HMG-CoA reductase, and consequently the glutamate of the consensus Pro-Met-Ala-Thr-Thr-Glu-Gly-Cys-Leu-Val-Ala motif of the catalytic domains of eukaryotic HMG-CoA reductases, is judged to be the acidic residue functional in catalysis.     

The effect of amino acid substitution at position 219 of Citrobacter freundii cephalosporinase on extension of its substrate spectrum.

The cephalosporinase of Citrobacter freundii GN346 is a class-C beta-lactamase comprising 361 amino acids. The substitution of the glutamic acid at position 219 in the enzyme by lysine was previously shown to broaden its substrate specificity to unfavorable substrates such as oxyimino cephalosporins [Tsukamoto, K., Ohno, R. & Sawai, T. (1990) J. Bacteriol. 172, 4348-4351]. To investigate the cause of this phenomenon, Glu219 was changed to glutamine, cysteine or tryptophan. All the resultant enzymes showed higher cefuroxime-hydrolytic activities than the wild type, the order of increasing cefuroxime-hydrolytic activity being as follows: Trp greater than Lys greater than Cys greater than Gln greater than Glu. The rate of hydrolysis of cefuroxime by the Trp219 enzyme was approximately 3 x 10(4) times that of the wild-type enzyme. The order of increasing cefuroxime hydrolysis was approximately proportional to the molecular volume of the amino acid substituted and independent of the ionic character of the amino acids. The cysteine residue at position 219 in the Cys219 enzyme allowed its complete reaction with an SH-blocking reagent, 4-chloromercuriphenylsulfonic acid. The modified enzyme with the bulkier residue showed a 45% higher cefuroxime-hydrolytic activity than the untreated enzyme. These results suggested that extension of the substrate spectrum may be attributed to alteration in the configuration of the enzyme around position 219.     

An engineered disulfide bond between residues 69 and 238 in extended-spectrum beta-lactamase Toho-1 reduces its activity toward third-generation cephalosporins

Previous crystallographic structural analysis of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase Toho-1 predicted that the high flexibility of beta-strand B3, the region that contains a conserved KTG motif and forms one wall of the substrate-binding site, could be one of the key features contributing to Toho-1 activity toward third-generation cephalosporins. To investigate whether this possible flexibility really affects the substrate profile of this enzyme, two Toho-1 mutants have been produced, G238C and G238C/G239in, in which the glycine residue at position 238 was replaced with a cysteine and an additional glycine residue was inserted. Our intent was to introduce a disulfide bond between the cysteine residues at positions 69 and 238, and thus to lock the position of beta-strand B3. The results of 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid) (DTNB) titration indicated formation of a new disulfide bridge in the G238C mutant, although disulfide bond formation was not confirmed in the G238C/G239in mutant. Kinetic analysis showed that the activity of the G238C mutant decreased drastically against third-generation cephalosporins, while its catalytic efficiency against penicillins and first-generation cephalosporins was almost identical to that of the wild-type enzyme. This result was consistent with the prediction that flexibility in beta-strand B3 was critical for activity against third-generation cephalosporins in Toho-1. Furthermore, we have determined the crystal structure of the G238C mutant enzyme to analyze the structural changes in detail. The structural model clearly shows the introduction of a new disulfide bridge and that there is no appreciable difference between the overall structures of the wild-type enzyme and the G238C mutant, although the introduced disulfide bond slightly influenced the positions of Ser237 on beta-strand B3 and Asn170 on the Omega loop. The results of our kinetic and structural analyses suggest that the flexibility of beta-strand B3, as well as the positions of Ser237 and the Omega loop, is critical for the substrate specificity expansion of Toho-1.     

Noncovalent interaction energies in covalent complexes: TEM-1 beta-lactamase and beta-lactams

The class A beta-lactamase TEM-1 is a key bacterial resistance enzyme against beta-lactam antibiotics, but little is known about the energetic bases for complementarity between TEM-1 and its inhibitors. Most inhibitors form a covalent adduct with the catalytic Ser70, making the measurement of equilibrium constants, and hence interaction energies, technically difficult. This study evaluates noncovalent interactions within covalent complexes by examining the differential stability of TEM-1 and its inhibitor adducts. The thermal denaturation of TEM-1 follows a two-state, reversible model with a melting temperature (T(m)) of 51.6C and a van't Hoff enthalpy of unfolding (DeltaH(VH)) of 146.2 kcal/mol at pH 7.0. The stability of the enzyme changes on forming an inhibitor adduct. As expected, some inhibitors stabilize TEM-1; transition-state analogues increase the T(m) by up to 3.7C (1.7 kcal/mol). Surprisingly, all beta-lactam covalent acyl--enzyme complexes tested destabilize TEM-1 significantly relative to the apo-enzyme. For instance, the clinically used inhibitor clavulanic acid and the beta-lactamase-resistant beta-lactams moxalactam and imipenem destabilize TEM-1 by over 2.6C (1.2 kcal/mol) in their covalent adducts. Based on the structure of the TEM-1/imipenem complex (Maveyraud et al., J Am Chem Soc 1998;120:9748--52), destabilization by moxalactam and imipenem is thought to be caused by a steric clash between the side-chain of Asn132 and the 6(7)-alpha group of these beta-lactams. To test this hypothesis, the mutant enzyme N132A was made. In contrast with wild-type, the covalent complexes between N132A and both imipenem and moxalactam stabilize the enzyme, consistent with the hypothesis. To investigate the structural bases of this dramatic change in stability, the structure of N132A/imipenem was determined by X-ray crystallography. In the complex with N132A, imipenem adopts a very different conformation from that observed in the wild-type complex, and the putative destabilizing interaction with residue 132 is relieved. Studies of several enzymes suggest that beta-lactams, and covalent inhibitors in general, can have either net favorable or net unfavorable noncovalent interaction energies within the covalent complex. In the case of TEM-1, such unfavorable interactions convert substrate analogues into very effective inhibitors.     

Relocation of the catalytic carboxylate group in class A beta-lactamase: the structure and function of the mutant enzyme Glu166-->Gln:Asn170-->Asp.

The hydrolysis of beta-lactam antibiotics by the serine-beta-lactamases proceeds via an acyl-enzyme intermediate. In the class A enzymes, a key catalytic residue, Glu166, activates a water molecule for nucleophilic attack on the acyl-enzyme intermediate. The active site architecture raises the possibility that the location of the catalytic carboxylate group may be shifted while still maintaining close proximity to the hydrolytic water molecule. A double mutant of the Staphylococcus aureus PC1 beta-lactamase, E166Q:N170D, was produced, with the carboxylate group shifted to position 170 of the polypeptide chain. A mutant protein, E166Q, without a carboxylate group and with abolished deacylation, was produced as a control. The kinetics of the two mutant proteins have been analyzed and the crystal structure of the double mutant protein has been determined. The kinetic data confirmed that deacylation was restored in E166Q:N170D beta-lactamase, albeit not to the level of the wild-type enzyme. In addition, the kinetics of the double mutant enzyme follows progressive inactivation, characterized by initial fast rates and final slower rates. The addition of ammonium sulfate increases the size of the initial burst, consistent with stabilization of the active form of the enzyme by salt. The crystal structure reveals that the overall fold of the E166Q:N170D enzyme is similar to that of native beta-lactamase. However, high crystallographic temperature factors are associated with the ohm-loop region and some of the side chains, including Asp170, are partially or completely disordered. The structure provides a rationale for the progressive inactivation of the Asp170-containing mutant, suggesting that the flexible ohm-loop may be readily perturbed by the substrate such that Asp170's carboxylate group is not always poised to facilitate hydrolysis.     

Energetic and structural consequences of perturbing Gly-193 in the oxyanion hole of serine proteases

The oxyanion hole of serine proteases is formed by the backbone N atoms of the catalytic Ser-195 and Gly-193 and engages the backbone O atom of the P1 residue of substrate in an important H-bonding interaction. The energetic contribution of this interaction in the ground and transition states is presently unknown. Measurements of the individual rate constants defining the catalytic mechanism of substrate hydrolysis for wild-type thrombin and trypsin and their G193A and G193P mutants reveal that Gly-193 is required for optimal substrate binding and acylation. Crystal structures of the G193A and G193P mutants of thrombin bound to the active site inhibitor H-d-Phe-Pro-Arg-CH2Cl document the extent of perturbation induced by the replacement of Gly-193. The Ala mutant weakens the H-bonding interaction of the N atom of residue 193, whereas the Pro substitution abrogates it altogether with additional small shifts of the protein backbone. From the kinetic and structural data, we estimate that the H-bonding interaction in the oxyanion hole contributes a stabilization of the ground and transition states of > 1.5 kcal/mol but < 3.0 kcal/mol. These results shed light on a basic aspect of the enzyme-substrate interaction in the entire family of trypsin-like serine proteases.