pH and kinetic isotope effects on the reductive half-reaction of D-amino acid oxidase.

Primary deuterium kinetic isotope and pH effects on the reduction of D-amino acid oxidase by amino acid substrates were determined using steady-state and rapid reaction methods. With D-serine as substrate, reduction of the enzyme-bound FAD requires that a group with a pKa value of 8.7 be unprotonated and that a group with a pKa value of 10.7 be protonated. The DV/Kser value of 4.5 is pH-independent, establishing that these pKa values are intrinsic. The limiting rate of reduction of the enzyme shows a kinetic isotope effect of 4.75, consistent with this as the intrinsic value. At high enzyme concentration (approximately 15 microM) at pH 9,D-serine is slightly sticky (k3/k2 = 0.8), consistent with a decrease in the rate of substrate dissociation. With D-alanine as substrate, the pKa values are perturbed to 8.1 and 11.5. The DV/Kala value increases from 1.3 at pH 9.5 to 5.1 at pH 4, establishing that D-alanine is sticky with a forward commitment of approximately 10. The effect of pH on the DV/Kala value is consistent with a model in which exchange with solvent of the proton from the group with pKa 8.7 is hindered and is catalyzed by H2O and OH- above pH 7 and by H3O+ and H2O below pH 7. With glycine, the pH optimum is shifted to a more basic value, 10.3. The DV/Kgly value increases from 1.26 at pH 6.5 to 3.1 at pH 10.7, consistent with fully reversible CH bond cleavage followed by a pH-dependent step. At pH 10.5, the kinetic isotope effect on the limiting rate of reduction is 3.4.     

Effect of substrate and pH on the oxidative half-reaction of phenol hydroxylase

The oxidative half-reaction of phenol hydroxylase has been studied by stopped-flow spectrophotometry. Three flavin-oxygen intermediates can be detected when the substrate is thiophenol, or m-NH2, m-OH, m-CH3, m-Cl, or p-OH phenol. Intermediate I, the flavin C(4a)-hydroperoxide, has an absorbance maximum at 380-390 nm and an extinction coefficient approximately 10,000 M-1 cm-1. Intermediate III, the flavin C(4a)-hydroxide, has an absorbance maximum at 365-375 nm and an extinction coefficient approximately 10,000 M-1 cm-1. Intermediate II has absorbance maxima of 350-390 nm and extinction coefficients of 10,000-16,000 M-1 cm-1 depending on the substrate. A Hammett plot of the logarithm of the rates of the oxygen transfer step, the conversion of intermediate I to intermediate II, gives a straight line with a slope -0.5. Fluoride ion is a product of the enzymatic reaction when 2,3,5,6-tetrafluorophenol is the substrate. These results are consistent with an electrophilic substitution mechanism for oxygen transfer. The conversions of I to II and II to III are acid-catalyzed. A kinetic isotope effect of 8 was measured for the conversion of II to III using deuterated resorcinol as substrate. The conversion of III to oxidized enzyme is base-catalyzed, suggesting that the reaction depends on the removal of the flavin N(5) proton. Product release occurs at the same time as the formation of intermediate III, or rapidly thereafter. The results are interpreted according to the ring-opened model of Entsch et al. (Entsch, B., Ballou, D. P., and Massey, V. (1976) J. Biol. Chem. 251, 2550-2563).     

Mechanism of the reductive half-reaction in cellobiose dehydrogenase

The extracellular flavocytochrome cellobiose dehydrogenase (CDH; EC ) participates in lignocellulose degradation by white-rot fungi with a proposed role in the early events of wood degradation. The complete hemoflavoenzyme consists of a catalytically active dehydrogenase fragment (DH(cdh)) connected to a b-type cytochrome domain via a linker peptide. In the reductive half-reaction, DH(cdh) catalyzes the oxidation of cellobiose to yield cellobiono-1,5-lactone. The active site of DH(cdh) is structurally similar to that of glucose oxidase and cholesterol oxidase, with a conserved histidine residue positioned at the re face of the flavin ring close to the N5 atom. The mechanisms of oxidation in glucose oxidase and cholesterol oxidase are still poorly understood, partly because of lack of experimental structure data or difficulties in interpreting existing data for enzyme-ligand complexes. Here we report the crystal structure of the Phanerochaete chrysosporium DH(cdh) with a bound inhibitor, cellobiono-1,5-lactam, at 1.8-A resolution. The distance between the lactam C1 and the flavin N5 is only 2.9 A, implying that in an approximately planar transition state, the maximum distance for the axial 1-hydrogen to travel for covalent addition to N5 is 0.8-0.9 A. The lactam O1 interacts intimately with the side chains of His-689 and Asn-732. Our data lend substantial structural support to a reaction mechanism where His-689 acts as a general base by abstracting the O1 hydroxyl proton in concert with transfer of the C1 hydrogen as hydride to the re face of the flavin N5.     

Trp(359) regulates flavin thermodynamics and coenzyme selectivity in Mycobacterium tuberculosis FprA

Mtb (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) FprA (flavoprotein reductase A) is an NAD(P)H-dependent FAD-binding reductase that is structurally related to mammalian adrenodoxin reductase, and which supports the catalytic function of Mtb cytochrome P450s. Trp(359), proximal to the FAD, was investigated in light of its potential role in controlling coenzyme interactions, as observed for similarly located aromatic residues in diflavin reductases. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that a tryptophan residue corresponding to Trp(359) is conserved across FprA-type enzymes and in adrenodoxin reductases. W359A/H mutants of Mtb FprA were generated, expressed and the proteins characterized to define the role of Trp(359). W359A/H mutants exhibited perturbed UV-visible absorption/fluorescence properties. The FAD semiquinone formed in wild-type NADPH-reduced FprA was destabilized in the W359A/H mutants, which also had more positive FAD midpoint reduction potentials (-168/-181 mV respectively, versus the standard hydrogen electrode, compared with -230 mV for wild-type FprA). The W359A/H mutants had lower ferricyanide reductase k(cat) and NAD(P)H K(m) values, but this led to improvements in catalytic efficiency (k(cat)/K(m)) with NADH as reducing coenzyme (9.6/18.8 muM(-1).min(-1) respectively, compared with 5.7 muM(-1).min(-1) for wild-type FprA). Stopped-flow spectroscopy revealed NAD(P)H-dependent FAD reduction as rate-limiting in steady-state catalysis, and to be retarded in mutants (e.g. limiting rate constants for NADH-dependent FAD reduction were 25.4 s(-1) for wild-type FprA and 4.8 s(-1)/13.4 s(-1) for W359A/H mutants). Diminished mutant FAD content (particularly in W359H FprA) highlighted the importance of Trp(359) for flavin stability. The results demonstrate that the conserved Trp(359) is critical in regulating FprA FAD binding, thermodynamic properties, catalytic efficiency and coenzyme selectivity.     

Mechanistic studies on the reductive half-reaction of NADPH-cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase

Site-directed mutagenesis has been employed to study the mechanism of hydride transfer from NADPH to NADPH-cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase. Specifically, Ser457, Asp675, and Cys630 have been selected because of their proximity to the isoalloxazine ring of FAD. Substitution of Asp675 with asparagine or valine decreased cytochrome c reductase activities 17- and 677-fold, respectively, while the C630A substitution decreased enzymatic activity 49-fold. Earlier studies had shown that the S457A mutation decreased cytochrome c reductase activity 90-fold and also lowered the redox potential of the FAD semiquinone (Shen, A., and Kasper, C. B. (1996) Biochemistry 35, 9451-9459). The S457A/D675N and S457A/D675N/C630A mutants produced roughly multiplicative decreases in cytochrome c reductase activity (774- and 22000-fold, respectively) with corresponding decreases in the rates of flavin reduction. For each mutation, increases were observed in the magnitudes of the primary deuterium isotope effects with NADPD, consistent with decreased rates of hydride transfer from NADPH to FAD and an increase in the relative rate limitation of hydride transfer. Asp675 substitutions lowered the redox potential of the FAD semiquinone. In addition, the C630A substitution shifted the pKa of an ionizable group previously identified as necessary for catalysis (Sem, D. S., and Kasper, C. B. (1993) Biochemistry 32, 11539-11547) from 6.9 to 7.8. These results are consistent with a model in which Ser457, Asp675, and Cys630 stabilize the transition state for hydride transfer. Ser457 and Asp675 interact to stabilize both the transition state and the FAD semiquinone, while Cys630 interacts with the nicotinamide ring and the fully reduced FAD, functioning as a proton donor/acceptor to FAD.     

Proton release during the reductive half-reaction of D-amino acid oxidase

Changes in the net protonation of D-amino acid oxidase during binding of competitive inhibitors and during reduction by amino acids have been monitored using phenol red as a pH indicator. At pH 8.0, no uptake or release of protons from solution occurs upon binding the inhibitors benzoate, anthranilate, picolinate, or L-leucine. The Kd values for both picolinate and anthranilate were determined from pH 5.4 to 9.0. The results are consistent with a single group on the enzyme having a pK of 6.3 which must be unprotonated for tight binding, as is the case with benzoate binding (Quay, S., and Massey, V. (1977) Biochemistry 16, 3348-3354) and with tight binding of the inhibitor form with an unprotonated amino group. Upon reduction of the enzyme by amino acid substrates, two protons are released to solution. The first is released concomitantly with reduction to the reduced enzyme-imino acid charge transfer complex. The second is released only upon dissociation of the charge transfer complex to free reduced enzyme and imino acid. The first proton is assigned as arising from the amino acid group and the second from the amino acid alpha-hydrogen. These results are consistent with the flavin in reduced D-amino acid oxidase being anionic.     

Redox potential and equilibria in the reductive half-reaction of Vibrio harveyi NADPH-FMN oxidoreductase

Vibrio harveyi NADPH:FMN oxidoreductase P (FRP(Vh)) is a homodimeric enzyme having a bound FMN per enzyme monomer. The bound FMN functions as a cofactor of FRP(Vh) in transferring reducing equivalents from NADPH to a flavin substrate in the absence of V. harveyi luciferase but as a substrate for FRP(Vh) in the luciferase-coupled bioluminescent reaction. As part of an integral plan to elucidate the regulation of functional coupling between FRP(Vh) and luciferase, this study was carried out to characterize the equilibrium bindings, reductive potential, and the reversibility of the reduction of the bound FMN in the reductive half-reaction of FRP(Vh). Results indicate that, in addition to NADPH binding, NADP(+) also bound to FRP(Vh) in either the oxidized (K(d) 180 microM) or reduced (K(d) 230 microM) form. By titrations with NADP(+) and NADPH and by an isotope exchange experiment, the reduction of the bound FMN by NADPH was found to be readily reversible (K(eq) = 0.8). Hence, the reduction of FRP(Vh)-bound FMN is not the committed step in coupling the NADPH oxidation to bioluminescence. To our knowledge, such an aspect of flavin reductase catalysis has only been clearly established for FRP(Vh). Although the reductive potentials and some other properties of a R203A variant of FRP(Vh) and an NADH/NADPH-utilizing flavin reductase from Vibrio fischeri are quite similar to that of the wild-type FRP(Vh), the reversal of the reduction of bound FMN was not detected for either of these two enzymes.     

Steady-state kinetic mechanism and reductive half-reaction of D-arginine dehydrogenase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa

D-arginine dehydrogenase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa catalyzes the oxidation of D-arginine to iminoarginine, which is hydrolyzed in solution to ketoarginine and ammonia. In the present study, we have genetically engineered an untagged form of the enzyme that was purified to high levels and characterized in its kinetic properties. The enzyme is a true dehydrogenase that does not react with molecular oxygen. Steady-state kinetic studies with D-arginine or D-histidine as substrate and PMS as the electron acceptor established a ping-pong bi-bi kinetic mechanism. With the fast substrate D-arginine a dead-end complex of the reduced enzyme and the substrate occurs at high concentrations of D-arginine yielding substrate inhibition, while the overall turnover is partially limited by the release of the iminoarginine product. With the slow substrate D-histidine the initial Michaelis complex undergoes an isomerization involving multiple conformations that are not all equally catalytically competent for the subsequent oxidation reaction, while the overall turnover is at least partially limited by flavin reduction. The kinetic data are interpreted in view of the high-resolution crystal structures of the iminoarginine--and iminohistidine--enzyme complexes.     

A covalent modification of NADP+ revealed by the atomic resolution structure of FprA,a Mycobacterium tuberculosis oxidoreductase

FprA is a mycobacterial oxidoreductase that catalyzes the transfer of reducing equivalents from NADPH to a protein acceptor. We determined the atomic resolution structure of FprA in the oxidized (1.05 A resolution) and NADPH-reduced (1.25 A resolution) forms. The comparison of these FprA structures with that of bovine adrenodoxin reductase showed no significant overall differences. Hence, these enzymes, which belong to the structural family of the disulfide oxidoreductases, are structurally conserved in very distant organisms such as mycobacteria and mammals. Despite the conservation of the overall fold, the details of the active site of FprA show some peculiar features. In the oxidized enzyme complex, the bound NADP+ exhibits a covalent modification, which has been identified as an oxygen atom linked through a carbonylic bond to the reactive C4 atom of the nicotinamide ring. Mass spectrometry has confirmed this assignment. This NADP+ derivative is likely to form by oxidation of the NADP+ adduct resulting from nucleophilic attack by an active-site water molecule. A Glu-His pair is well positioned to activate the attacking water through a mechanism analogous to that of the catalytic triad in serine proteases. The NADP+ nicotinamide ring exhibits the unusual cis conformation, which may favor derivative formation. The physiological significance of this reaction is presently unknown. However, it could assist with drug-design studies in that the modified NADP+ could serve as a lead compound for the development of specific inhibitors.     

New insights into the reductive half-reaction mechanism of aromatic amine dehydrogenase revealed by reaction with carbinolamine substrates

Aromatic amine dehydrogenase uses a tryptophan tryptophylquinone (TTQ) cofactor to oxidatively deaminate primary aromatic amines. In the reductive half-reaction, a proton is transferred from the substrate C1 to betaAsp-128 O-2, in a reaction that proceeds by H-tunneling. Using solution studies, kinetic crystallography, and computational simulation we show that the mechanism of oxidation of aromatic carbinolamines is similar to amine oxidation, but that carbinolamine oxidation occurs at a substantially reduced rate. This has enabled us to determine for the first time the structure of the intermediate prior to the H-transfer/reduction step. The proton-betaAsp-128 O-2 distance is approximately 3.7A, in contrast to the distance of approximately 2.7A predicted for the intermediate formed with the corresponding primary amine substrate. This difference of approximately 1.0 A is due to an unexpected conformation of the substrate moiety, which is supported by molecular dynamic simulations and reflected in the approximately 10(7)-fold slower TTQ reduction rate with phenylaminoethanol compared with that with primary amines. A water molecule is observed near TTQ C-6 and is likely derived from the collapse of the preceding carbinolamine TTQ-adduct. We suggest this water molecule is involved in consecutive proton transfers following TTQ reduction, and is ultimately repositioned near the TTQ O-7 concomitant with protein rearrangement. For all carbinolamines tested, highly stable amide-TTQ adducts are formed following proton abstraction and TTQ reduction. Slow hydrolysis of the amide occurs after, rather than prior to, TTQ oxidation and leads ultimately to a carboxylic acid product.     

The reductive half-reaction in Acyl-CoA dehydrogenase from pig kidney: studies with thiaoctanoyl-CoA and oxaoctanoyl-CoA analogues

Thia- and oxaoctanoyl-CoA derivatives (substituted at the C-3 and C-4 positions) have been synthesized to prove the reductive half-reaction in the medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase from pig kidney. 3-Thiaoctanoyl-CoA binds to this flavoenzyme, forming an intense, stable, long-wavelength band (at 804 nm; extinction coefficient = 8.7 mM-1 cm-1 at pH 7.6). The intensity of this band increases about 20% from pH 6.0 to pH 8.8. This long-wavelength species probably represents a charge-transfer complex between bound acyl enolate as the donor and oxidized flavin adenine dinucleotide as the acceptor. Thus, the enzyme catalyzes alpha-proton exchange, and no long-wavelength bands are seen with 3-thiaoctyl-CoA (where the carbonyl moiety is replaced by a methylene group). 3-Oxaoctanoyl-CoA binds comparatively weakly to the dehydrogenase, with a long-wavelength band at 780 nm which is both less intense and less stable than the corresponding thia analogue. These data suggest that the enzyme can accomplish alpha-proton abstraction from certain weakly acidic acyl-CoA derivatives, without concerted transfer of a hydride equivalent to the flavin. 4-Thiaoctanoyl-CoA is dehydrogenated in the standard assay 1.5-fold faster than octanoyl-CoA. Titrations of the medium-chain dehydrogenase with the 4-thia derivative resemble those obtained with octanoyl-CoA, except for the contribution of the strongly absorbing 4-thia-trans-2-octenoyl-CoA product. The corresponding 4-oxa analogue is a much poorer substrate (10% of the rate shown by octanoyl-CoA) but again effects substantially complete reduction of the flavin chromophore in the dehydrogenase.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Effect of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection on adipocyte physiology

Tuberculosis (TB) remains as a major threat to human health worldwide despite of the availability of standardized antibiotic therapy. One of the characteristic of pathogenic Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the causative agent of tuberculosis is its ability to persist in the host in a dormant state and develop latent infection without clinical signs of active disease. However, the mechanisms involved in bacterial persistence and the establishment of latency is not well understood. Adipose tissue is emerging as an important niche that favors actively replicating as well as dormant Mtb during acute and latent infection. This also suggests that Mtb can disseminate from the lungs to adipose tissue during aerosol infection and/or from adipose tissue to lungs during reactivation of latent infection. In this study, we report the interplay between key adipokine levels and the dynamics of Mtb pathogenesis in the lungs and adipose tissue using a rabbit model of pulmonary infection with two clinical isolates that produce divergent outcome in disease progression. Results show that markers of adipocyte physiology and function were significantly altered during Mtb infection and distinct patterns of adipokine expression were noted between adipose tissue and the lungs. Moreover, these markers were differentially expressed between active disease and latent infection. Thus, this study highlights the importance of targeting adipocyte function as potential target for developing better TB intervention strategies.