Studies of the copper and heme cofactors of pseudomonad L-tryptophan-2,3-dioxygenase by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy

l-Tryptophan-2,3-dioxygenase, (EC 1.13.1.12) purified from Pseudomonas acidovorans, is inactivated on aerobic aging or on treatment with K₃Fe(CN)₆, but regains activity in the presence of reducing agents such as sodium ascorbate. Examination of oxidized, inactive enzyme by electron paramagnetic resonance (epr) spectroscopy has revealed the presence of high spin ferriheme (g = 6.2) and of Cu(II) (g_⊥ = 2.065, g_∥ = 2.265) in the enzyme.The epr signal of Cu(II) in inactive tryptophan oxygenase is attenuated on the addition of ascorbate, whereas the high spin ferriheme signal is unaffected, indicating that the site of action of reducing agents in activating the enzyme is the enzymic copper. Quantitation of the Cu(II) signal in inactive tryptophan oxygenase by double integration accounts for 45% of the total copper.Addition of l-tryptophan to either inactive or active enzyme produces a decrease of 44 ± 5% of the epr signal of high spin ferriheme and the emergence of the epr signal of a low spin ferriheme (g_{1, 2, 3} = 2.66, 2.20, 1.81). Disappearance of the high spin ferriheme is hyperbolic (Hill coefficient, n = 1.02) with respect to l-tryptophan concentration, while the appearance of the low spin ferriheme is sigmoidal (Hill coefficient, n = 1.33) with respect to l-tryptophan concentration. The characteristics of the epr signal of this low spin ferriheme are intermediate between those of the signals of the hydroxides of hemoglobin and myoglobin and those in which two histidines are ligated to the ferriheme of hemoglobin. This may be the first example of the observation by epr of an allosteric parameter of an enzyme.