RamA, a Protein Required for Reductive Activation of Corrinoid-dependent
Methylamine Methyltransferase Reactions in Methanogenic
Archaea |
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Authors: | Tsuneo Ferguson Jitesh A Soares Tanja Lienard Gerhard Gottschalk and Joseph A Krzycki |
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Institution: | ‡Department of Microbiology and ¶The Ohio State Biochemistry Program, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210 and the §Göttingen Genomics Laboratory, Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, Georg-August-University Göttingen, Grisebachstrasse 8, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany |
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Abstract: | Archaeal methane formation from methylamines is initiated by distinct
methyltransferases with specificity for monomethylamine, dimethylamine, or
trimethylamine. Each methylamine methyltransferase methylates a cognate
corrinoid protein, which is subsequently demethylated by a second
methyltransferase to form methyl-coenzyme M, the direct methane precursor.
Methylation of the corrinoid protein requires reduction of the central cobalt
to the highly reducing and nucleophilic Co(I) state. RamA, a 60-kDa monomeric
iron-sulfur protein, was isolated from Methanosarcina barkeri and is
required for in vitro ATP-dependent reductive activation of
methylamine:CoM methyl transfer from all three methylamines. In the absence of
the methyltransferases, highly purified RamA was shown to mediate the
ATP-dependent reductive activation of Co(II) corrinoid to the Co(I) state for
the monomethylamine corrinoid protein, MtmC. The ramA gene is located
near a cluster of genes required for monomethylamine methyltransferase
activity, including MtbA, the methylamine-specific CoM methylase and the
pyl operon required for co-translational insertion of pyrrolysine
into the active site of methylamine methyltransferases. RamA possesses a
C-terminal ferredoxin-like domain capable of binding two tetranuclear
iron-sulfur proteins. Mutliple ramA homologs were identified in
genomes of methanogenic Archaea, often encoded near methyltrophic
methyltransferase genes. RamA homologs are also encoded in a diverse selection
of bacterial genomes, often located near genes for corrinoid-dependent
methyltransferases. These results suggest that RamA mediates reductive
activation of corrinoid proteins and that it is the first functional archetype
of COG3894, a family of redox proteins of unknown function.Most methanogenic Archaea are capable of producing methane only from carbon
dioxide. The Methanosarcinaceae are a notable exception as representatives are
capable of methylotrophic methanogenesis from methylated amines, methylated
thiols, or methanol. Methanogenesis from these substrates requires methylation
of 2-mercaptoethanesulfonic acid (coenzyme M or CoM) that is subsequently used
by methylreductase to generate methane and a mixed disulfide whose reduction
leads to energy conservation
(1–4).Methylation of CoM with trimethylamine
(TMA),4 dimethylamine
(DMA), or monomethylamine (MMA) is initiated by three distinct
methyltransferases that methylate cognate corrinoid-binding proteins
(3). MtmB, the MMA
methyltransferase, specifically methylates cognate corrinoid protein, MtmC,
with MMA (see )
(5,
6). The DMA methyltransferase,
MtbB, and its cognate corrinoid protein, MtbC, interact specifically to
demethylate DMA (7,
8). TMA is demethylated by the
TMA methyltransferase (MttB) in conjunction with the TMA corrinoid protein
(MttC) (8,
9). Each of the methylated
corrinoid proteins is a substrate for a methylcobamide:CoM methyltransferase,
MtbA, which produces methyl-CoM
(10–12).Open in a separate windowMMA:CoM methyl transfer. A schematic of the reactions catalyzed by
MtmB, MtmC, and MtbA is shown that emphasizes the key role of MtmC in the
catalytic cycle of both methyltransferases. Oxidation to Co(II)-MtmC of the
supernucleophilic Co(I)-MtmC catalytic intermediate inactivates methyl
transfer from MMA to the thiolate of coenzyme M (HSCoM). In
vitro reduction of the Co(II)-MtmC with either methyl viologen reduced to
the neutral species or with RamA in an ATP-dependent reaction can regenerate
the Co(I) species. In either case in vitro Ti(III)-citrate is the
ultimate source of reducing power.CoM methylation with methanol requires the methyltransferase MtaB and the
corrinoid protein MtaC, which is then demethylated by another
methylcobamide:CoM methyltransferase, MtaA
(13–15).
The methylation of CoM with methylated thiols such as dimethyl sulfide in
Methanosarcina barkeri is catalyzed by a corrinoid protein that is
methylated by dimethyl sulfide and demethylated by CoM, but in this case an
associated CoM methylase carries out both methylation reactions
(16).In bacteria, analogous methyltransferase systems relying on small corrinoid
proteins are used to achieve methylation of tetrahydrofolate. In
Methylobacterium spp., CmuA, a single methyltransferase with a
corrinoid binding domain, along with a separate pterin methylase, effect the
methylation of tetrahydrofolate with chloromethane
(17,
18). In Acetobacterium
dehalogenans and Moorella thermoacetica various three-component
systems exist for specific demethylation of different phenylmethyl ethers,
such as vanillate (19) and
veratrol (20), again for the
methylation of tetrahydrofolate. Sequencing of the genes encoding the
corrinoid proteins central to the archaeal and bacterial methylotrophic
pathways revealed they are close homologs. Furthermore, genes predicted to
encode such corrinoid proteins and pterin methyltransferases are widespread in
bacterial genomes, often without demonstrated metabolic function. All of these
corrinoid proteins are similar to the well characterized cobalamin binding
domain of methionine synthase
(21,
22).In contrast, the TMA, DMA, MMA, and methanol methyltransferases are not
homologous proteins. The methylamine methyltransferases do share the common
distinction of having in-frame amber codons
(6,
8) within their encoding genes
that corresponds to the genetically encoded amino acid pyrrolysine
(23–25).
Pyrrolysine has been proposed to act in presenting a methylammonium adduct to
the central cobalt ion of the corrinoid protein for methyl transfer
(3,
23,
26). However, nucleophilic
attack on a methyl donor requires the central cobalt ion of a corrinoid
cofactor is in the nucleophilic Co(I) state rather than the inactive Co(II)
state (27). Subsequent
demethylation of the methyl-Co(III) corrinoid cofactor regenerates the
nucleophilic Co(I) cofactor. The Co(I)/Co(II) in the cobalamin binding domain
of methionine synthase has an Em value of -525 mV at pH 7.5
(28). It is likely to be
similarly low in the homologous methyltrophic corrinoid proteins. These low
redox potentials make the corrinoid cofactor subject to adventitious oxidation
to the inactive Co(II) state ().During isolation, these corrinoid proteins are usually recovered in a
mixture of Co(II) or hydroxy-Co(III) states. For in vitro studies,
chemical reduction can maintain the corrinoid protein in the active Co(I)
form. The methanol:CoM or the phenylmethyl ether:tetrahydrofolate
methyltransferase systems can be activated in vitro by the addition
of Ti(III) alone as an artificial reductant
(14,
19). In contrast, activation
of the methylamine corrinoid proteins further requires the addition of methyl
viologen as a redox mediator. Ti(III) reduces methyl viologen to the extremely
low potential neutral species. In vitro activation with these agents
does not require ATP (5,
7,
9).Cellular mechanisms also exist to achieve the reductive activation of
corrinoid cofactors in methyltransferase systems. Activation of human
methionine synthase involves reduction of the co(II)balamin by methionine
synthase reductase (29),
whereas the Escherichia coli enzyme requires flavodoxin
(30). The endergonic reduction
is coupled with the exergonic methylation of the corrinoid with
S-adenosylmethionine
(27). An activation system
exists in cellular extracts of A. dehalogenans that can activate the
veratrol:tetrahydrofolate three-component system and catalyze the direct
reduction of the veratrol-specific corrinoid protein to the Co(I) state;
however, the activating protein has not been purified
(31).For the methanogen methylamine and methanol methyltransferase systems, an
activation process is readily detectable in cell extracts that is ATP- and
hydrogen-dependent (32,
33). Daas et al.
(34,
35) examined the activation of
the methanol methyltransferase system in M. barkeri and purified in
low yield a methyltransferase activation protein (MAP) which in the presence
of a preparation of hydrogenase and uncharacterized proteins was required for
ATP-dependent reductive activation of methanol:CoM methyl transfer. MAP was
found to be a heterodimeric protein without a UV-visible detectable prosthetic
group. Unfortunately, no protein sequence has been reported for MAP, leaving
the identity of the gene in question. The same MAP protein was also suggested
to activate methylamine:CoM methyl transfer, but this suggestion was based on
results with crude protein fractions containing many cellular proteins other
than MAP (36).Here we report of the identification and purification to near-homogeneity
of RamA (reductive activation of
methyltransfer, amines), a protein mediating activation
of methylamine:CoM methyl transfer in a highly purified system
(). Quite unlike MAP,
which was reported to lack prosthetic groups, RamA is an iron-sulfur protein
that can catalyze reduction of a corrinoid protein such as MtmC to the Co(I)
state in an ATP-dependent reaction (). Peptide mapping of RamA allowed identification of the gene
encoding RamA and its homologs in the genomes of Methanosarcina spp.
RamA belongs to COG3894, a group of uncharacterized metal-binding proteins
found in a number of genomes. RamA, thus, provides a functional example for a
family of proteins widespread among bacteria and Archaea whose physiological
role had been largely unknown. |
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