Characterization of the heme environment in Arabidopsis thaliana fatty acid alpha-dioxygenase-1

Plant alpha-dioxygenases (PADOX) are hemoproteins in the myeloperoxidase family. We have used a variety of spectroscopic, mutagenic, and kinetic approaches to characterize the heme environment in Arabidopsis thaliana PADOX-1. Recombinant PADOX-1 purified to homogeneity contained 1 mol of heme bound tightly but noncovalently per protein monomer. Electronic absorbance, electron paramagnetic resonance, and magnetic circular dichroism spectra showed a high spin ferric heme that could be reduced to the ferrous state by dithionite. Cyanide bound relatively weakly in the ferric PADOX-1 heme vicinity (K(d) approximately 10 mm) but did not shift the heme to the low spin state. Cyanide was a very strong inhibitor of the fatty acid oxygenase activity (K(i) approximately 5 microm) and increased the K(m) value for oxygen but not that for fatty acid. Spectroscopic analyses indicated that carbon monoxide, azide, imidazole, and a variety of substituted imidazoles did not bind appreciably in the ferric PADOX-1 heme vicinity. Substitution of His-163 and His-389 with cysteine, glutamine, tyrosine, or methionine resulted in variable degrees of perturbation of the heme absorbance spectrum and oxygenase activity, consistent with His-389 serving as the proximal heme ligand and indicating that the heme has a functional role in catalysis. Overall, A. thaliana PADOX-1 resembles a b-type cytochrome, although with much more restricted access to the distal face of the heme than seen in most other myeloperoxidase family members, explaining the previously puzzling lack of peroxidase activity in the plant protein. PADOX-1 is unusual in that it has a high affinity, inhibitory cyanide-binding site distinct from the distal heme face and the fatty acid site.