scholarly journals Catalytic mechanism of Zn2+-dependent polyol dehydrogenases: kinetic comparison of sheep liver sorbitol dehydrogenase with wild-type and Glu154→Cys forms of yeast xylitol dehydrogenase

2007 ◽  
Vol 404 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Klimacek ◽  
Heidemarie Hellmer ◽  
Bernd Nidetzky

Co-ordination of catalytic Zn2+ in sorbitol/xylitol dehydrogenases of the medium-chain dehydrogenase/reductase superfamily involves direct or water-mediated interactions from a glutamic acid residue, which substitutes a homologous cysteine ligand in alcohol dehydrogenases of the yeast and liver type. Glu154 of xylitol dehydrogenase from the yeast Galactocandida mastotermitis (termed GmXDH) was mutated to a cysteine residue (E154C) to revert this replacement. In spite of their variable Zn2+ content (0.10–0.40 atom/subunit), purified preparations of E154C exhibited a constant catalytic Zn2+ centre activity (kcat) of 1.19±0.03 s−1 and did not require exogenous Zn2+ for activity or stability. E154C retained 0.019±0.003% and 0.74±0.03% of wild-type catalytic efficiency (kcat/Ksorbitol=7800±700 M−1· s−1) and kcat (=161±4 s−1) for NAD+-dependent oxidation of sorbitol at 25 °C respectively. The pH profile of kcat/Ksorbitol for E154C decreased below an apparent pK of 9.1±0.3, reflecting a shift in pK by about +1.7–1.9 pH units compared with the corresponding pH profiles for GmXDH and sheep liver sorbitol dehydrogenase (termed slSDH). The difference in pK for profiles determined in 1H2O and 2H2O solvent was similar and unusually small for all three enzymes (≈+0.2 log units), suggesting that the observed pK in the binary enzyme–NAD+ complexes could be due to Zn2+-bound water. Under conditions eliminating their different pH-dependences, wild-type and mutant GmXDH displayed similar primary and solvent deuterium kinetic isotope effects of 1.7±0.2 (E154C, 1.7±0.1) and 1.9±0.3 (E154C, 2.4±0.2) on kcat/Ksorbitol respectively. Transient kinetic studies of NAD+ reduction and proton release during sorbitol oxidation by slSDH at pH 8.2 show that two protons are lost with a rate constant of 687±12 s−1 in the pre-steady state, which features a turnover of 0.9±0.1 enzyme equivalents as NADH was produced with a rate constant of 409±3 s−1. The results support an auxiliary participation of Glu154 in catalysis, and possible mechanisms of proton transfer in sorbitol/xylitol dehydrogenases are discussed.

1992 ◽  
Vol 285 (2) ◽  
pp. 377-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Widersten ◽  
R H Kolm ◽  
R Björnestedt ◽  
B Mannervik

Five amino acids in proximity to GSH bound in the active-site cavity of human Class Pi glutathione transferase (GST) P1-1 were mutated by oligonucleotide-directed site-specific mutagenesis. The following mutations gave catalytically active mutant proteins with the proper dimeric structure: Arg14----Ala, Lys45----Ala, Gln52----Ala, Gln65----His and Asp99----Asn. The mutation Gln65----Ala was also made, but the protein was not characterized because of its poor catalytic activity. Residues Arg14, Lys45, Gln52 and Gln65 all contribute to binding of glutathione, and the substitutions caused an approx. 10-fold decrease in affinity, corresponding to 5 kJ/mol, except for Arg14, for which the effect was larger. In addition, Arg14 appears to have an important structure role, since the Arg14----Ala mutant demonstrated a significantly lower stability as compared with the wild-type and the other mutant enzymes. Asp99 primarily contributes to catalysis rather than to binding. The kcat./Km-versus-pH profile for the Asp99----Asn mutant is shifted by 0.5 pH unit in the alkaline direction, and it is proposed that Asp99 may participate in proton transfer in the catalytic mechanism. The possibility of redesigning the substrate specificity for GSTs was shown by the fact that the mutant Lys45----Ala displayed a higher catalytic efficiency with GSH monoethyl ester than with its natural substrate, GSH.


2001 ◽  
Vol 355 (3) ◽  
pp. 835-840 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaw-Kuen LI ◽  
Jiunly CHIR ◽  
Fong-Yi CHEN

A family 3 β-glucosidase (EC 3.2.1.21) from Flavobacterium meningosepticum has been cloned and overexpressed. The mechanistic action of the enzyme was probed by NMR spectroscopy and kinetic investigations, including substrate reactivity, secondary kinetic isotope effects and inhibition studies. The stereochemistry of enzymic hydrolysis was identified as occurring with the retention of an anomeric configuration, indicating a double-displacement reaction. Based on the kcat values with a series of aryl glucosides, a Bronsted plot with a concave-downward shape was constructed. This biphasic behaviour is consistent with a two-step mechanism involving the formation and breakdown of a glucosyl–enzyme intermediate. The large Bronsted constant (β =-0.85) for the leaving-group-dependent portion (pKa of leaving phenols > 7) indicates substantial bond cleavage at the transition state. Secondary deuterium kinetic isotope effects with 2,4-dinitrophenyl β-D-glucopyanoside, o-nitrophenyl β-D-glucopyanoside and p-cyanophenyl β-D-glucopyanoside as substrates were 1.17±0.02, 1.19±0.02 and 1.04±0.02 respectively. These results support an SN1-like mechanism for the deglucosylation step and an SN2-like mechanism for the glucosylation step. Site-directed mutagenesis was also performed to study essential amino acid residues. The activities (kcat/Km) of the D247G and D247N mutants were 30000- and 200000-fold lower respectively than that of the wild-type enzyme, whereas the D247E mutant retained 20% of wild-type activity. These results indicate that Asp-247 is an essential amino acid. It is likely that this residue functions as a nucleophile in the reaction. This conclusion is supported by the kinetics of the irreversible inactivation of the wild-type enzyme by conduritol-B-epoxide, compared with the much slower inhibition of the D247E mutant and the lack of irreversible inhibition of the D247G mutant.


2015 ◽  
Vol 308 (8) ◽  
pp. C631-C641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Visentin ◽  
Ersin Selcuk Unal ◽  
Mitra Najmi ◽  
Andras Fiser ◽  
Rongbao Zhao ◽  
...  

The proton-coupled folate transporter (PCFT) mediates intestinal folate absorption and transport of folates across the choroid plexus. This study focuses on the role of Tyr residues in PCFT function. The substituted Cys-accessibility method identified four Tyr residues (Y291, Y362, Y315, and Y414) that are accessible to the extracellular compartment; three of these (Y291, Y362, and Y315) are located within or near the folate binding pocket. When the Tyr residues were replaced with Cys or Ala, these mutants showed similar (up to 6-fold) increases in influx Vmax and Kt/ Ki for [3H]methotrexate and [3H]pemetrexed. When the Tyr residues were replaced with Phe, these changes were moderated or absent. When Y315A PCFT was used as representative of the mutants and [3H]pemetrexed as the transport substrate, this substitution did not increase the efflux rate constant. Furthermore, neither influx nor efflux mediated by Y315A PCFT was transstimulated by the presence of substrate in the opposite compartment; however, substantial bidirectional transstimulation of transport was mediated by wild-type PCFT. This resulted in a threefold greater efflux rate constant for cells that express wild-type PCFT than for cells that express Y315 PCFT under exchange conditions. These data suggest that these Tyr residues, possibly through their rigid side chains, secure the carrier in a high-affinity state for its folate substrates. However, this may be achieved at the expense of constraining the carrier's mobility, thereby decreasing the rate at which the protein oscillates between its conformational states. The Vmax generated by these Tyr mutants may be so rapid that further augmentation during transstimulation may not be possible.


The cysteine proteinases form a group of enzymes which depend for their enzymic activity on the thiol group of a cysteine residue. Several which occur in plants have been investigated extensively and include papain, ficin and stem bromelain (Smith & Kimmel i960). Although the term papain, introduced last century to describe the proteolytic principle in papaya latex (Wurtz & Bouchut 1879) is still used to describe crude dried latex, the crystalline enzyme is readily obtained (Kimmel & Smith 1954). Ficin is known to consist of several closely related enzymes which have been resolved (Sgarbieri, Gupte, Kramer & Whitaker 1964), but for most structural and mechanistic studies the unresolved mixture of enzymes has been used. Stem bromelain also appears to be a mixture of at least two proteolytic enzymes which have not yet been resolved (Ota, Moore & Stein 1962; Murachi 1964). In spite of the recognized heterogeneity of ficin and stem bromelain, it does seem that both structurally and mechanistically they are similar to papain. Only one bacterial cysteine proteinase has received a detailed study, namely, streptococcal proteinase, and it appears to have little or no relation in its amino acid sequence with the plant enzymes (Liu, Stein, Moore & Elliott 1965). The functional groups involved in the catalytic mechanism are apparently the same as in the plant proteinases (Gerwin, Stein & Moore 1966; Liu 1967; Husain & Lowe 1968 a , c ), but the mechanism of action has not been extensively studied. It may well be however that the plant and bacterial cysteine proteinases have converged onto a similar mechanism of action by two independent evolutionary pathways, as now seems apparent for the animal and bacterial serine proteinases (Alden, Wright & Kraut, this volume, p. 119). Because the tertiary crystal structure of papain (Drenth, Jansonius, Koekoek, Swen & Wolthers 1968; see also the preceding paper, p. 231) is now known, a critical survey of this enzyme is apposite.


2001 ◽  
Vol 356 (1) ◽  
pp. 217-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo FRANCO ◽  
Alice S. PEREIRA ◽  
Pedro TAVARES ◽  
Arianna MANGRAVITA ◽  
Michael J. BARBER ◽  
...  

Ferrochelatase (EC 4.99.1.1) is the terminal enzyme of the haem biosynthetic pathway and catalyses iron chelation into the protoporphyrin IX ring. Glutamate-287 (E287) of murine mature ferrochelatase is a conserved residue in all known sequences of ferrochelatase, is present at the active site of the enzyme, as inferred from the Bacillus subtilis ferrochelatase three-dimensional structure, and is critical for enzyme activity. Substitution of E287 with either glutamine (Q) or alanine (A) yielded variants with lower enzymic activity than that of the wild-type ferrochelatase and with different absorption spectra from the wild-type enzyme. In contrast to the wild-type enzyme, the absorption spectra of the variants indicate that these enzymes, as purified, contain protoporphyrin IX. Identification and quantification of the porphyrin bound to the E287-directed variants indicate that approx. 80% of the total porphyrin corresponds to protoporphyrin IX. Significantly, rapid stopped-flow experiments of the E287A and E287Q variants demonstrate that reaction with Zn2+ results in the formation of bound Zn-protoporphyrin IX, indicating that the endogenously bound protoporphyrin IX can be used as a substrate. Taken together, these findings suggest that the structural strain imposed by ferrochelatase on the porphyrin substrate as a critical step in the enzyme catalytic mechanism is also accomplished by the E287A and E287Q variants, but without the release of the product. Thus E287 in murine ferrochelatase appears to be critical for the catalytic process by controlling the release of the product.


2001 ◽  
Vol 359 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valeria MENCHISE ◽  
Catherine CORBIER ◽  
Claude DIDIERJEAN ◽  
Michele SAVIANO ◽  
Ettore BENEDETTI ◽  
...  

Thioredoxins are ubiquitous proteins which catalyse the reduction of disulphide bridges on target proteins. The catalytic mechanism proceeds via a mixed disulphide intermediate whose breakdown should be enhanced by the involvement of a conserved buried residue, Asp-30, as a base catalyst towards residue Cys-39. We report here the crystal structure of wild-type and D30A mutant thioredoxin h from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, which constitutes the first crystal structure of a cytosolic thioredoxin isolated from a eukaryotic plant organism. The role of residue Asp-30 in catalysis has been revisited since the distance between the carboxylate OD1 of Asp-30 and the sulphur SG of Cys-39 is too great to support the hypothesis of direct proton transfer. A careful analysis of all available crystal structures reveals that the relative positioning of residues Asp-30 and Cys-39 as well as hydrophobic contacts in the vicinity of residue Asp-30 do not allow a conformational change sufficient to bring the two residues close enough for a direct proton transfer. This suggests that protonation/deprotonation of Cys-39 should be mediated by a water molecule. Molecular-dynamics simulations, carried out either in vacuo or in water, as well as proton-inventory experiments, support this hypothesis. The results are discussed with respect to biochemical and structural data.


2013 ◽  
Vol 142 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Lopez ◽  
Jorge Gonzalez ◽  
Yu Liu ◽  
Andrew L. Harris ◽  
Jorge E. Contreras

Because of the large size and modest selectivity of the connexin hemichannel aqueous pore, hemichannel opening must be highly regulated to maintain cell viability. At normal resting potentials, this regulation is achieved predominantly by the physiological extracellular Ca2+ concentration, which drastically reduces hemichannel activity. Here, we characterize the Ca2+ regulation of channels formed by wild-type human connexin26 (hCx26) and its human mutations, D50N/Y, that cause aberrant hemichannel opening and result in deafness and skin disorders. We found that in hCx26 wild-type channels, deactivation kinetics are accelerated as a function of Ca2+ concentration, indicating that Ca2+ facilitates transition to, and stabilizes, the closed state of the hemichannels. The D50N/Y mutant hemichannels show lower apparent affinities for Ca2+-induced closing than wild-type channels and have more rapid deactivation kinetics, which are Ca2+ insensitive. These results suggest that D50 plays a role in (a) stabilizing the open state in the absence of Ca2+, and (b) facilitating closing and stabilization of the closed state in the presence of Ca2+. To explore the role of a negatively charged residue at position 50 in regulation by Ca2+, this position was substituted with a cysteine residue, which was then modified with a negatively charged methanethiosulfonate reagent, sodium (2-sulfanoethyl) methanethiosulfonate (MTSES)−. D50C mutant hemichannels display properties similar to those of D50N/Y mutants. Recovery of the negative charge with chemical modification by MTSES− restores the wild-type Ca2+ regulation of the channels. These results confirm the essential role of a negative charge at position 50 for Ca2+ regulation. Additionally, charge-swapping mutagenesis studies suggest involvement of a salt bridge interaction between D50 and K61 in the adjacent connexin subunit in stabilizing the open state in low extracellular Ca2+. Mutant cycle analysis supports a Ca2+-sensitive interaction between these two residues in the open state of the channel. We propose that disruption of this interaction by extracellular Ca2+ destabilizes the open state and facilitates hemichannel closing. Our data provide a mechanistic understanding of how mutations at position 50 that cause human diseases are linked to dysfunction of hemichannel gating by external Ca2+.


1991 ◽  
Vol 69 (11) ◽  
pp. 1699-1704 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. T. T. Wong

Hydrogen/deuterium (H/D) exchange rate constants in chymotrypsinogen have been determined at several pressures up to 28.9 kbar by FTIR spectroscopy. The secondary structure of the protein molecules was monitored simultaneously at the corresponding pressures by the intensity redistribution of the infrared amide I band at these pressures. As in other proteins, the labile protons on the amide groups in chymotrypsinogen can, to a good approximation, be separated into two classes, each with distinct first order H/D exchange rates constants in the time period from 10 min to ~24 h. The fast exchange rate constant increases while the slow exchange rate constant decreases with increasing pressure. The increase in the fast exchange rate constant at high pressure is largely associated with the pressure-induced unfolding of the protein molecules. At extremely high pressure (12.8 kbar), in addition to the unfolding of protein molecules, pressure induced a distortion and weakening of the hydrogen bonds of the fold protein segments also contribute to an increase in the overall H/D exchange rate. The present results confirm that when chymotrypsinogen is dissolved in D2O, a considerable amount of D2O molecules is bound to the protein molecules on the surface as well as in the interior cavities of the molecules. The H/D exchange takes place between these bound D2O and the protons in the protein molecules. The mechanism of the H/D exchange and the interior dynamics in proteins are discussed on the basis of the present results. Key words: hydrogen/deuterium exchange, exchange kinetics, rate constant, pressure effects, infrared spectroscopy, protein, conformation structure, bound water.


2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 351-361
Author(s):  
A. A. Saleh ◽  
S. Hamdan ◽  
N. Annaluru ◽  
S. Watanabe ◽  
M. R. Rahman ◽  
...  

Agricultural waste biomass has already been transferred to bioethanol and used as energy related products, although many issues such as efficiency and productivity still to be overcome. In this study, the protein engineering was applied to generate enzymes with completely reversed coenzyme specificity and developed recombinant yeasts containing those engineered enzymes for construction of an efficient biomass-ethanol conversion system. Recombinant yeasts were constructed with the genes encoding a wild type xylose reductase (XR) and the protein engineered xylitol dehydrogenase (XDH) (with NADP) of Pichia stipitis.  These recombinant yeasts were characterized based on the enzyme activity and fermentation ability of xylose to ethanol. The protein engineered enzymes were expressed significantly in Saccharomyces cerevisiae as judged by the enzyme activity in vitro. Ethanol fermentation was measured in batch culture under anaerobic conditions. The significant enhancement was found in Y-ARS strain, in which NADP+-dependent XDH was expressed; 85% decrease of unfavorable xylitol excretion with 26% increased ethanol production, when compared with the reference strain expressing the wild-type XDH.  Keywords: Agricultural waste biomass; Protein engineering; Xylitol dehydrogenase; Xylose-fermentation; Eethanol production. © 2010 JSR Publications. ISSN: 2070-0237 (Print); 2070-0245 (Online). All rights reserved. DOI: 10.3329/jsr.v2i2.2882               J. Sci. Res. 2 (2), 351-361 (2010) 


2003 ◽  
Vol 77 (11) ◽  
pp. 6265-6273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Xiaoxin Zhang ◽  
Yu Han ◽  
Gary W. Blissard

ABSTRACT Budded virions (BV) of the baculovirus Autographa californica multicapsid nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) contain a major envelope glycoprotein known as GP64, which was previously shown to be palmitoylated. In the present study, we used truncation and amino acid substitution mutations to map the palmitoylation site to cysteine residue 503. Palmitoylation of GP64 was not detected when Cys503 was replaced with alanine or serine. Palmitoylation-minus forms of GP64 were used to replace wild-type GP64 in AcMNPV, and these viruses were used to examine potential functions of GP64 palmitoylation in the context of the infection cycle. Analysis by immunoprecipitation and cell surface studies revealed that palmitoylation of GP64 did not affect GP64 synthesis or its transport to the cell surface in Sf9 cells. GP64 proteins lacking palmitoylation also mediated low-pH-triggered membrane fusion in a manner indistinguishable from that of wild-type GP64. Cells infected with viruses expressing palmitoylation-minus forms of GP64 produced infectious virions at levels similar to those from cells infected with wild-type AcMNPV. In combination, these data suggest that virus entry and exit in Sf9 cells were not significantly affected by GP64 palmitoylation. To determine whether GP64 palmitoylation affected the association of GP64 with membrane microdomains, the potential association of GP64 with lipid raft microdomains was examined. These experiments showed that: (i) AcMNPV-infected Sf9 cell membranes contain lipid raft microdomains, (ii) GP64 association with lipid rafts was not detected in infected Sf9 cells, and (iii) GP64 palmitoylation did not affect the apparent exclusion of GP64 from lipid raft microdomains.


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