Tyrosine Residues Serve as Proton Donor in the Catalytic Mechanism of Epoxide Hydrolase from Agrobacterium radiobacter

Epoxide hydrolase from Agrobacterium radiobacter catalyzes the hydrolysis of epoxides to their diols via an alkyl-enzyme intermediate. The recently solved X-ray structure of the enzyme shows that two tyrosine residues (Tyr152 and Tyr215) are positioned close to the nucleophile Asp107 in such a way that they can serve as proton donor in the alkylation reaction step. The role of these tyrosines, which are conserved in other epoxide hydrolases, was studied by site-directed mutagenesis. Mutation of Tyr215 to Phe and Ala and mutation of Tyr152 to Phe resulted in mutant enzymes of which the kcat values were only 2-4-fold lower than for wild-type enzyme, whereas the Km values for the (R)-enantiomers of styrene oxide and p-nitrostyrene oxide were 3 orders of magnitude higher than the Km values of wild-type enzyme, showing that the alkylation half-reaction is severely affected by the mutations. Pre-steady-state analysis of the conversion of (R)-styrene oxide by the Y215F and Y215A mutants showed that the 1000-fold elevated Km values were mainly caused by a 15-40-fold increase in KS and a 20-fold reduction in the rate of alkylation. The rates of hydrolysis of the alkyl-enzyme intermediates were not significantly affected by the mutations. The double mutant Y152F+Y215F showed only a low residual activity for (R)-styrene oxide, with a kcat/Km value that was 6 orders of magnitude lower than with wild-type enzyme and 3 orders of magnitude lower than with the single tyrosine mutants. This indicates that the effects of the mutations were cumulative. The side chain of Gln134 is positioned in the active site of the X-ray structure of epoxide hydrolase. Mutation of Gln134 to Ala resulted in an active enzyme with slightly altered steady-state kinetic parameters compared to wild-type enzyme, indicating that Gln134 is not essential for catalysis and that the side chain of Gln134 mimics bound substrate. Based upon this observation, the inhibitory potential of various unsubstituted amides was tested, resulting in the identification of phenylacetamide as a competitive inhibitor with an inhibition constant of 30 μM.

Kinetic Mechanism and Enantioselectivity of Halohydrin Dehalogenase from Agrobacterium radiobacter

Halohydrin dehalogenase (HheC) from Agrobacterium radiobacter AD1 catalyzes the reversible intramolecular nucleophilic displacement of a halogen by a hydroxyl group in vicinal haloalcohols, producing the corresponding epoxides. The enzyme displays high enantioselectivity toward some aromatic halohydrins. To understand the kinetic mechanism and enantioselectivity of the enzyme, steady-state and pre-steady-state kinetic analysis was performed with p-nitro-2-bromo-1-phenylethanol (PNSHH) as a model substrate. Steady-state kinetic analyses indicated that the kcat of the enzyme with the (R)-enantiomer (22 s-1) is 3-fold higher than with the (S)-enantiomer and that the Km for the (R)-enantiomer (0.009 mM) is about 45-fold lower than that for the (S)-enantiomer, resulting in a high enantiopreference for the (R)-enantiomer. Product inhibition studies revealed that HheC follows an ordered Uni Bi mechanism for both enantiomers, with halide as the first product to be released. To identify the rate-limiting step in the catalytic cycle, pre-steady-state experiments were performed using stopped-flow and rapid-quench methods. The results revealed the existence of a pre-steady-state burst phase during conversion of (R)-PNSHH, whereas no such burst was observed with the (S)-enantiomer. This indicates that a product release step is rate-limiting for the (R)-enantiomer but not for the (S)-enantiomer. This was further examined by doing single-turnover experiments, which revealed that during conversion of the (R)-enantiomer the rate of bromide release is 21 s-1. Furthermore, multiple turnover analyses showed that the binding of (R)-PNSHH is a rapid equilibrium step and that the rate of formation of product ternary complex is 380 s-1. Taken together, these findings enabled the formulation of an ordered Uni Bi kinetic mechanism for the conversion of (R)-PNSHH by HheC in which all of the rate constants are obtained. The high enantiopreference for the (R)-enantiomer can be explained by weak substrate binding of the (S)-enantiomer and a lower rate of reaction at the active site.

Enzymatic dynamic kinetic resolution of epihalohydrins

The haloalcohol dehalogenase from Agrobacterium radiobacter AD1 catalyses the reversible ring closure of vicinal haloalcohols to produce epoxides and halides. In the ring opening of epoxides, nonhalide nucleophiles such as N3- are accepted. The enantioselective irreversible ring opening of an epihalohydrin by N3-, combined with racemisation caused by a reversible ring opening by a halide, resulted in an enzymatic dynamic kinetic resolution yielding optically active (S)-1-azido-3-halo-2-propanol. With epichlorohydrin as a substrate, the rate of ring opening by N3- was higher than the rate of racemisation, resulting in a mixed kinetic resolution and dynamic kinetic resolution. With epibromohydrin as the substrate, the racemisation rate was higher than the rate of ring opening, resulting in an efficient dynamic kinetic resolution. By optimising the pH of the medium and the concentrations of N3- and Br-, the product (S)-1-azido-3-bromo-2-propanol could be obtained in 84% yield and 94% ee. An (R)-enantiomer selective ring closure of this bromoalcohol, catalysed by the same enzyme, caused a simultaneously occurring kinetic resolution, yielding when the conversion progressed, an increase in enantiopurity of (S)-1-azido-3-bromo-2-propanol to >99% ee with a yield of 77%. This compound and the ring-closed product glycidyl azide can be used as chiral synthetic building blocks.

The enantioselectivity of haloalkane dehalogenases

Two haloalkane dehalogenases were tested for their ability to perform kinetic resolutions of a series of racemic substrates and to convert meso substrates enantioselectively. For the kinetic resolutions E-values of up to 9 were measured and, in the conversions of the meso substrates, products were obtained with an enantiomeric excess of up to 47%. A kinetic analysis revealed that despite modest overall chiral recognition (expressed as E-values), there are large differences between the Km values (>100 fold) of two enantiomeric substrates but that these differences are compensated by correspondingly large differences in kcat.

Enantioselectivity of a recombinant epoxide hydrolase from Agrobacterium radiobacter

The recombinant epoxide hydrolase from Agrobacterium radiobacter AD1 was used to obtain enantiomerically pure epoxides by means of a kinetic resolution. Epoxides such as styrene oxide and various derivatives thereof and phenyl glycidyl ether were obtained in high enantiomeric excess and in reasonable yield. The enantioselectivity (E-value) of the resolution was calculated from progress curves for styrene oxide (E=16.2) and para-chlorostyrene oxide (E=32.2).