Tyrosine quenching of tryptophan phosphorescence in glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase from Bacillus stearothermophilus.

Tyrosine is known to quench the phosphorescence of free tryptophan derivatives in solution, but the interaction between tryptophan residues in proteins and neighboring tyrosine side chains has not yet been demonstrated. This report examines the potential role of Y283 in quenching the phosphorescence emission of W310 of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase from Bacillus stearothermophilus by comparing the phosphorescence characteristics of the wild-type enzyme to that of appositely designed mutants in which either the second tryptophan residue, W84, is replaced with phenylalanine or Y283 is replaced by valine. Phosphorescence spectra and lifetimes in polyol/buffer low-temperature glasses demonstrate that W310, in both wild-type and W84F (Trp84-->Phe) mutant proteins, is already quenched in viscous low-temperature solutions, before the onset of major structural fluctuations in the macromolecule, an anomalous quenching that is abolished with the mutation Y283V (Tyr283-->Val). In buffer at ambient temperature, the effect of replacing Y283 with valine on the phosphorescence of W310 is to lengthen its lifetime from 50 micros to 2.5 ms, a 50-fold enhancement that again emphasizes how W310 emission is dominated by the local interaction with Y283. Tyr quenching of W310 exhibits a strong temperature dependence, with a rate constant kq = 0.1 s(-1) at 140 K and 2 x 10(4) s(-1) at 293 K. Comparison between thermal quenching profiles of the W84F mutant in solution and in the dry state, where protein flexibility is drastically reduced, shows that the activation energy of the quenching reaction is rather small, Ea < or = 0.17 kcal mol(-1), and that, on the contrary, structural fluctuations play an important role on the effectiveness of Tyr quenching. Various putative quenching mechanisms are examined, and the conclusion, based on the present results as well as on the phosphorescence characteristics of other protein systems, is that Tyr quenching occurs through the formation of an excited-state triplet exciplex

Enzyme Active Site Loop Revealed as Gatekeeper for Cofactor Flip by Targeted Molecular Dynamics Simulations and FRET-kinetics

International audienceStructural motions are key events in enzyme catalysis, as exemplified by the conformational dynamics associated with the cofactor in the catalytic mechanism of hydrolytic NAD(P)-dependent aldehyde dehydrogenases. We previously showed that after the oxidoreduction step, the reduced cofactor must adopt a flipped conformation, which positions the nicotinamide in a conserved cavity that might constitute the exit door for NAD(P)H. However, the molecular basis that make this movement possible is unknown. Based on the pre- and post-flip X-ray structures, targeted molecular dynamic simulations enabled us to identify the E268LGG271 conserved loop that must shift to allow reduced nicotinamide conformational switch. To monitor cofactor movements within the active site, we used an intrinsic fluorescence resonance energy transfer signal between Trp177 and the reduced nicotinamide moiety to kinetically track the flip during the catalytic cycle of retinal dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH1A2). Decreasing loop flexibility by substituting Ala for Gly271 drastically reduced the rate constant associated with this movement that became rate-limiting. We thus propose that the E268LGG271 loop acts as a gatekeeper for cofactor flipping. Similar approaches applied to a CoA-dependent aldehyde dehydrogenase showed that cofactor flipping likely extends to the whole ALDH family, thus bridging the gap between the well-studied chemical steps and a conformational transition essential for catalysis

Enzyme Active Site Loop Revealed as Gatekeeper for Cofactor Flip by Targeted Molecular Dynamics Simulations and FRET-kinetics

International audienceStructural motions are key events in enzyme catalysis, as exemplified by the conformational dynamics associated with the cofactor in the catalytic mechanism of hydrolytic NAD(P)-dependent aldehyde dehydrogenases. We previously showed that after the oxidoreduction step, the reduced cofactor must adopt a flipped conformation, which positions the nicotinamide in a conserved cavity that might constitute the exit door for NAD(P)H. However, the molecular basis that make this movement possible is unknown. Based on the pre- and post-flip X-ray structures, targeted molecular dynamic simulations enabled us to identify the E268LGG271 conserved loop that must shift to allow reduced nicotinamide conformational switch. To monitor cofactor movements within the active site, we used an intrinsic fluorescence resonance energy transfer signal between Trp177 and the reduced nicotinamide moiety to kinetically track the flip during the catalytic cycle of retinal dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH1A2). Decreasing loop flexibility by substituting Ala for Gly271 drastically reduced the rate constant associated with this movement that became rate-limiting. We thus propose that the E268LGG271 loop acts as a gatekeeper for cofactor flipping. Similar approaches applied to a CoA-dependent aldehyde dehydrogenase showed that cofactor flipping likely extends to the whole ALDH family, thus bridging the gap between the well-studied chemical steps and a conformational transition essential for catalysis

Parsing protein sulfinic acid switches

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A scaffold protein that chaperones a cysteine-sulfenic acid in H2O2 signaling

International audienceIn $Saccharomyces\ cerevisiae$, Yap1 regulates an H$_2$O$_2$-inducible transcriptional response that controls cellular H$_2$O$_2$ homeostasis. H$_2$O$_2$ activates Yap1 by oxidation through the intermediary of the thiol peroxidase Orp1. Upon reacting with H$_2$O$_2$, Orp1 catalytic cysteine oxidizes to a sulfenic acid, which then engages into either an intermolecular disulfide with Yap1, leading to Yap1 activation, or an intramolecular disulfide that commits the enzyme into its peroxidatic cycle. How the first of these two competing reactions, which is kinetically unfavorable, occurs was previously unknown. We show that the Yap1-binding protein Ybp1 brings together Orp1 and Yap1 into a ternary complex that selectively activates condensation of the Orp1 sulfenylated cysteine with one of the six Yap1 cysteines while inhibiting Orp1 intramolecular disulfide formation. We propose that Ybp1 operates as a scaffold protein and as a sulfenic acid chaperone to provide specificity in the transfer of oxidizing equivalents by a reactive sulfenic acid species