Evolutionary History of a Specialized P450 Propane Monooxygenase

The evolutionary pressures that shaped the specificity and catalytic efficiency of enzymes can only be speculated. While directed evolution experiments show that new functions can be acquired under positive selection with few mutations, the role of negative selection in eliminating undesired activities and achieving high specificity remains unclear. Here we examine intermediates along the ‘lineage’ from a naturally occurring C12–C20 fatty acid hydroxylase (P450BM3) to a laboratory-evolved P450 propane monooxygenase (P450PMO) having 20 heme domain substitutions compared to P450BM3. Biochemical, crystallographic, and computational analyses show that a minimal perturbation of the P450BM3 fold and substrate-binding pocket accompanies a significant broadening of enzyme substrate range and the emergence of propane activity. In contrast, refinement of the enzyme catalytic efficiency for propane oxidation (not, vert, similar 9000-fold increase in kcat/Km) involves profound reshaping and partitioning of the substrate access pathway. Remodeling of the substrate-recognition mechanisms ultimately results in remarkable narrowing of the substrate profile around propane and enables the acquisition of a basal iodomethane dehalogenase activity as yet unknown in natural alkane monooxygenases. A highly destabilizing L188P substitution in a region of the enzyme that undergoes a large conformational change during catalysis plays an important role in adaptation to the gaseous alkane. This work demonstrates that positive selection alone is sufficient to completely respecialize the cytochrome P450 for function on a nonnative substrate

Geometric And Electronic Structures Of The His-Fe(Iv)=O And His-Fe(Iv)-Tyr Hemes Of Maug

Biosynthesis of the tryptophan tryptophylquinone (TTQ) cofactor activates the enzyme methylamine dehydrogenase. The diheme enzyme MauG catalyzes O-atom insertion and cross-linking of two Trp residues to complete TTQ synthesis. Solution optical and Mössbauer spectroscopic studies have indicated that the reactive form of MauG during turnover is an unusual bisFe(IV) intermediate, which has been formulated as a His-ligated ferryl heme [Fe(IV)=O] (heme A), and an Fe(IV) heme with an atypical His/Tyr ligation (heme B). In this study, Fe K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy and extended X-ray absorption fine structure studies have been combined with density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT methods to solve the geometric and electronic structures of each heme site in the MauG bisFe(IV) redox state. The ferryl heme site (heme A) is compared with the well-characterized compound I intermediate of cytochrome c peroxidase. Heme B is unprecedented in biology, and is shown to have a six-coordinate, S = 1 environment, with a short (1.85-Å) Fe-O(Tyr) bond. Experimentally calibrated DFT calculations are used to reveal a strong covalent interaction between the Fe and the O(Tyr) ligand of heme B in the high-valence form. A large change in the Fe-O(Tyr) bond distance on going from Fe(II) (2.02 Å) to Fe(III) (1.89 Å) to Fe(IV) (1.85 Å) signifies increasing localization of spin density on the tyrosinate ligand upon sequential oxidation of heme B to Fe(IV). As such, O(Tyr) plays an active role in attaining and stabilizing the MauG bisFe(IV) redox state. © 2012 SBIC

Crystal structure of the pristine peroxidase ferryl center and its relevance to proton-coupled electron transfer

The reaction of peroxides with peroxidases oxidizes the heme iron from Fe(III) to Fe(IV)=O and a porphyrin or aromatic side chain to a cationic radical. X-ray–generated hydrated electrons rapidly reduce Fe(IV), thereby requiring very short exposures using many crystals, and, even then, some reduction cannot be avoided. The new generation of X-ray free electron lasers capable of generating intense X-rays on the tenths of femtosecond time scale enables structure determination with no reduction or X-ray damage. Here, we report the 1.5-Å crystal structure of cytochrome c peroxidase (CCP) compound I (CmpI) using data obtained with the Stanford Linear Coherent Light Source (LCLS). This structure is consistent with previous structures. Of particular importance is the active site water structure that can mediate the proton transfer reactions required for both CmpI formation and reduction of Fe(IV)=O to Fe(III)-OH. The structures indicate that a water molecule is ideally positioned to shuttle protons between an iron-linked oxygen and the active site catalytic His. We therefore have carried out both computational and kinetic studies to probe the reduction of Fe(IV)=O. Kinetic solvent isotope experiments show that the transfer of a single proton is critical in the peroxidase rate-limiting step, which is very likely the proton-coupled reduction of Fe(IV)=O to Fe(III)-OH. We also find that the pK(a) of the catalytic His substantially increases in CmpI, indicating that this active site His is the source of the proton required in the reduction of Fe(IV)=O to Fe(IV)-OH