In two-component signal transduction, response regulator proteins contain the catalytic machinery for their own covalent phosphorylation and can catalyze phosphotransfer from a partner sensor kinase or autophosphorylate using various small molecule phosphodonors. Although response regulator autophosphorylation is physiologically relevant and a powerful experimental tool, the kinetic determinants of the autophosphorylation reaction and how those determinants might vary for different response regulators and phosphodonors are largely unknown. We characterized the autophosphorylation kinetics of 21 variants of the model response regulator Escherichia coli CheY that contained substitutions primarily at nonconserved active site positions D+2 (CheY residue 59) and T+2 (CheY residue 89), two residues C-terminal to conserved D57 and T87, respectively. Overall, the CheY variants exhibited a >105-fold range of rate constants (kphos/KS) for reaction with phosphoramidate, acetyl phosphate, or monophosphoimidazole, with the great majority of rates enhanced over wild type CheY. Although phosphodonor preference varied substantially, nearly all the CheY variants reacted faster with phosphoramidate than acetyl phosphate. Correlation between increased positive charge of the D+2/T+2 side chains and faster rates indicated electrostatic interactions are a kinetic determinant. Moreover, sensitivities of rate constants to ionic strength indicated that both long-range and localized electrostatic interactions influence autophosphorylation kinetics. Increased nonpolar surface area of the D+2/T+2 side chains also correlated with enhanced autophosphorylation rate, especially for reaction with phosphoramidate and monophosphoimidazole. Computer docking suggested that highly accelerated monophosphoimidazole autophosphorylation rates for CheY variants with a tyrosine at position T+2 likely reflect structural mimicry of phosphotransfer from the sensor kinase histidyl phosphate
