Using the single-chain due ferri (DFsc) peptide scaffold, the differential oxidase and oxygenase reactivities of two 4A→4G variants, one with two histidines at the diiron center (G4DFsc) and the other with three histidines (3His-G4DFsc(Mut3)), are explored. By controlling the reaction conditions, the active form responsible for 4-aminophenol (4-AP) oxidase activity in both G4DFsc and 3His-G4DFsc(Mut3) is determined to be the substrate-bound biferrous site. Using circular dichroism (CD), magnetic CD (MCD), and variable-temperature, variable-field (VTVH) MCD spectroscopies, 4-AP is found to bind directly to the biferrous sites of the DF proteins. In G4DFsc, 4-AP increases the coordination of the biferrous site, while in 3His-G4DFsc(Mut3), the coordination number remains the same and the substrate likely replaces the additional bound histidine. This substrate binding enables a two-electron process where 4-AP is oxidized to benzoquinone imine and O2 is reduced to H2O2. In contrast, only the biferrous 3His variant is found to be active in the oxygenation of p-anisidine to 4-nitroso-methoxybenzene. From CD, MCD, and VTVH MCD, p-anisidine addition is found to minimally perturb the biferrous centers of both G4DFsc and 3His-G4DFsc(Mut3), indicating that this substrate binds near the biferrous site. In 3His-G4DFsc(Mut3), the coordinative saturation of one iron leads to the two-electron reduction of O2 at the second iron to generate an end-on hydroperoxo-Fe(III) active oxygenating species.

DFsc (single-chain due ferri) proteins allow for modeling binuclear non-heme iron enzymes with a similar fold. Three 4A → 4G variants of DFsc were studied to investigate the effects of (1) increasing the size of the substrate/solvent access channel (G4DFsc), (2) including an additional His residue in the first coordination sphere along with three additional helix-stabilizing mutations [3His-G4DFsc(Mut3)], and (3) the three helix-stabilizing mutations alone [G4DFsc(Mut3)] on the biferrous structures and their O2 reactivities. Near-infrared circular dichroism and magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectroscopy show that the 4A → 4G mutations increase coordination of the diiron site from 4-coordinate/5-coordinate to 5-coordinate/5-coordinate, likely reflecting increased solvent accessibility. While the three helix-stabilizing mutations [G4DFsc(Mut3)] do not affect the coordination number, addition of the third active site His residue [3His-G4DFsc(Mut3)] results in a 5-coordinate/6-coordinate site. Although all 4A→ 4G variants have significantly slower pseudo-first-order rates when reacting with excess O2 than DFsc (∼2 s–1), G4DFsc and 3His-G4DFsc(Mut3) have rates (∼0.02 and ∼0.04 s–1) faster than that of G4DFsc(Mut3) (∼0.002 s–1). These trends in the rate of O2 reactivity correlate with exchange coupling between the Fe(II) sites and suggest that the two-electron reduction of O2 occurs through end-on binding at one Fe(II) rather than through a peroxy-bridged intermediate. UV–vis absorption and MCD spectroscopies indicate that an Fe(III)Fe(III)-OH species first forms in all three variants but converts into an Fe(III)-μ-OH-Fe(III) species only in the 2-His forms, a process inhibited by the additional active site His ligand that coordinatively saturates one of the iron centers in 3His-G4DFsc(Mut3).

An α_vβ₁ inhibitor attenuated pulmonary and liver fibrosis in mouse models.

This work reports the first example of a single-chain protein computationally designed to contain four α-helical segments and fold to form a four-helix bundle encapsulating a supramolecular abiological chromophore that possesses exceptional nonlinear optical properties. The 109-residue protein, designated SCRPZ-1, binds and disperses an insoluble hyperpolarizable chromophore, ruthenium(II) [5-(4′-ethynyl-(2,2′;6′,2″-terpyridinyl))-10,20-bis(phenyl)porphinato]zinc(II)-(2,2′;6′,2″-terpyridine)2+ (RuPZn) in aqueous buffer solution at a 1:1 stoichiometry. A 1:1 binding stoichiometry of the holoprotein is supported by electronic absorption and circular dichroism spectra, as well as equilibrium analytical ultracentrifugation and size exclusion chromatography. SCRPZ-1 readily dimerizes at micromolar concentrations, and an empirical redesign of the protein exterior produced a stable monomeric protein, SCRPZ-2, that also displayed a 1:1 protein:cofactor stoichiometry. For both proteins in aqueous buffer, the encapsulated cofactor displays photophysical properties resembling those exhibited by the dilute RuPZn cofactor in organic solvent: femtosecond, nanosecond, and microsecond time scale pump–probe transient absorption spectroscopic data evince intensely absorbing holoprotein excited states having large spectral bandwidth that penetrate deep in the near-infrared energy regime; the holoprotein electronically excited triplet state exhibits a microsecond time scale lifetime characteristic of the RuPZn chromophore. Hyper-Rayleigh light scattering measurements carried out at an incident irradiation wavelength of 1340 nm for these holoproteins demonstrate an exceptional dynamic hyperpolarizabilty (β1340 = 3100 × 10–30 esu). X-ray reflectivity measurements establish that this de novo-designed hyperpolarizable protein can be covalently attached with high surface density to a silicon surface without loss of the cofactor, indicating that these assemblies provide a new approach to bioinspired materials that have unique electro-optic functionality.