Flavins, including flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), are fundamental catalytic cofactors that are responsible for the redox functionality of a diverse set of proteins. Alternatively, modified flavin analogues are rarely found in nature as their incorporation typically results in inactivation of flavoproteins, thus leading to the disruption of important cellular pathways. Here, we report that the fungal flavoenzyme formate oxidase (FOX) catalyzes the slow conversion of noncovalently bound FAD to 8-formyl FAD and that this conversion results in a nearly 10-fold increase in formate oxidase activity. Although the presence of an enzyme-bound 8-formyl FMN has been reported previously as a result of site-directed mutagenesis studies of lactate oxidase, FOX is the first reported case of 8-formyl FAD in a wild-type enzyme. Therefore, the formation of the 8-formyl FAD cofactor in formate oxidase was investigated using steady-state kinetics, site-directed mutagenesis, ultraviolet–visible, circular dichroism, and fluorescence spectroscopy, liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry, and computational analysis. Surprisingly, the results from these studies indicate not only that 8-formyl FAD forms spontaneously and results in the active form of FOX but also that its autocatalytic formation is dependent on a nearby arginine residue, R87. Thus, this work describes a new enzyme cofactor and provides insight into the little-understood mechanism of enzyme-mediated 8α-flavin modifications.

•Hydride transfer from an aldehyde is rate-limiting in wild-type and S101 mutants.•S101 hydrophilicity is important for proton transfer from an aldehyde substrate.•S101 hydrophilicity is important for hydride transfer from an aldehyde substrate.•The volume of the side chain of residue 101 is not important for proton transfer.•The volume of the side chain of residue 101 is not important for hydride transfer.Choline oxidase oxidizes choline to glycine betaine, with two flavin-mediated reactions to convert the alcohol substrate to the carbon acid product. Proton abstraction from choline or hydrated betaine aldehyde in the wild-type enzyme occurs in the mixing time of the stopped-flow spectrophotometer, thereby precluding a mechanistic investigation. Mutagenesis of S101 rendered the proton transfer reaction amenable to study. Here, we have investigated the aldehyde oxidation reaction catalyzed by the mutant enzymes using steady-state and rapid kinetics with betaine aldehyde. Stopped-flow traces for the reductive half-reaction of the S101T/V/C variants were biphasic, corresponding to the reactions of proton abstraction and hydride transfer. In contrast, the S101A enzyme yielded monophasic traces like wild-type choline oxidase. The rate constants for proton transfer in the S101T/C/V variants decreased logarithmically with increasing hydrophobicity of residue 101, indicating a behavior different from that seen previously with choline for which no correlation was determined. The rate constants for hydride transfer also showed a logarithmic decrease with increasing hydrophobicity at position 101, which was similar to previous results with choline as a substrate for the enzyme. Thus, the hydrophilic character of S101 is necessary not only for efficient hydride transfer but also for the proton abstraction reaction.Download high-res image (171KB)Download full-size image

d-Arginine dehydrogenase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PaDADH) is a flavin-dependent oxidoreductase, which is part of a novel two-enzyme racemization system that functions to convert d-arginine to l-arginine. PaDADH contains a noncovalently linked FAD that shows the highest activity with d-arginine. The enzyme exhibits broad substrate specificity towards d-amino acids, particularly with cationic and hydrophobic d-amino acids. Biochemical studies have established the structure and the mechanistic properties of the enzyme. The enzyme is a true dehydrogenase because it displays no reactivity towards molecular oxygen. As established through solvent and multiple kinetic isotope studies, PaDADH catalyzes an asynchronous CH and NH bond cleavage via a hydride transfer mechanism. Steady-state kinetic studies with d-arginine and d-histidine are consistent with the enzyme following a ping-pong bi-bi mechanism. As shown by a combination of crystallography, kinetic and computational data, the shape and flexibility of loop L1 in the active site of PaDADH are important for substrate capture and broad substrate specificity.

Enzyme motions facilitate many hydride-transfer reactions involving quantum mechanical (QM) tunneling. The evidence mainly comes from the determination of kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) and their temperature dependence that have been used to reveal interesting characteristics of human glycolate oxidase (HsGOX). Previous studies have shown that HsGOX oxidizes glycolate to glyoxylate via a hydride-transfer mechanism to an enzyme-associated FMN. Here, we investigate the temperature effect on the anaerobic rate of flavin reduction (kred) for HsGOX with glycolate and [2R-2H]glycolate. While the kred values for HsGOX are temperature-dependent, their KIEs on the kred values (Dkred) do not change as the temperature is varied. This is consistent with the involvement of QM hydride tunneling in the highly optimized active site of HsGOX. We show that the enzyme motions are slaved by the fluctuations in the bulk solvent after determining the kred and Dkred for HsGOX at various solvent viscosities and constant temperature. These results are interpreted in the context of an extension of the Transition State Theory (TST) previously described for adiabatic processes. These experiments demonstrate for the first time that the solvent viscosity modulates the rate of hydride transfer in an enzyme-catalyzed reaction. Furthermore, molecular dynamics simulations show that an increase in the collision frequency of only the bulk solvent from 0.8 ps–1 to 3.8 ps–1 slows down the dynamics of the HsGOX-glycolate complex in the active site, suggesting a direct coupling between solvent motions and the active site dynamics.Keywords: enzyme motion; glycolate oxidase; hydride tunneling; internal friction; kinetic isotope effect; molecular dynamics simulation; solvent viscosity; solvent-slaved motion

Choline oxidase from Arthrobacter globiformis catalyzes the oxidation of choline to glycine betaine by using oxygen as an electron acceptor. A partially rate limiting isomerization of the reduced wild-type enzyme during the reaction with oxygen was previously detected using solvent viscosity effects. In this study, we hypothesized that the side chains of M62 and F357, located at the entrance to the active site of choline oxidase, may be related to the slow isomerization detected. We engineered a double-variant enzyme M62A/F357A. The kinetic characterization of the double-variant enzyme showed a lack of the isomerization detected in wild-type choline oxidase, and a lack of saturation with an oxygen concentration as high as 1 mM, while most other kinetic parameters were similar to those of wild-type choline oxidase. The kinetic characterization of the single-variant enzymes established that only the side chain of F357 plays a role in the isomerization of choline oxidase in the oxidative half-reaction. Molecular dynamics studies suggest that the slow isomerization related to F357 is possibly due to the participation of the phenyl ring in a newly proposed gating mechanism for a narrow tunnel, assumed to regulate the access of oxygen to the reduced cofactor.

Choline oxidase catalyzes the oxidation of choline to glycine betaine through a two-step, four-electron reaction with betaine aldehyde as an intermediate. Oxygen is the final electron acceptor. Alcohol oxidation is initiated by the removal of the substrate hydroxyl proton by an unknown active site residue with a pKa value of ∼7.5. In the crystal structure of the enzyme in complex with glycine betaine, H466 is ≤3.1 Å from the carboxylate oxygen of the reaction product, suggesting a possible role in the proton abstraction reaction catalyzed by the enzyme. H466, along with another potential candidate, H351, was previously mutated to alanine, but this failed to establish if either residue was involved in activation of the substrate. In this study, single variants of choline oxidase with H466 and H351 substituted with glutamine were prepared, purified, and characterized. The kcat and kcat/Km values of the H351Q enzyme in atmospheric oxygen were 45- and 5000-fold lower than those of the wild-type enzyme, respectively, whereas the H466Q enzyme was inactive when assayed polarographically with choline. In the H466Q enzyme, the rate constant for anaerobic flavin reduction (kred) with choline was 1 million-fold lower than in the wild-type enzyme. A comparison of the fluorescence, circular dichroism, and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic properties of the H466Q enzyme and the wild-type enzyme is consistent with the mutation not affecting the topology of the active site or the overall fold of the protein. Thus, the change in the kred value and the lack of oxygen consumption upon mutation of histidine to glutamine are not due to misfolded protein but rather to the variant enzyme being unable to catalyze substrate oxidation. On the basis of the kinetic and spectroscopic results presented here and the recent structural information, we propose that H466 is the residue that activates choline to the alkoxide for the subsequent hydride transfer reaction to the enzyme-bound flavin.

The flavin-mediated enzymatic oxidation of a CN bond in amino acids can occur through hydride transfer, carbanion, or polar nucleophilic mechanisms. Previous results with d-arginine dehydrogenase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PaDADH) using multiple deuterium kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) and computational studies established preferred binding of the substrate protonated on the α-amino group, with cleavages of the NH and CH bonds occurring in asynchronous fashion, consistent with the three possible mechanisms. The hydroxyl groups of Y53 and Y249 are ≤4 Å from the imino and carboxylate groups of the reaction product iminoarginine, suggesting participation in binding and catalysis. In this study, we have investigated the reductive half-reactions of the Y53F and Y249F variants of PaDADH using substrate and solvent deuterium KIEs, solvent viscosity and pH effects, and quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical computational approaches to gain insights into the catalytic roles of the tyrosines and evaluate whether their mutations affect the transition state for substrate oxidation. Both Y53F and Y249F enzymes oxidized d-arginine with steady-state kinetic parameters similar to those of the wild-type enzyme. Rate constants for flavin reduction (kred) with d-leucine, a slow substrate amenable to rapid kinetics, were 3-fold smaller than the wild-type value with similar pKa values for an unprotonated group of ∼10.0. Similar pKa values were observed for appKd in the variant and wild-type enzymes. However, cleavage of the substrate NH and CH bonds in the enzyme variants occurred in synchronous fashion, as suggested by multiple deuterium KIEs on kred. These data can be reconciled with a hydride transfer mechanism, but not with carbanion and polar nucleophilic mechanisms.

The oxidation of the reduced flavin in choline oxidase was investigated with pH, solvent viscosity, and kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) in steady-state kinetics and time-resolved absorbance spectroscopy of the oxidative half-reaction in a stopped-flow spectrophotometer. Both the effects of isotopic substitution on the KIEs and the multiple KIEs suggest a mechanism for flavin oxidation in which the H atom from the reduced flavin and a H+ from the solvent or a solvent exchangeable site are transferred in the same kinetic step. Stopped-flow kinetic data demonstrate flavin oxidation without stabilization of flavin-derived species. Solvent viscosity effects establish an isomerization of the reduced enzyme. These results allow us to rule out mechanisms for flavin oxidation in which C4a-peroxy and -hydroperoxy flavin intermediates accumulate to detectable levels in the reaction of flavin oxidation catalyzed by choline oxidase. A mechanism of flavin oxidation that directly results in the formation of oxidized flavin and hydrogen peroxide without stabilization of reaction intermediates is consistent with the data presented.

Nitronate monooxygenase is a flavin-dependent enzyme that catalyzes the denitrification of propionate 3-nitronate (P3N) and other alkyl nitronates. The enzyme was previously known as 2-nitropropane dioxygenase, until its reclassification in 2010 by the IUBMB. Physiologically, the monooxygenase from fungi protects the organism from the environmental occurrence of P3N, which shuts down the Krebs cycle by inactivating succinate dehydrogenase and fumarase. The inhibition of these enzymes yields severe neurological disorders or death. Here, we have used for the first time steady-state and rapid kinetics, viscosity and pH effects, and time-resolved absorbance spectroscopy of the enzyme in turnover with P3N and the substrate analogue ethyl nitronate (EN) to elucidate the mechanism of the reaction. A transient increase in absorbance at ∼300 nm, never reported before, was seen during steady-state turnover of the enzyme with P3N and oxygen, with no concomitant changes between 400 and 600 nm. The transient species was not detected when oxygen was absent. Anaerobic reduction of the enzyme with P3N yielded anionic flavosemiquinone and was fast (e.g., ≥1900 s–1). Steady-state kinetics demonstrated that oxygen reacts before the release of the product of P3N oxidation from the enzyme. No pH effects were seen with P3N on kcat/Km, kcat/Koxygen, and kcat; in contrast, with EN, the kcat/Km and kcat decreased with increasing pH defining two plateaus and a pKa ∼ 8.0. Solvent viscosity at the pH optima suggested product release as being partially controlling the overall rate of turnover with the physiological substrate and its analogue. A mechanism that satisfies the kinetic results is proposed.

The oxidation of flavin hydroquinones by O2 in solution is slow, with second-order rate constants of ∼250 M–1 s–1. This is due to the obligatory, single-electron transfer that initiates the reaction being thermodynamically unfavored and poorly catalyzed. Notwithstanding considerations of O2 accessibility to the reaction site, its desolvation and geometry and other factors that can also contribute to further rate acceleration, flavoprotein oxidases must activate O2 for reaction with flavin hydroquinones to be able to achieve the 100–1000-fold rate enhancements typically observed. Protein positive charges have been identified in glucose oxidase, monomeric sarcosine oxidase, N-methyltryptophan oxidase and fructosamine oxidase that electrostatically stabilize the transition state for the initial single electron transfer that generates the O2–•/flavin semiquinone radical pair. In choline oxidase despite the presence of three histidines in the active site, the trimethylammonium group of the reaction product provides such an electrostatic stabilization. A nonpolar site proximal to the flavin C(4a) atom in choline oxidase has also been identified, which contributes to the geometry and desolvation of the O2 reaction site. The relevance of O2 activation by product charges to other flavoprotein oxidases, such as for example those catalyzing amine oxidations, is discussed in this review. A nonpolar site close to the flavin C(4a) atom and a positive charge is identified through structural analysis in several flavoprotein oxidases. Mutagenesis has disclosed nonpolar sites in O2-reducing enzymes that utilize copper/TPQ or iron. It is predicted that classes of O2-reducing enzymes utilizing other cofactors also contain a similar catalytic motif.

The mechanism of amine oxidation catalyzed by d-arginine dehydrogenase (DADH) has been investigated using steady-state and rapid reaction kinetics, with pH, substrate and solvent deuterium kinetic isotope effects (KIE) as mechanistic probes, and computational studies. Previous results showed that 85–90% of the flavin reduction reaction occurs in the mixing time of the stopped-flow spectrophotometer when arginine is the substrate, precluding a mechanistic investigation. Consequently, leucine, with slower kinetics, has been used here as the flavin-reducing substrate. Free energy calculations and the pH profile of the Kd are consistent with the enzyme preferentially binding the zwitterionic form of the substrate. Isomerization of the Michaelis complex, yielding an enzyme–substrate complex competent for flavin reduction, is established due to an inverse hyperbolic dependence of kcat/Km on solvent viscosity. Amine deprotonation triggers the oxidation reaction, with cleavage of the substrate NH and CH bonds occurring in an asynchronous fashion, as suggested by the multiple deuterium KIE on the rate constant for flavin reduction (kred). A pKa of 9.6 signifies the ionization of a group that facilitates flavin reduction in the unprotonated form. The previously reported high-resolution crystal structures of the iminoarginine and iminohistidine complexes of DADH allow us to propose that Tyr53, on a mobile loop covering the active site, may participate in substrate binding and facilitate flavin reduction.

Glycolate oxidase is a flavin-dependent enzyme that catalyzes the oxidation of α-hydroxy acids to the corresponding α-keto acids, with reduction of molecular oxygen to hydrogen peroxide. A number of probes have been used to investigate the oxidative half-reaction catalyzed by the enzyme, including steady state and rapid kinetics, pH studies, solvent kinetic isotope effects, and solvent viscosity effects. Here we present the first spectroscopic evidence of the formation of an intermediate with absorbance features resembling those of a flavosemiquinone in the oxidative half-reaction of glycolate oxidase.

Choline oxidase catalyzes the flavin-dependent, two-step oxidation of choline to glycine betaine with the formation of an aldehyde intermediate. In the first oxidation reaction, the alcohol substrate is initially activated to its alkoxide via proton abstraction. The substrate is oxidized via transfer of a hydride from the alkoxide α-carbon to the N(5) atom of the enzyme-bound flavin. In the wild-type enzyme, proton and hydride transfers are mechanistically and kinetically uncoupled. In this study, we have mutagenized an active site serine proximal to the C(4a) and N(5) atoms of the flavin and investigated the reactions of proton and hydride transfers by using substrate and solvent kinetic isotope effects. Replacement of Ser101 with threonine, alanine, cysteine, or valine resulted in biphasic traces in anaerobic reductions of the flavin with choline investigated in a stopped-flow spectrophotometer. Kinetic isotope effects established that the kinetic phases correspond to the proton and hydride transfer reactions catalyzed by the enzyme. Upon removal of Ser101, there is an at least 15-fold decrease in the rate constants for proton abstraction, irrespective of whether threonine, alanine, valine, or cysteine is present in the mutant enzyme. A logarithmic decrease spanning 4 orders of magnitude is seen in the rate constants for hydride transfer with increasing hydrophobicity of the side chain at position 101. This study shows that the hydrophilic character of a serine residue proximal to the C(4a) and N(5) flavin atoms is important for efficient hydride transfer.

The oxidation of reduced flavin cofactors by oxygen is a very important reaction that is central to the chemical versatility of hundreds of flavoproteins classified as monooxygenases and oxidases. These enzymes are characterized by bimolecular rate constants ≥105 M−1 s−1 and produce water and hydrogen peroxide, respectively. A hydrophobic cavity close to the reactive flavin C(4a) atom has been previously identified in the 3D structure of monooxygenases but not in flavoprotein oxidases. In the present study, we have investigated by X-ray crystallography, mutagenesis, steady-state, and rapid reaction approaches the role of Val464, which is <6 Å from the flavin C(4a) atom in choline oxidase. The 3D structure of the Val464Ala enzyme was essentially identical to that of the wild-type enzyme as shown by X-ray crystallography. Time-resolved anaerobic substrate reduction of the enzymes showed that replacement of Val464 with alanine or threonine did not affect the reductive half-reaction. Steady-state and rapid kinetics as well as enzyme-monitored turnovers indicated that the oxidative half-reaction in the Ala464 and Thr464 enzymes was decreased by ∼50-fold with respect to the wild-type enzyme. We propose that the side chain of Val464 in choline oxidase provides a nonpolar site that is required to guide oxygen in proximity of the C(4a) atom of the flavin, where it will subsequently react via electrostatic catalysis. Visual analysis of available structures suggests that analogous nonpolar sites are likely present in most flavoprotein oxidases. Mechanistic considerations provide rationalization for the differences between sites in monooxygenases and oxidases.

d-Arginine dehydrogenase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa catalyzes the oxidation of d-arginine to iminoarginine, which is hydrolyzed in solution to ketoarginine and ammonia. In the present study, we have genetically engineered an untagged form of the enzyme that was purified to high levels and characterized in its kinetic properties. The enzyme is a true dehydrogenase that does not react with molecular oxygen. Steady-state kinetic studies with d-arginine or d-histidine as substrate and PMS as the electron acceptor established a ping-pong bi-bi kinetic mechanism. With the fast substrate d-arginine a dead-end complex of the reduced enzyme and the substrate occurs at high concentrations of d-arginine yielding substrate inhibition, while the overall turnover is partially limited by the release of the iminoarginine product. With the slow substrate d-histidine the initial Michaelis complex undergoes an isomerization involving multiple conformations that are not all equally catalytically competent for the subsequent oxidation reaction, while the overall turnover is at least partially limited by flavin reduction. The kinetic data are interpreted in view of the high-resolution crystal structures of the iminoarginine− and iminohistidine−enzyme complexes.

The flavoprotein choline oxidase catalyzes the oxidation of choline to glycine betaine with transient formation of an aldehyde intermediate and molecular oxygen as final electron acceptor. The enzyme has been grouped in the glucose−methanol−choline oxidoreductase enzyme superfamily, which shares a highly conserved His-Asn catalytic pair in the active site. In this study, the conserved asparagine residue at position 510 in choline oxidase was replaced with alanine, aspartate, histidine, or leucine by site-directed mutagenesis, and the resulting mutant enzymes were purified and characterized in their biochemical and mechanistic properties. All of the substitutions resulted in low incorporation of FAD into the protein. The Asn510Asp enzyme was not catalytically active with choline and had 75% of the flavin associated noncovalently. The most notable changes in the catalytic parameters with respect to wild-type choline oxidase were seen in the Asn510Ala enzyme, with decreases of 4300-fold in the kcat/Kcholine, 600-fold in the kred, 660-fold in the kcat, and 50-fold in the kcat/Koxygen values. Smaller, but nonetheless similar, changes were seen also in the Asn510His enzyme. Both the Kd and Km values for choline changed ≤7-fold. These data are consistent with Asn510 participating in both the reductive and oxidative half-reactions but having a minimal role in substrate binding. Substrate, solvent, and multiple kinetic isotope effects on the kred values indicated that the substitution of Asn510 with alanine, but not with histidine, resulted in a change from stepwise to concerted mechanisms for the cleavages of the OH and CH bonds of choline catalyzed by the enzyme.

Catalytic turnover of Neurospora crassa 2-nitropropane dioxygenase with nitroethane as substrate occurs through both nonoxidative and oxidative pathways. The pH dependence of the kinetic isotope effects with [1,1-2H2]nitroethane as substrate was measured in the current study by monitoring the formation of the nitronate product in the nonoxidative pathway. The kinetic isotope effect on the second-order rate constant for nitronate formation, kcat/Km, decreased from an upper limiting value of 23 ± 1 at low pH to a lower limiting value of 11 ± 1 at high pH. These kinetic isotope effects are three times larger than those determined previously through measurements of oxygen consumption that occurs in the oxidative pathway of the enzyme [(2006) Biochemistry 45, 13889]. Analytical expressions for the kcat/Km values determined in each study show that the difference in the kinetic isotope effects arises from the branching of an enzyme−ethylnitronate reaction intermediate through oxidative and nonoxidative turnover. This branching is isotope sensitive due to a kinetic isotope effect on nitronate release rather than on flavin reduction as indicated by the pH-independent Dkred value of 0.99 ± 0.06 with ethylnitronate as substrate. The kinetic isotope effect on ethylnitronate release arises from the deprotonation of histidine 196, which provides electrostatic interactions with the nitronate to keep it bound in the active site for oxidation. The isotope effect on branching results in an inflation of the kinetic isotope observed for the nonoxidative pathway to values that are larger than the intrinsic values associated with CH bond cleavage.

Flavin C4a−OO(H) and C4a−OH adducts are critical intermediates proposed in many flavoenzyme reaction mechanisms, but they are rarely detected even by rapid transient kinetics methods. We observe a trapped flavin C4a−OH or C4a−OO(H) adduct by single-crystal spectroscopic methods and in the 1.86 Å resolution X-ray crystal structure of choline oxidase. The microspectrophotometry results show that the adduct forms rapidly in situ at 100 K upon exposure to X-rays. Density functional theory calculations establish the electronic structures for the flavin C4a−OH and C4a−OO(H) adducts and estimate the stabilization energy of several active site hydrogen bonds deduced from the crystal structure. We propose that the enzyme-bound FAD is reduced in the X-ray beam. The aerobic crystals then form either a C4a−OH or C4a−OO(H) adduct, but an insufficient proton inventory prevents their decay at cryogenic temperatures.

A series of monovalent, inorganic anions and aliphatic aldehydes were tested as inhibitors for Hansenula mrakii and Neurospora crassa nitronate monooxygenase, formerly known as 2-nitropropane dioxygenase, to investigate the structural features that contribute to the binding of the anionic nitronate substrates to the enzymes. A linear correlation between the volumes of the inorganic anions and their effectiveness as competitive inhibitors of the enzymes was observed in a plot of pKisversus the ionic volume of the anion with slopes of 0.041 ± 0.001 mM/Å3 and 0.027 ± 0.001 mM/Å3 for the H. mrakii and N. crassa enzymes, respectively. Aliphatic aldehydes were weak competitive inhibitors of the enzymes, with inhibition constants that are independent of their alkyl chain lengths. The reductive half reactions of H. mrakii nitronate monooxygenase with primary nitronates containing two to four carbon atoms all showed apparent Kd values of ∼5 mM. These results are consistent with the presence of an anion binding pocket in the active site of nitronate monooxygenase that interacts with the nitro group of the substrate, and suggest a minimal contribution of the hydrocarbon chain of the nitronates to the binding of the ligands to the enzyme.An investigation of the competitive inhibition of nitronate monooxygenase by inorganic, monovalent anions reveals an anion binding pocket in the active site of the enzyme.

The deprotonation of nitroethane catalyzed by Neurospora crassa 2-nitropropane dioxygenase was investigated by measuring the formation and release of ethylnitronate formed in turnover as a function of pH and through mutagenesis studies. Progress curves for the enzymatic reaction obtained by following the increase in absorbance at 228 nm over time were visibly nonlinear, requiring a logarithmic approximation of the initial reaction rates for the determination of the kinetic parameters of the enzyme. The pH dependence of the second-order rate constant kcat/Km with nitroethane as substrate implicates the presence of a group with a pKa of 8.1 ± 0.1 that must be unprotonated for nitronate formation. Mutagenesis studies suggest that this group is histidine 196 as evident from the inability of a H196N variant form of the enzyme to catalyze the formation of ethylnitronate from nitroethane. Replacement of histidine 196 with asparagine resulted in an ∼15-fold increase in the kcat/Km with ethylnitronate as compared to the wild-type, which results from the inability of the mutant enzyme to undergo nonoxidative turnover. The results presented herein are consistent with a branched catalytic mechanism for the enzyme in which the ethylnitronate intermediate formed from the H196-catalyzed deprotonation of nitroethane partitions between release from the active site and oxidative denitrification to yield acetaldehyde and nitrite.

Choline oxidase (E.C. 1.1.3.17; choline-oxygen 1-oxidoreductase) catalyzes the two-step, four-electron oxidation of choline to glycine betaine with betaine aldehyde as enzyme-associated intermediate and molecular oxygen as final electron acceptor. Biochemical, structural, and mechanistic studies on the wild-type and a number of mutant forms of choline oxidase from Arthrobacter globiformis have recently been carried out, allowing for the delineation at molecular and atomic levels of the mechanism of alcohol oxidation catalyzed by the enzyme. First, the alcohol substrate is activated to its alkoxide species by the removal of the hydroxyl proton in the enzyme−substrate complex. The resulting activated alkoxide is correctly positioned for catalysis through electrostatic and hydrogen bonding interactions with a number of active site residues. After substrate activation and correct positioning are attained, alcohol oxidation occurs in a highly preorganized enzyme−substrate complex through quantum mechanical transfer of a hydride ion from the α-carbon of the chelated, alkoxide species to the N(5) atom of the enzyme-bound flavin. This mechanism in its essence is shared by another class of alcohol oxidizing enzymes that utilize a catalytic zinc to stabilize an alkoxide intermediate and NAD(P)+ as the organic cofactor that accepts the hydride ion, whose paradigm example is alcohol dehydrogenase. It will be interesting to experimentally evaluate the attractive hypothesis of whether the mechanism of choline oxidase can be extended to other flavin-dependent enzymes as well as enzymes that utilize cofactors other than flavins in the oxidation of alcohols.

Choline oxidase catalyzes the four-electron, flavin-linked oxidation of choline to glycine betaine with transient formation of an enzyme-bound aldehyde intermediate. The recent determination of the crystal structure of choline oxidase to a resolution of 1.86 Å established the presence of two histidine residues in the active site, which may participate in catalysis. His466 was the subject of a previous study [Ghanem, M., and Gadda, G. (2005) Biochemistry 44, 893−904]. In this study, His351 was replaced with alanine using site-directed mutagenesis, and the resulting mutant enzyme was purified and characterized in its mechanistic properties. The results presented establish that His351 contributes to substrate binding and positioning and stabilizes the transition state for the hydride transfer reaction to the flavin, as suggested by anaerobic substrate reduction stopped-flow data. Furthermore, His351 contributes to the overall polarity of the active site by modulating the pKa of the group that deprotonates choline to the alkoxide species, as indicated by pH profiles of the steady-state kinetic parameters with the substrate or a competitive inhibitor. Surprisingly, His351 is not involved in the activation of the reduced flavin for reaction with oxygen. The latter observation, along with previous mutagenesis data on His466, allow us to conclude that choline oxidase must necessarily utilize a strategy for oxygen reduction different from that established for glucose oxidase, where other authors showed that the catalytic effect almost entirely arises from a protonated histidine residue.

The enzymatic oxidation of choline to glycine betaine is of interest because organisms accumulate glycine betaine intracellularly in response to stress conditions. This is relevant for the genetic engineering of crops with economic interest that do not naturally possess efficient pathways for the synthesis of glycine betaine and for the potential development of drugs that target the glycine betaine biosynthetic pathway in human pathogens. To date, the best characterized choline-oxidizing enzyme is the flavin-dependent choline oxidase from Arthrobacter globiformis, for which structural, mechanistic, and biochemical data are available. Here, we have replaced a hydrophobic residue (Val464) lining the active site cavity close to the N(5) atom of the flavin with threonine or alanine to investigate its role in the reaction of choline oxidation catalyzed by choline oxidase. The reductive half-reactions of the enzyme variants containing Thr464 or Ala464 were investigated using substrate and solvent kinetic isotope effects, solvent viscosity effects, and proton inventories. Replacement of Val464 with threonine or alanine uncovered a kinetically slow equilibrium between a catalytically incompetent form of enzyme and an active species that can efficiently oxidize choline. In both variants, the active form of enzyme shows a decreased rate of hydroxyl proton abstraction from the alcohol substrate, with minimal changes in the subsequent rate of hydride ion transfer to the flavin. This study therefore establishes that a hydrophobic residue not directly participating in catalysis plays important roles in the reaction of choline oxidation catalyzed by choline oxidase.

Despite a number of studies, the formation of the Michaelis complexes between ferredoxin-NADP+ reductases and NADP(H) eluded detailed investigations by rapid kinetic techniques because of their high formation rates. Moreover, the reversible nature of the reaction of hydride ion transfer between these enzymes and NADPH prevented the obtainment of reliable estimates of the rate constant of the hydride transfer step. Here we show that by working at a high salt concentration, the mechanism of the reaction with NADPH of FprA, a Mycobacterium tuberculosis homologue of adrenodoxin reductase, is greatly simplified, making it amenable to investigation by rapid reaction techniques. The approach presented herein allowed for the first time the observation of the formation of the Michaelis complex between an adrenodoxin reductase-like enzyme and NADPH, and the determination of the related rate constants for association and dissociation. Furthermore, the rate constant for the reaction of hydride ion transfer between NADPH and FAD could be unambiguously assessed. It is proposed that the approach described should be applicable to other ferredoxin reductase enzymes, providing a valuable experimental tool for the study of their kinetic properties.

The oxidation of choline catalyzed by choline oxidase includes two reductive half-reactions where FAD is reduced by the alcohol substrate and by an aldehyde intermediate transiently formed in the reaction. Each reductive half-reaction is followed by an oxidative half-reaction where the reduced flavin is oxidized by oxygen. Here, we have used mutagenesis to prepare the Ser101Ala mutant of choline oxidase and have investigated the impact of this mutation on the structural and kinetic properties of the enzyme. The crystallographic structure of the Ser101Ala enzyme indicates that the only differences between the mutant and wild-type enzymes are the lack of a hydroxyl group on residue 101 and a more planar configuration of the flavin in the mutant enzyme. Kinetics established that replacement of Ser101 with alanine yields a mutant enzyme with increased efficiencies in the oxidative half-reactions and decreased efficiencies in the reductive half-reactions. This is accompanied by a significant decrease in the overall rate of turnover with choline. Thus, this mutation has revealed the importance of a specific residue for the optimization of the overall turnover of choline oxidase, which requires fine-tuning of four consecutive half-reactions for the conversion of an alcohol to a carboxylic acid.

•Restricted proton movements are established in catalysis from hollowed pH profiles.•E87 (pKa ⩾ 7.9) is required to bind cationic but not zwitterionic substrates.•The unprotonated substrate α-amine (pKa ∼ 9.5) is required for substrate oxidation.•Leucine is a non-sticky substrate for the enzyme.•Arginine, lysine and methionine are sticky substrates for the enzyme.Pseudomonas aeruginosad-arginine dehydrogenase (PaDADH) catalyzes the oxidation of d-arginine to iminoarginine, which is non-enzymatically hydrolyzed to 2-ketoarginine and ammonia. Here, site-directed mutagenesis and pH effects were used to investigate binding and catalysis of zwitterionic and cationic substrates for the enzyme. An unprotonated group with apparent pKa value ⩾7.9 is required for binding d-arginine or d-lysine, but not d-methionine or d-leucine. This group is E87, as suggested by its replacement with leucine. An unprotonated group with pKa of 9.5, which persists in the H48F and E87L variants, is required for amine oxidation with all substrates. Since Y53 and Y249 were previously ruled out, the pKa is assigned to the substrate α-NH3+ group, which previous QM/MM and Kd pH-profile demonstrated to be protonated for preferred binding to the enzyme. Lack of pH effects on the Dkred with d-leucine established 9.5 as the intrinsic pKa, and d-leucine as a non-sticky substrate. d-Arginine, d-lysine and d-methionine and their corresponding iminoproducts were significantly stickier than d-leucine, as indicated by apparent pKa values <9.5 in both kcat/Km and kcat. Restricted proton movements in catalysis were established from hollowed kcat pH profiles in wild-type PaDADH with d-lysine and in the H48F and E87L enzymes with d-arginine.