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A disulfide-stabilized conformer of methionine synthase reveals an unexpected role for the histidine ligand of the cobalamin cofactor.

ABSTRACT: B(12)-dependent methionine synthase (MetH) from Escherichia coli is a large modular protein that is alternately methylated by methyltetrahydrofolate to form methylcobalamin and demethylated by homocysteine to form cob(I)alamin. Major domain rearrangements are required to allow cobalamin to react with three different substrates: homocysteine, methyltetrahydrofolate, and S-adenosyl-l-methionine (AdoMet). These same rearrangements appear to preclude crystallization of the wild-type enzyme. Disulfide cross-linking was used to lock a C-terminal fragment of the enzyme into a unique conformation. Cysteine point mutations were introduced at Ile-690 and Gly-743. These cysteine residues span the cap and the cobalamin-binding module and form a cross-link that reduces the conformational space accessed by the enzyme, facilitating protein crystallization. Here, we describe an x-ray structure of the mutant fragment in the reactivation conformation; this conformation enables the transfer of a methyl group from AdoMet to the cobalamin cofactor. In the structure, the axial ligand to the cobalamin, His-759, dissociates from the cobalamin and forms intermodular contacts with residues in the AdoMet-binding module. This unanticipated intermodular interaction is expected to play a major role in controlling the distribution of conformers required for the catalytic and the reactivation cycles of the enzyme.

SUBMITTER: Datta S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2393809 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A disulfide-stabilized conformer of methionine synthase reveals an unexpected role for the histidine ligand of the cobalamin cofactor.

Datta Supratim S Koutmos Markos M Pattridge Katherine A KA Ludwig Martha L ML Matthews Rowena G RG

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20080310 11

B(12)-dependent methionine synthase (MetH) from Escherichia coli is a large modular protein that is alternately methylated by methyltetrahydrofolate to form methylcobalamin and demethylated by homocysteine to form cob(I)alamin. Major domain rearrangements are required to allow cobalamin to react with three different substrates: homocysteine, methyltetrahydrofolate, and S-adenosyl-l-methionine (AdoMet). These same rearrangements appear to preclude crystallization of the wild-type enzyme. Disulfid ...[more]

PMID: 18332423

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Project description:In nature, Escherichia coli are exposed to harsh and non-ideal growth environments-nutrients may be limiting, and cells are often challenged by oxidative stress. For E. coli cells confronting these realities, there appears to be a link between oxidative stress, methionine availability, and the enzyme that catalyzes the final step of methionine biosynthesis, cobalamin-independent methionine synthase (MetE). We found that E. coli cells subjected to transient oxidative stress during growth in minimal medium develop a methionine auxotrophy, which can be traced to an effect on MetE. Further experiments demonstrated that the purified enzyme is inactivated by oxidized glutathione (GSSG) at a rate that correlates with protein oxidation. The unique site of oxidation was identified by selectively cleaving N-terminally to each reduced cysteine and analyzing the results by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry. Stoichiometric glutathionylation of MetE by GSSG occurs at cysteine 645, which is strategically located at the entrance to the active site. Direct evidence of MetE oxidation in vivo was obtained from thiol-trapping experiments in two different E. coli strains that contain highly oxidizing cytoplasmic environments. Moreover, MetE is completely oxidized in wild-type E. coli treated with the thiol-oxidizing agent diamide; reduced enzyme reappears just prior to the cells resuming normal growth. We argue that for E. coli experiencing oxidizing conditions in minimal medium, MetE is readily inactivated, resulting in cellular methionine limitation. Glutathionylation of the protein provides a strategy to modulate in vivo activity of the enzyme while protecting the active site from further damage, in an easily reversible manner. While glutathionylation of proteins is a fairly common mode of redox regulation in eukaryotes, very few proteins in E. coli are known to be modified in this manner. Our results are complementary to the independent findings of Leichert and Jakob presented in the accompanying paper (Leichert and Jakob 2004), which provide evidence that MetE is one of the proteins in E. coli most susceptible to oxidation. In eukaryotes, glutathionylation of key proteins involved in protein synthesis leads to inhibition of translation. Our studies suggest a simpler mechanism is employed by E. coli to achieve the same effect.

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A disulfide-stabilized conformer of methionine synthase reveals an unexpected role for the histidine ligand of the cobalamin cofactor.

Publications

A disulfide-stabilized conformer of methionine synthase reveals an unexpected role for the histidine ligand of the cobalamin cofactor.

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