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Spectroscopic study of the cobalamin-dependent methionine synthase in the activation conformation: effects of the Y1139 residue and S-adenosylmethionine on the B12 cofactor.

ABSTRACT: The cobalamin-dependent methionine synthase (MetH) from Escherichia coli is a modular enzyme that catalyzes a methyl group transfer from methyltetrahydrofolate to homocysteine via a methylcob(III)alamin (MeCbl) intermediate, generating tetrahydrofolate and methionine (Met). Once every approximately 2000 turnovers, the cobalamin cofactor is converted to the inactive cob(II)alamin (Co(2+)Cbl) form, from which MeCbl has to be recovered for MetH to re-enter the catalytic cycle. A particularly puzzling aspect of this reactivation process is that it requires the reduction of the Co(2+)Cbl species to cob(I)alamin (Co(1+)Cbl) by flavodoxin, a reaction that would appear to be endergonic on the basis of the corresponding reduction potentials. To explore how MetH may overcome this apparent thermodynamic challenge, we have prepared the I690C/G743C variant of a C-terminal fragment of MetH (MetH(CT)) to lock the enzyme into the activation conformation without perturbing any of the residues in the vicinity of the active site. A detailed spectroscopic characterization of this species and the I690C/G743C/Y1139F MetH(CT) triple mutant reveals that the strategy employed by MetH to activate Co(2+)Cbl for Co(2+) --> Co(1+) reduction likely involves (i) an axial ligand switch to generate a five-coordinate species with an axially coordinated water molecule and (ii) a significant lengthening, or perhaps complete rupture, of the Co-OH(2) bond of the cofactor, thereby causing a large stabilization of the Co 3d(z(2))-based "redox-active" molecular orbital. The lengthening of the Co-OH(2) bond is mediated by the Y1139 active-site residue and becomes much more dramatic when the S-adenosylmethionine substrate is present in the enzyme active site. This substrate requirement provides MetH a means to suppress deleterious side reactions involving the transiently formed Co(1+)Cbl "supernucleophile".

SUBMITTER: Liptak MD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3101771 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Spectroscopic study of the cobalamin-dependent methionine synthase in the activation conformation: effects of the Y1139 residue and S-adenosylmethionine on the B12 cofactor.

Liptak Matthew D MD Datta Supratim S Matthews Rowena G RG Brunold Thomas C TC

Journal of the American Chemical Society 20081201 48

The cobalamin-dependent methionine synthase (MetH) from Escherichia coli is a modular enzyme that catalyzes a methyl group transfer from methyltetrahydrofolate to homocysteine via a methylcob(III)alamin (MeCbl) intermediate, generating tetrahydrofolate and methionine (Met). Once every approximately 2000 turnovers, the cobalamin cofactor is converted to the inactive cob(II)alamin (Co(2+)Cbl) form, from which MeCbl has to be recovered for MetH to re-enter the catalytic cycle. A particularly puzzli ...[more]

PMID: 19006389

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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.

Dataset Information

Spectroscopic study of the cobalamin-dependent methionine synthase in the activation conformation: effects of the Y1139 residue and S-adenosylmethionine on the B12 cofactor.

Publications

Spectroscopic study of the cobalamin-dependent methionine synthase in the activation conformation: effects of the Y1139 residue and S-adenosylmethionine on the B12 cofactor.

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