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Function of the diiron cluster of Escherichia coli class Ia ribonucleotide reductase in proton-coupled electron transfer.

ABSTRACT: The class Ia ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) from Escherichia coli employs a free-radical mechanism, which involves bidirectional translocation of a radical equivalent or "hole" over a distance of ~35 Å from the stable diferric/tyrosyl-radical (Y122(•)) cofactor in the ? subunit to cysteine 439 (C439) in the active site of the ? subunit. This long-range, intersubunit electron transfer occurs by a multistep "hopping" mechanism via formation of transient amino acid radicals along a specific pathway and is thought to be conformationally gated and coupled to local proton transfers. Whereas constituent amino acids of the hopping pathway have been identified, details of the proton-transfer steps and conformational gating within the ? sununit have remained obscure; specific proton couples have been proposed, but no direct evidence has been provided. In the key first step, the reduction of Y122(•) by the first residue in the hopping pathway, a water ligand to Fe1 of the diferric cluster was suggested to donate a proton to yield the neutral Y122. Here we show that forward radical translocation is associated with perturbation of the Mössbauer spectrum of the diferric cluster, especially the quadrupole doublet associated with Fe1. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations verify the consistency of the experimentally observed perturbation with that expected for deprotonation of the Fe1-coordinated water ligand. The results thus provide the first evidence that the diiron cluster of this prototypical class Ia RNR functions not only in its well-known role as generator of the enzyme's essential Y122(•), but also directly in catalysis.

SUBMITTER: Worsdorfer B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3869997 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Function of the diiron cluster of Escherichia coli class Ia ribonucleotide reductase in proton-coupled electron transfer.

Wörsdörfer Bigna B Conner Denise A DA Yokoyama Kenichi K Livada Jovan J Seyedsayamdost Mohammad M Jiang Wei W Silakov Alexey A Stubbe JoAnne J Bollinger J Martin JM Krebs Carsten C

Journal of the American Chemical Society 20130531 23

The class Ia ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) from Escherichia coli employs a free-radical mechanism, which involves bidirectional translocation of a radical equivalent or "hole" over a distance of ~35 Å from the stable diferric/tyrosyl-radical (Y122(•)) cofactor in the β subunit to cysteine 439 (C439) in the active site of the α subunit. This long-range, intersubunit electron transfer occurs by a multistep "hopping" mechanism via formation of transient amino acid radicals along a specific pathway ...[more]

PMID: 23676140

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Project description:Tyrosyl radicals play essential roles in biological proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) reactions. Ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) catalyzes the reduction of ribonucleotides and is vital in DNA replication in all organisms. Class Ia RNRs consist of ?2 and ?2 homodimeric subunits. In class Ia RNR, such as the E. coli enzyme, an essential tyrosyl radical (Y122O(•))-diferric cofactor is located in ?2. Although Y122O(•) is extremely stable in free ?2, Y122O(•) is highly reactive in the quaternary substrate-?2?2 complex and serves as a radical initiator in catalytic PCET between ?2 and ?2. In this report, we investigate the structural interactions that control the reactivity of Y122O(•) in a model system, isolated E. coli ?2. Y122O(•) was reduced with hydroxyurea (HU), a radical scavenger that quenches the radical in a clinically relevant reaction. In the difference FT-IR spectrum, associated with this PCET reaction, amide I (CO) and amide II (CN/NH) bands were observed. Specific (13)C-labeling of the tyrosine C1 carbon assigned a component of these bands to the Y122-T123 amide bond. Comparison to density functional calculations on a model dipeptide, tyrosine-threonine, and structural modeling demonstrated that PCET is associated with a Y122 rotation and a 7.2 Å translation of the Y122 phenolic oxygen. To test for the functional consequences of this structural change, a proton inventory defined the origin of the large solvent isotope effect (SIE = 16.7 ± 1.0 at 25 °C) on this reaction. These data suggest that the one-electron, HU-mediated reduction of Y122O(•) is associated with two, rate-limiting (full or partial) proton transfer reactions. One is attributable to HU oxidation (SIE = 11.9, net H atom transfer), and the other is attributable to coupled, hydrogen-bonding changes in the Y122O(•)-diferric cofactor (SIE = 1.4). These results illustrate the importance of redox-linked changes to backbone and ring dihedral angles in high potential PCET and provide evidence for rate-limiting, redox-linked hydrogen-bonding interactions between Y122O(•) and the iron cluster.

Project description:Ribonucleotide reductases (RNRs) catalyze the conversionof nucleotides to 2'-deoxynucleotides and are classified on the basis of the metallo-cofactor used to conduct this chemistry. The class Ia RNRs initiate nucleotide reduction when a stable diferric-tyrosyl radical (Y•, t1/2 of 4 days at 4 °C) cofactor in the ?2 subunit transiently oxidizes a cysteine to a thiyl radical (S•) in the active site of the ?2 subunit. In the active ?2?2 complex of the class Ia RNR from E. coli , researchers have proposed that radical hopping occurs reversibly over 35 Å along a specific pathway comprised of redox-active aromatic amino acids: Y122• ? [W48?] ? Y356 in ?2 to Y731 ? Y730 ? C439 in ?2. Each step necessitates a proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET). Protein conformational changes constitute the rate-limiting step in the overall catalytic scheme and kinetically mask the detailed chemistry of the PCET steps. Technology has evolved to allow the site-selective replacement of the four pathway tyrosines with unnatural tyrosine analogues. Rapid kinetic techniques combined with multifrequency electron paramagnetic resonance, pulsed electron-electron double resonance, and electron nuclear double resonance spectroscopies have facilitated the analysis of stable and transient radical intermediates in these mutants. These studies are beginning to reveal the mechanistic underpinnings of the radical transfer (RT) process. This Account summarizes recent mechanistic studies on mutant E. coli RNRs containing the following tyrosine analogues: 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) or 3-aminotyrosine (NH2Y), both thermodynamic radical traps; 3-nitrotyrosine (NO2Y), a thermodynamic barrier and probe of local environmental perturbations to the phenolic pKa; and fluorotyrosines (FnYs, n = 2 or 3), dual reporters on local pKas and reduction potentials. These studies have established the existence of a specific pathway spanning 35 Å within a globular ?2?2 complex that involves one stable (position 122) and three transient (positions 356, 730, and 731) Y•s. Our results also support that RT occurs by an orthogonal PCET mechanism within ?2, with Y122• reduction accompanied by proton transfer from an Fe1-bound water in the diferric cluster and Y356 oxidation coupled to an off-pathway proton transfer likely involving E350. In ?2, RT likely occurs by a co-linear PCET mechanism, based on studies of light-initiated radical propagation from photopeptides that mimic the ?2 subunit to the intact ?2 subunit and on [(2)H]-ENDOR spectroscopic analysis of the hydrogen-bonding environment surrounding a stabilized NH2Y• formed at position 730. Additionally, studies on the thermodynamics of the RT pathway reveal that the relative reduction potentials decrease according to Y122 < Y356 < Y731 ? Y730 ? C439, and that the pathway in the forward direction is thermodynamically unfavorable. C439 oxidation is likely driven by rapid, irreversible loss of water during the nucleotide reduction process. Kinetic studies of radical intermediates reveal that RT is gated by conformational changes that occur on the order of >100 s(-1) in addition to the changes that are rate-limiting in the wild-type enzyme (?10 s(-1)). The rate constant of one of the PCET steps is ?10(5) s(-1), as measured in photoinitiated experiments.

Dataset Information

Function of the diiron cluster of Escherichia coli class Ia ribonucleotide reductase in proton-coupled electron transfer.

Publications

Function of the diiron cluster of Escherichia coli class Ia ribonucleotide reductase in proton-coupled electron transfer.

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