Dataset Information

Multiple active site residues are important for photochemical efficiency in the light-activated enzyme protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase (POR).

ABSTRACT: Protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase (POR) catalyzes the light-driven reduction of protochlorophyllide (Pchlide), an essential, regulatory step in chlorophyll biosynthesis. The unique requirement of the enzyme for light has provided the opportunity to investigate how light energy can be harnessed to power biological catalysis and enzyme dynamics. Excited state interactions between the Pchlide molecule and the protein are known to drive the subsequent reaction chemistry. However, the structural features of POR and active site residues that are important for photochemistry and catalysis are currently unknown, because there is no crystal structure for POR. Here, we have used static and time-resolved spectroscopic measurements of a number of active site variants to study the role of a number of residues, which are located in the proposed NADPH/Pchlide binding site based on previous homology models, in the reaction mechanism of POR. Our findings, which are interpreted in the context of a new improved structural model, have identified several residues that are predicted to interact with the coenzyme or substrate. Several of the POR variants have a profound effect on the photochemistry, suggesting that multiple residues are important in stabilizing the excited state required for catalysis. Our work offers insight into how the POR active site geometry is finely tuned by multiple active site residues to support enzyme-mediated photochemistry and reduction of Pchlide, both of which are crucial to the existence of life on Earth.

SUBMITTER: Menon BR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4970445 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Multiple active site residues are important for photochemical efficiency in the light-activated enzyme protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase (POR).

Menon Binuraj R K BR Hardman Samantha J O SJ Scrutton Nigel S NS Heyes Derren J DJ

Journal of photochemistry and photobiology. B, Biology 20160601

Protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase (POR) catalyzes the light-driven reduction of protochlorophyllide (Pchlide), an essential, regulatory step in chlorophyll biosynthesis. The unique requirement of the enzyme for light has provided the opportunity to investigate how light energy can be harnessed to power biological catalysis and enzyme dynamics. Excited state interactions between the Pchlide molecule and the protein are known to drive the subsequent reaction chemistry. However, the structural fea ...[more]

PMID: 27285815

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Project description:The addition of two electrons and two protons to the C17=C18 bond in protochlorophyllide is catalyzed by a light-dependent enzyme relying on NADPH as electron donor, and by a light-independent enzyme bearing a (Cys)3Asp-ligated [4Fe-4S] cluster which is reduced by cytoplasmic electron donors in an ATP-dependent manner and then functions as electron donor to protochlorophyllide. The precise sequence of events occurring at the C17=C18 bond has not, however, been determined experimentally in the dark-operating enzyme. In this paper, we present the computational investigation of the reaction mechanism of this enzyme at the B3LYP/6-311+G(d,p)//B3LYP/6-31G(d) level of theory. The reaction mechanism begins with single-electron reduction of the substrate by the (Cys)3Asp-ligated [4Fe-4S], yielding a negatively-charged intermediate. Depending on the rate of Fe-S cluster re-reduction, the reaction either proceeds through double protonation of the single-electron-reduced substrate, or by alternating proton/electron transfer. The computed reaction barriers suggest that Fe-S cluster re-reduction should be the rate-limiting stage of the process. Poisson-Boltzmann computations on the full enzyme-substrate complex, followed by Monte Carlo simulations of redox and protonation titrations revealed a hitherto unsuspected pH-dependence of the reaction potential of the Fe-S cluster. Furthermore, the computed distributions of protonation states of the His, Asp and Glu residues were used in conjuntion with single-point ONIOM computations to obtain, for the first time, the influence of all protonation states of an enzyme on the reaction it catalyzes. Despite exaggerating the ease of reduction of the substrate, these computations confirmed the broad features of the reaction mechanism obtained with the medium-sized models, and afforded valuable insights on the influence of the titratable amino acids on each reaction step. Additional comparisons of the energetic features of the reaction intermediates with those of common biochemical redox intermediates suggest a surprisingly simple explanation for the mechanistic differences between the dark-catalyzed and light-dependent enzyme reaction mechanisms.

Dataset Information

Multiple active site residues are important for photochemical efficiency in the light-activated enzyme protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase (POR).

Publications

Multiple active site residues are important for photochemical efficiency in the light-activated enzyme protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase (POR).

Similar Datasets

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