Identification of an Acyl-Enzyme Intermediate in a meta-Cleavage Product Hydrolase Reveals the Versatility of the Catalytic Triad

Journal Article · Wed Mar 14 00:00:00 EDT 2012 · J. Am. Chem. Soc.

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/ja208544g· OSTI ID:1046247

Ruzzini, Antonio C.; Ghosh, Subhangi; Horsman, Geoff P.; Foster, Leonard J.; Bolin, Jeffrey T.; Eltis, Lindsay D. ^[1]

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1. UBC

Meta-cleavage product (MCP) hydrolases are members of the {alpha}/{beta}-hydrolase superfamily that utilize a Ser-His-Asp triad to catalyze the hydrolysis of a C-C bond. BphD, the MCP hydrolase from the biphenyl degradation pathway, hydrolyzes 2-hydroxy-6-oxo-6-phenylhexa-2,4-dienoic acid (HOPDA) to 2-hydroxypenta-2,4-dienoic acid (HPD) and benzoate. A 1.6 {angstrom} resolution crystal structure of BphD H265Q incubated with HOPDA revealed that the enzyme's catalytic serine was benzoylated. The acyl-enzyme is stabilized by hydrogen bonding from the amide backbone of 'oxyanion hole' residues, consistent with formation of a tetrahedral oxyanion during nucleophilic attack by Ser112. Chemical quench and mass spectrometry studies substantiated the formation and decay of a Ser112-benzoyl species in wild-type BphD on a time scale consistent with turnover and incorporation of a single equivalent of {sup 18}O into the benzoate produced during hydrolysis in H{sub 2}{sup 18}O. Rapid-scanning kinetic studies indicated that the catalytic histidine contributes to the rate of acylation by only an order of magnitude, but affects the rate of deacylation by over 5 orders of magnitude. The orange-colored catalytic intermediate, ES{sup red}, previously detected in the wild-type enzyme and proposed herein to be a carbanion, was not observed during hydrolysis by H265Q. In the newly proposed mechanism, the carbanion abstracts a proton from Ser112, thereby completing tautomerization and generating a serinate for nucleophilic attack on the C6-carbonyl. Finally, quantification of an observed pre-steady-state kinetic burst suggests that BphD is a half-site reactive enzyme. While the updated catalytic mechanism shares features with the serine proteases, MCP hydrolase-specific chemistry highlights the versatility of the Ser-His-Asp triad.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
• Sponsoring Organization: FOREIGN
• OSTI ID: 1046247
• Journal Information: J. Am. Chem. Soc., Vol. 134, Issue (10) ; 05, 2012; ISSN 0002-7863
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: ENGLISH