Download MendeleyStructure of nitrite bound to copper-containing nitrite reductase from Alcaligenes faecalis. Mechanistic implications.
Murphy, M.E., Turley, S., Adman, E.T.(1997) J Biol Chem 272: 28455-28460
- PubMed: 9353305
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.272.45.28455
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:
1AQ8, 1AS6, 1AS7, 1AS8 - PubMed Abstract:
The structures of oxidized, reduced, nitrite-soaked oxidized and nitrite-soaked reduced nitrite reductase from Alcaligenes faecalis have been determined at 1.8-2.0 A resolution using data collected at -160 degrees C. The active site at cryogenic temperature, as at room temperature, contains a tetrahedral type II copper site liganded by three histidines and a water molecule. The solvent site is empty when crystals are reduced with ascorbate. A fully occupied oxygen-coordinate nitrite occupies the solvent site in crystals soaked in nitrite. Ascorbate-reduced crystals soaked in a glycerol-methanol solution and nitrite at -40 degrees C remain colorless at -160 degrees C but turn amber-brown when warmed, suggesting that NO is released. Nitrite is found at one-half occupancy. Five new solvent sites in the oxidized nitrite bound form exhibit defined but different occupancies in the other three forms. These results support a previously proposed mechanism by which nitrite is bound primarily by a single oxygen atom that is protonable, and after reduction and cleavage of that N-O bond, NO is released leaving the oxygen atom bound to the Cu site as hydroxide or water.
Organizational Affiliation:
Department of Biological Structure, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-7420, USA.
