Download MendeleyStable copper-nitrosyl formation by nitrite reductase in either oxidation state
Tocheva, E.I., Rosell, F.I., Mauk, A.G., Murphy, M.E.(2007) Biochemistry 46: 12366-12374
- PubMed: 17924665
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/bi701205j
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:
2PPC, 2PPD, 2PPE, 2PPF - PubMed Abstract:
Nitrite reductase (NiR) is an enzyme that uses type 1 and type 2 copper sites to reduce nitrite to nitric oxide during bacterial denitrification. A copper-nitrosyl intermediate is a proposed, yet poorly characterized feature of the NiR catalytic cycle. This intermediate is formally described as Cu(I)-NO+ and is proposed to be formed at the type 2 copper site after nitrite binding and electron transfer from the type 1 copper site. In this study, copper-nitrosyl complexes were formed by prolonged exposure of exogenous NO to crystals of wild-type and two variant forms of NiR from Alcaligenes faecalis (AfNiR), and the structures were determined to 1.8 A or better resolution. Exposing oxidized wild-type crystals to NO results in the reverse reaction and formation of nitrite that remains bound at the active site. In a type 1 copper site mutant (H145A) that is incapable of electron transfer to the type 2 site, the reverse reaction is not observed. Instead, in both oxidized and reduced H145A crystals, NO is observed bound in a side-on manner to the type 2 copper. In AfNiR, Asp98 forms hydrogen bonds to both substrate and product bound to the type 2 Cu. In the D98N variant, NO is bound side-on but is more disordered when observed for the wild-type enzyme. The solution EPR spectra of the crystallographically characterized NiR-NO complexes indicate the presence of an oxidized type 2 copper site and thus are interpreted as resulting from stable copper-nitrosyls and formally assigned as Cu(II)-NO-. A reaction scheme in which a second NO molecule is oxidized to nitrite can account for the formation of a Cu(II)-NO- species after exposure of the oxidized H145A variant to NO gas.
Organizational Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Life Sciences Institute, University of British Columbia, 2350 Health Sciences Mall, Vancouver BC, V6T 1Z3, Canada.
