Active sites may be regarded as layers of residues, whereby the residues that interact directly with substrate also interact with residues in a second shell, and these in turn interact with residues in a third shell. These residues in the second and third layers may have distinct roles in maintaining the essential chemical properties of the first-shell catalytic residues, particularly their spatial arrangement relative to the substrate binding pocket, and their electrostatic and dynamic properties. The extent to which these remote residues participate in catalysis and precisely how they affect first-shell residues remains unexplored. In order to better understand the roles of second- and third-shell residues in catalysis, we used THEMATICS to identify residues in the second- and third-shells of the Co-type nitrile hydratase from Pseudomonas putida (ppNHase) that may be important for catalysis. Five of these predicted residues, plus three additional, conserved residues that were not predicted, have been conservatively mutated, and their effects studied both kinetically and structurally. All of these eight residues have no direct contact with the active site metal ion or bound substrate. These results demonstrate that three of the predicted second-shell residues, α-Asp164, β-Glu56, and β-His147, and one predicted third-shell residue β-His71, have significant effects on the catalytic efficiency of the enzyme. One of the predicted residues, α-Glu168, and the three residues not predicted, α-Arg170, α-Tyr171, and β-Tyr215, do not show any significant effects on the catalytic efficiency of the enzyme.
The chemical properties of zinc make it an ideal metal to study the role of coordination strain in enzymatic rate enhancement. The zinc ion and the protein residues that are bound directly to the zinc ion represent a functional charge/dipole complex, and polarization of this complex, which translates to coordination distortion, may tune electrophilicity, and hence, reactivity. Conserved protein residues outside of the charge/dipole complex, such as second-shell residues, may play a role in supporting the electronic strain produced as a consequence of functional polarization. To test the correlation between charge/dipole polarity and ligand binding affinity, structure-function studies were carried out on the di-zinc aminopeptidase from Vibrio proteolyticus. Alanine substitutions of S228 and M180 resulted in catalytically diminished enzymes whose crystal structures show very little change in the positions of the metal ions and the protein residues. However, more detailed inspections of the crystal structures show small positional changes that account for differences in the zinc ion coordination geometry. Measurements of the binding affinity of leucine phosphonic acid, a transition state analogue, and leucine, a product, show a correlation between coordination geometry and ligand binding affinity. These results suggest that the coordination number and polarity may tune the electrophilicity of zinc. This may have provided the evolving enzyme with the ability to discriminate between reaction coordinate species.Metalloenzymes are some of the most powerful catalysts in the world. Understanding how the protein/metal partnership can give rise to dramatic rate enhancement will broaden the scope and understanding of enzyme evolution, protein engineering, and synthetic catalyst design. Two well known theories provide an evolutionary framework in the description of enzymatic rate enhancment: Arieh Warshel's preorganization theory (1-3) and the strain theory (4, 5) as first proposed by R.J.P Williams and B.L. Vallee.Based on decades of chemical and computational research, Warshel's results indicate that enzymes provide preorganized networks, optimized by evolutionary pressure, paid for by folding energy, and aimed at enhancing the electrostatic force between charges. These preorganized features enhance the electrostatic effect, and lower the activation energy barrier, by orienting dipoles toward the stabilization of functional charges and the charged transition states (1-3).Enzymatic rate enhancement by the use of "strained" groups is an idea first postulated by R.J.P. Williams and B.L. Vallee. Based on the unusual absorption, EPR, magnetic, redox, and ligand binding properties of metalloenzymes, Vallee and Williams proposed that large molecules, like proteins, could hold functional groups (metals, cofactors, side-chains) in strained conformations as a strategy toward rate enhancement. They defined the entatic state as an energized state supported by the stable protein fold (4, 5). Figure 1 illustrates a simple exampl...
The worldwide spread of invasive Aedes mosquitoes and arboviral disease, have renewed the pressure for effective and sustainable urban mosquito control. We report on the success of a model we are confident will usher in a new era of urban mosquito control. The key innovation is the mobilization of neighbors guided by scientific advisors, an approach we termed Citizen Action through Science (Citizen AcTS). This approach was tested in a NE US town of approximately 1,000 residential yards infested with the invasive Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, a major nuisance arboviral vector. We report a highly significant reduction in biting pressure that was maintained over time, and establish the thresholds needed for success. The Citizen AcTS model rejects the top-down approach consistently associated with intervention failures. Instead, it works through respectful exchanges among scientists and residents that lead to trust and individual ‘buy-in’ and transferring program ownership to the community.
The histidine–aspartate (HD)-domain protein superfamily contains metalloproteins that share common structural features but catalyze vastly different reactions ranging from oxygenation to hydrolysis. This chemical diversion is afforded by (i) their ability to coordinate most biologically relevant transition metals in mono-, di-, and trinuclear configurations, (ii) sequence insertions or the addition of supernumerary ligands to their active sites, (iii) auxiliary substrate specificity residues vicinal to the catalytic site, (iv) additional protein domains that allosterically regulate their activities or have catalytic and sensory roles, and (v) their ability to work with protein partners. More than 500 structures of HD-domain proteins are available to date that lay out unique structural features which may be indicative of function. In this respect, we describe the three known classes of HD-domain proteins (hydrolases, oxygenases, and lyases) and identify their apparent traits with the aim to portray differences in the molecular details responsible for their functional divergence and reconcile existing notions that will help assign functions to yet-to-be characterized proteins. The present review collects data that exemplify how nature tinkers with the HD-domain scaffold to afford different chemistries and provides insight into the factors that can selectively modulate catalysis.
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