The crystal structure of biotin synthase from Escherichia coli in complex with S-adenosyl-Lmethionine and dethiobiotin has been determined to 3.4 angstrom resolution. This structure addresses how "AdoMet radical" or "radical SAM" enzymes use Fe 4 S 4 clusters and S-adenosyl-L-methionine to generate organic radicals. Biotin synthase catalyzes the radical-mediated insertion of sulfur into dethiobiotin to form biotin. The structure places the substrates between the Fe 4 S 4 cluster, essential for radical generation, and the Fe 2 S 2 cluster, postulated to be the source of sulfur, with both clusters in unprecedented coordination environments.Biotin synthase (BioB) catalyzes the final step in the biotin biosynthetic pathway, the conversion of dethiobiotin (DTB) to biotin. This remarkable reaction uses organic radical chemistry for the insertion of a sulfur atom between nonactivated carbons C6 and C9 of DTB (Scheme 1). BioB is a member of the "AdoMet radical" or "radical SAM" superfamily, which is characterized by the presence of a conserved CxxxCxxC sequence motif (C, Cys; x, any amino acid) that coordinates an essential Fe 4 S 4 cluster, as well as by the use of S-adenosyl-Lmethionine (AdoMet or SAM) for radical generation (1-3). AdoMet radical enzymes act on a wide variety of biomolecules. For example, BioB and lipoyl-acyl carrier protein synthase (LipA) are involved in vitamin biosynthesis; lysine 2,3-aminomutase (LAM) facilitates the fermentation of lysine; class III ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) activase and pyruvate formatelyase (PFL) activase catalyze the formation of glycyl radicals in their respective target proteins; and spore photoproduct lyase repairs ultraviolet light-induced DNA damage.AdoMet has been referred to as the "poor man's adenosylcobalamin" (4) because of the ability of both cofactors to generate a highly reactive 5′-deoxyadenosyl radical (5′-dA·), formed through homolytic cleavage of a C-Co bond in the case of adenosylcobalamin (AdoCbl) and through reductive cleavage of a C-S bond in the case of AdoMet (5). In AdoMet radical enzymes, the formation of 5′-dA· requires the addition of one electron, provided in E. coli by reduced flavodoxin and transferred first into an Fe 4 S 4 cluster and then into AdoMet (3). In the reaction catalyzed by BioB, there is general agreement that 5′-dA· generated from AdoMet oxidizes DTB (6), but the number and types of FeS clusters and of other cofactors involved in the reaction have been a subject of controversy (7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14). Protein preparation-dependent cofactor differences have led to two mechanistic proposals for the method of S insertion in BioB. One proposal involves the use of an Fe 2 S 2 cluster as the sulfur source for biotin, and is consistent with 34 S isotopic labeling studies (15) and with the observed destruction of an Fe 2 S 2 cluster

Lysine 5,6-aminomutase is an adenosylcobalamin and pyridoxal-5 -phosphate-dependent enzyme that catalyzes a 1,2 rearrangement of the terminal amino group of DL-lysine and of L-␤-lysine. We have solved the x-ray structure of a substrate-free form of lysine-5,6-aminomutase from Clostridium sticklandii. In this structure, a Rossmann domain covalently binds pyridoxal-5 -phosphate by means of lysine 144 and positions it into the putative active site of a neighboring triosephosphate isomerase barrel domain, while simultaneously positioning the other cofactor, adenosylcobalamin, Ϸ25 Å from the active site. In this mode of pyridoxal-5 -phosphate binding, the cofactor acts as an anchor, tethering the separate polypeptide chain of the Rossmann domain to the triosephosphate isomerase barrel domain. Upon substrate binding and transaldimination of the lysine-144 linkage, the Rossmann domain would be free to rotate and bring adenosylcobalamin, pyridoxal-5 -phosphate, and substrate into proximity. Thus, the structure embodies a locking mechanism to keep the adenosylcobalamin out of the active site and prevent radical generation in the absence of substrate.A denosylcobalamin (AdoCbl; coenzyme B 12 ) is nature's biochemical radical reservoir, capable of catalyzing challenging chemical reactions by way of H atom abstraction and the generation of free-radical intermediates (1-3). AdoCbldependent isomerases catalyze 1,2 shifts between an H atom and a functional group such as -OH, -NH 3 ϩ , -(CO)S-coenzyme A, or other carbon-based groups. The catalytic power of AdoCbl lies in the homolytic cleavage of its weak (Ϸ30 kcal͞mol) organometallic C-Co bond, formed between an octahedral Co(III) center with five N coordinations and a 5Ј-deoxyadenosyl (Ado) axial ligand. C-Co bond homolysis results in the transient formation of cob(II)alamin and 5Ј-deoxyadenosyl radical (Ado • ). Ado • abstracts an H atom from the substrate, forming a substrate radical and 5Ј-deoxyadenosine (AdoH). To close the catalytic cycle, substrate reabstracts the H atom from AdoH, and recombination of cob(II)alamin and Ado • accompanies product formation. Amazingly, the enzymatic rate of C-Co bond homolysis is enhanced by a factor of Ϸ10 12 over nonenzymatic homolysis (4, 5). AdoCbl-dependent isomerases are often present in catabolic pathways and can serve to rearrange the substrate's carbon skeleton and͞or functional groups for further degradation. One such pathway that operates in several bacterial species is the fermentation of lysine to yield acetate. Interestingly, the lysine fermentation pathway contains two analogous enzymes: lysine 5,6-aminomutase (5,6-LAM), which is AdoCbl-dependent (6, 7), and lysine 2,3-aminomutase (2,3-LAM), which is an S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet or SAM)-dependent ironsulfur enzyme (8-10). Both enzymes require pyridoxal 5Ј-phosphate (PLP) (8, 11) in addition to AdoCbl or AdoMet, and both catalyze a 1,2 amino group shift with concomitant H atom migration (Fig. 1A). In 5,6-LAM, AdoCbl is the source of the transient Ado • , whereas, in 2,3-L...

The diphtheria toxin repressor (DtxR) is a metal ion-activated transcriptional regulator that has been linked to the virulence of Corynebacterium diphtheriae. Structure determination has shown that there are two metal ion binding sites per repressor monomer, and site-directed mutagenesis has demonstrated that binding site 2 (primary) is essential for recognition of the target DNA repressor, leaving the role of binding site 1 (ancillary) unclear. Calorimetric techniques have demonstrated that although binding site 1 (ancillary) has high affinity for metal ion with a binding constant of 2 ؋ 10 ؊7 , binding site 2 (primary) is a low-affinity binding site with a binding constant of 6.3 ؋ 10 ؊4 . These two binding sites act in an independent fashion, and their contribution can be easily dissected by traditional mutational analysis. Our results clearly demonstrate that binding site 1 (ancillary) is the first one to be occupied during metal ion activation, playing a critical role in stabilization of the repressor. In addition, structural data obtained for the mutants Ni-DtxR(H79A,C102D), reported here, and the previously reported DtxR(H79A) have allowed us to propose a mechanism of metal activation for DtxR.iron ͉ homeostasis ͉ transcription regulation