Phosphotriesterase from Pseudomonas diminuta catalyzes the hydrolysis of paraoxon and related acetylcholinesterase inhibitors with rate enhancements that approach 10(12). The enzyme requires a binuclear metal center for activity and as isolated contains 2 equiv of zinc per subunit. Here we describe the three-dimensional structure of the Zn2+/Zn2+-substituted enzyme complexed with the substrate analog diethyl 4-methylbenzylphosphonate. Crystals employed in the investigation belonged to the space group C2 with unit cell dimensions of a = 129.6 A, b = 91.4 A, c = 69.4 A, beta = 91.9 degrees, and two subunits in the asymmetric unit. The model was refined by least-squares analysis to a nominal resolution of 2.1 A and a crystallographic R-factor of 15.4% for all measured X-ray data. As in the previously reported structure of the cadmium-containing enzyme, the bridging ligands are a carbamylated lysine residue (Lys 169) and a hydroxide. The zinc ions are separated by 3.3 A. The more buried zinc ion is surrounded by His 55, His 57, Lys 169, Asp 301, and the bridging hydroxide in a trigonal bipyramidal arrangement as described for the cadmium-substituted enzyme. Unlike the octahedral coordination observed for the more solvent-exposed cadmium ion, however, the second zinc is tetrahedrally ligated to Lys 169, His 201, His 230, and the bridging hydroxide. The diethyl 4-methylbenzylphosphonate occupies a site near the binuclear metal center with the phosphoryl oxygen of the substrate analog situated at 3.5 A from the more solvent-exposed zinc ion. The aromatic portion of the inhibitor binds in a fairly hydrophobic pocket. A striking feature of the active site pocket is the lack of direct electrostatic interactions between the inhibitor and the protein. This most likely explains the broad substrate specificity exhibited by phosphotriesterase. The position of the inhibitor within the active site suggests that the nucleophile for the hydrolysis reaction is the metal-bound hydroxide.

We have determined the crystal structures of the ligand binding domain (LBD) of the rat vitamin D receptor in ternary complexes with a synthetic LXXLL-containing peptide and the following four ligands: 1alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3); 2-methylene-19-nor-(20S)-1alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) (2MD); 1alpha-hydroxy-2-methylene-19-nor-(20S)-bishomopregnacalciferol (2MbisP), and 2alpha-methyl-19-nor-1alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) (2AM20R). The conformation of the LBD is identical in each complex. Binding of the 2-carbon-modified analogues does not change the positions of the amino acids in the ligand binding site and has no effect on the interactions in the coactivator binding pocket. The CD ring of the superpotent analogue, 2MD, is tilted within the binding site relative to the other ligands in this study and to (20S)-1alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) [Tocchini-Valentini et al. (2001) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 98, 5491-5496]. The aliphatic side chain of 2MD follows a different path within the binding site; nevertheless, the 25-hydroxyl group at the end of the chain occupies the same position as that of the natural ligand, and the hydrogen bonds with histidines 301 and 393 are maintained. 2MbisP binds to the receptor despite the absence of the 25-hydroxyl group. A water molecule is observed between His 301 and His 393 in this structure, and it preserves the orientation of the histidines in the binding site. Although the alpha-chair conformer is highly favored in solution for the A ring of 2AM20R, the crystal structures demonstrate that this ring assumes the beta-chair conformation in all cases, and the 1alpha-hydroxyl group is equatorial. The peptide folds as a helix and is anchored through hydrogen bonds to a surface groove formed by helices 3, 4, and 12. Electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions between the peptide and the LBD stabilize the active receptor conformation. This stablization appears necessary for crystal growth.

A combination of structural, thermodynamic, and transient kinetic data on wild-type and mutant Anabaena vegetative cell ferredoxins has been used to investigate the nature of the protein-protein interactions leading to electron transfer from reduced ferredoxin to oxidized ferredoxin:NADP+ reductase (FNR). We have determined the reduction potentials of wild-type vegetative ferredoxin, heterocyst ferredoxin, and 12 site-specific mutants at seven surface residues of vegetative ferredoxin, as well as the one- and two-electron reduction potentials of FNR, both alone and in complexes with wild-type and three mutant ferredoxins. X-ray crystallographic structure determinations have been carried out for six of the ferredoxin mutants. None of the mutants showed significant structural changes in the immediate vicinity of the [2Fe-2S] cluster, despite large decreases in electron-transfer reactivity (for E94K and S47A) and sizable increases in reduction potential (80 mV for E94K and 47 mV for S47A). Furthermore, the relatively small changes in Calpha backbone atom positions which were observed in these mutants do not correlate with the kinetic and thermodynamic properties. In sharp contrast to the S47A mutant, S47T retains electron-transfer activity, and its reduction potential is 100 mV more negative than that of the S47A mutant, implicating the importance of the hydrogen bond which exists between the side chain hydroxyl group of S47 and the side chain carboxyl oxygen of E94. Other ferredoxin mutations that alter both reduction potential and electron-transfer reactivity are E94Q, F65A, and F65I, whereas D62K, D68K, Q70K, E94D, and F65Y have reduction potentials and electron-transfer reactivity that are similar to those of wild-type ferredoxin. In electrostatic complexes with recombinant FNR, three of the kinetically impaired ferredoxin mutants, as did wild-type ferredoxin, induced large (approximately 40 mV) positive shifts in the reduction potential of the flavoprotein, thereby making electron transfer thermodynamically feasible. On the basis of these observations, we conclude that nonconservative mutations of three critical residues (S47, F65, and E94) on the surface of ferredoxin have large parallel effects on both the reduction potential and the electron-transfer reactivity of the [2Fe-2S] cluster and that the reduction potential changes are not the principal factor governing electron-transfer reactivity. Rather, the kinetic properties are most likely controlled by the specific orientations of the proteins within the transient electron-transfer complex.