Staphylococcus aureus IsdG catalyzes the final step of staphylococcal iron acquisition from host hemoglobin, whereby host-derived heme is converted to iron and organic products. The Asn7 distal pocket residue is known to be critical for enzyme activity, but the influence of this residue on the substrate electronic structure was unknown prior to this work. Here, an optical spectroscopic and density functional theory characterization of azide- and cyanide-inhibited wild type and N7A IsdG is presented. Magnetic circular dichroism data demonstrate that Asn7 perturbs the electronic structure of azide-inhibited, but not cyanide-inhibited, IsdG. As the iron-ligating α-atom of azide, but not cyanide, can act as a hydrogen bond acceptor, these data indicate that the terminal amide of Asn7 is a hydrogen bond donor to the α-atom of a distal ligand to heme in IsdG. Circular dichroism characterization of azide- and cyanide-inhibited forms of WT and N7A IsdG strongly suggests that the Asn7···N3 hydrogen bond influences the orientation of a distal azide ligand with respect to the heme substrate. Specifically, density functional theory calculations suggest that Asn7···N3 hydrogen bond donation causes the azide ligand to rotate about an axis perpendicular to the porphyrin plane and weakens the π-donor strength of the azide ligand. This lowers the energies of the Fe 3d xz and 3d yz orbitals, mixes Fe 3d xy and porphyrin a 2u character into the singly-occupied molecular orbital, and results in spin delocalization onto the heme meso carbons. These discoveries have important implications for the mechanism of heme oxygenation catalyzed by IsdG.

Catalytic hydrophosphination using [κ 5 -N,N,N,N,C-(Me 3 SiNCH 2 CH 2 ) 2 NCH 2 CH 2 NSiMe 2 CH 2 ]Zr (1) under photolysis substantially enhances activity and avails greater substrate scope. Quantitative conversions of alkenes to secondary phosphines are reached in as little as 20 min at ambient temperature with 1 under ultraviolet or visible irradiation. A larger class of unactivated alkenes are now facile substrates under photolysis conditions, and 1 can engage in a previously unknown tandem inter/intramolecular hydrophosphination of 1,4-pentadiene to give the heterocyclic phosphorinane product. Computational and spectroscopic data indicate that photoexcitation of 1 at a variety of wavelengths results in P n → Zr d charge transfer. This excitation appears to accelerate catalysis by promoting substrate insertion at the Zr−P bond based on experimental observations.

Staphylococcus aureus IsdG catalyzes a unique trioxygenation of heme to staphylobilin, and the data presented in this article elucidate the mechanism of the novel chemical transformation. More specifically, the roles of the second-sphere Asn and Trp residues in the monooxygenation of ferric− peroxoheme have been clarified via spectroscopic characterization of the ferric−azidoheme analogue. Analysis of UV/vis absorption data quantified the strength of the hydrogen bond that exists between the Asn7 side chain and the azide moiety of ferric−azidoheme. X-band electron paramagnetic resonance data were acquired and analyzed, which revealed that this hydrogen bond weakens the π-donor strength of the azide, resulting in perturbations of the Fe 3d based orbitals. Finally, nuclear magnetic resonance characterization of 13 C-enriched samples demonstrated that the Asn7•••N 3 hydrogen bond triggers partial porphyrin to iron electron transfer, resulting in spin density delocalization onto the heme meso carbons. These spectroscopic experiments were complemented by combined quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics computational modeling, which strongly suggested that the electronic structure changes observed for the N7A variant arose from loss of the Asn7•••N 3 hydrogen bond as opposed to a decrease in porphyrin ruffling. From these data a fascinating picture emerges where an Asn7•••N 3 hydrogen bond is communicated through four bonds, resulting in meso carbons with partial cationic radical character that are poised for hydroxylation. This chemistry is not observed in other heme proteins because Asn7 and Trp67 must work in concert to trigger the requisite electronic structure change.

The micromolar equilibrium constants for heme dissociation from IsdG and IsdI reported in the literature call into question whether these enzymes are actually members of the iron-regulated surface determinant system of Staphylococcus aureus, which harvests heme iron from a host during infection. In order to address this question, the heme dissociation constants for IsdG and IsdI were reevaluated using three approaches. The heme dissociation equilibrium constants were measured using a UV/Vis absorption-detected assay analyzed with an assumption-free model, and using a newly developed fluorescence-detected assay. The heme dissociation rate constants were estimated using apomyoglobin competition assays. Analyses of the UV/Vis absorption data revealed a critical flaw in the previous measurements; heme is 99.9% protein-bound at the micromolar concentrations needed for UV/Vis absorption spectroscopy, which renders accurate equilibrium constant measurement nearly impossible. However, fluorescence can be measured for more dilute samples, and analyses of these data resulted in dissociation equilibrium constants of 1.4 ± 0.6 nM and 12.9 ± 1.3 nM for IsdG and IsdI, respectively. Analyses of the kinetic data obtained from apomyoglobin competition assays estimated heme dissociation rate constants of 0.022 ± 0.002 s-1 for IsdG and 0.092 ± 0.008 s-1 for IsdI. Based upon these data, and what is known regarding the post-translational regulation of IsdG and IsdI, it is proposed that only IsdG is a member of the heme iron acquisition pathway and IsdI regulates heme homeostasis. Furthermore, the nanomolar dissociation constants mean that heme is bound tightly by IsdG and indicates that competitive inhibition of this protein will be difficult. Instead, uncompetitive inhibition based upon a detailed understanding of enzyme mechanism is a more promising antibiotic development strategy.

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