Eosin-5-maleimide (EM) has been used as a fluorescent probe for the external-facing transport site of the human erythrocyte band 3 protein. Changes in chloride concentration at both sides of the membrane have no significant effect on the inhibitory potency of EM as a reversible inhibitor of Cl- exchange at 0 degrees C, however, demonstrating that it is not a competitive inhibitor. The affinity of EM for the form of band 3 with the transport site facing outward is approximately five times greater than for the form with the transport site facing the cytoplasm; binding of iodide to the external transport site causes no statistically significant decrease in affinity for EM. Eosin, without the maleimide moiety, is a slightly more potent inhibitor than is EM. Erythrosin, an analogue with four iodide atoms replacing the four bromide atoms in eosin, is a much more potent inhibitor, with a half-inhibitory concentration of only 3.1 microM, > 30 times lower than that of EM. Neither eosin nor erythrosin inhibition is affected by changes in chloride concentration as would be expected for a competitive inhibitor. Thus EM and the other eosin derivatives bind to a site separate from the external transport site, but one that is affected by the changes of transport site conformation from the inward-facing to the outward-facing state.

MtmOIV and MtmW catalyze the final two reactions in the mithramycin (MTM) biosynthetic pathway, the Baeyer–Villiger opening of the fourth ring of premithramycin B (PMB), creating the C3 pentyl side chain, strictly followed by reduction of the distal keto group on the new side chain. Unexpectedly this results in a C2 stereoisomer of mithramycin, iso‐mithramycin (iso‐MTM). Iso‐MTM undergoes a non‐enzymatic isomerization to MTM catalyzed by Mg2+ ions. Crystal structures of MtmW and its complexes with co‐substrate NADPH and PEG, suggest a catalytic mechanism of MtmW. The structures also show that a tetrameric assembly of this enzyme strikingly resembles the ring‐shaped β subunit of a vertebrate ion channel. We show that MtmW and MtmOIV form a complex in the presence of PMB and NADPH, presumably to hand over the unstable MtmOIV product to MtmW, yielding iso‐MTM, as a potential self‐resistance mechanism against MTM toxicity.

This review highlights the protein–protein interactions between type II post-PKS tailoring enzymes with an emphasis on gilvocarcin and mithramycin.

MtmOIV and MtmW catalyze the final two reactions in the mithramycin (MTM) biosynthetic pathway, the Baeyer–Villiger opening of the fourth ring of premithramycin B (PMB), creating the C3 pentyl side chain, strictly followed by reduction of the distal keto group on the new side chain. Unexpectedly this results in a C2 stereoisomer of mithramycin, iso‐mithramycin (iso‐MTM). Iso‐MTM undergoes a non‐enzymatic isomerization to MTM catalyzed by Mg2+ ions. Crystal structures of MtmW and its complexes with co‐substrate NADPH and PEG, suggest a catalytic mechanism of MtmW. The structures also show that a tetrameric assembly of this enzyme strikingly resembles the ring‐shaped β subunit of a vertebrate ion channel. We show that MtmW and MtmOIV form a complex in the presence of PMB and NADPH, presumably to hand over the unstable MtmOIV product to MtmW, yielding iso‐MTM, as a potential self‐resistance mechanism against MTM toxicity.

No abstract