The human NM23-H2 protein is a transcriptional regulator (PuF) that binds and cleaves DNA via covalent bond formation, and also catalyzes phosphoryl transfer (NDP kinase). Our previous work has identified two separate DNA-binding regions on NM23-H2/PuF: a sequence-dependent DNA-binding surface involving residues Arg34, Asn69, and Lys134 on the equator of the hexameric protein and a covalent DNA-binding site involving Lys12 located in the nucleotide-binding site, the site of the NDP kinase reaction. To understand the role of the nucleotide-binding site in the DNA cleavage reaction and to establish a connection between the nuclease and the NDP kinase activities, we used the known crystal structure of NM23-H2 complexed with GDP as the basis for site-directed mutagenesis. We thus identified Arg88 and Arg105 as residues that are, in addition to Lys12, critical for covalent DNA binding and DNA cleavage, as well as for the NDP kinase reaction. Another residue, Gln17, was required only for DNA cleavage, and Tyr52, Asn115, and His118 were found to be essential only for the NDP kinase activity. Six of these seven functionally important amino acids associated with the nucleotide-binding site are evolutionarily conserved, underscoring their biological importance. We also show that nucleoside triphosphates but not nucleoside diphosphates inhibited the covalent DNA binding and DNA cleavage reactions, independent of phosphoryl transfer and the NDP kinase reaction. These findings collectively suggest that the binding modes of mononucleotides and duplex DNA oligonucleotides in the nucleotide-binding site differ, and that NM23-H2 possesses multiple biochemical activities. A model consistent with these observations is presented.
Second derivative absorption spectra are reported for the aa3-cytochrome c oxidase from bovine cardiac mitochondria, the aq-600 ubiquinol oxidase from Bacillus subtilis, the ba3-cytochrome c oxidase from Thermus thermophilis, and the aco-cytochrome c oxidase from Bacillus YN-2000. Together these enzymes provide a range of cofactor combinations that allow us to unequivocally identify the origin of the 450-nm absorption band of the terminal oxidases as the 6-coordinate low-spin heme, cytochrome a. The spectrum of the aco-cytochrome c oxidase further establishes that the split Soret band of cytochrome a, with features at 443 and 450 nm, is common to all forms of the enzyme containing ferrocytochrome a and does not depend on ligand occupancy at the other heme cofactor as previously suggested. To test the universality of this Soret band splitting for 6-coordinate lowspin heme A systems, we have reconstituted purified heme A with the apo forms of the heme binding proteins, hemopexin, histidine-proline-rich glycoprotein and the H64VIV68H double mutant of human myoglobin. All 3 proteins bound the heme A as a (bis)histidine complex, as judged by optical and resonance Raman spectroscopy.In the ferroheme A forms, none of these proteins displayed evidence of Soret band splitting. Heme A-(bis)imidazole in aqueous detergent solution likewise failed to display Soret band splitting. When the cyanide-inhibited mixedvalence form of the bovine enzyme was partially denatured by chemical or thermal means, the split Soret transition of cytochrome a collapsed into a single band at 443 nm. Taken together these data suggest that the observation of Soret splitting, including a feature at 450 nm, results from specific protein-cofactor interactions that are unique to the cytochrome a-binding pocket of the terminal oxidases. The conservation of this unique binding pocket among evolutionarily distant species may reflect some mechanistic significance for this structure.
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