Using X-band electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) spectroscopy at liquid helium temperatures, the Cu(II) coordination geometry at the active site of bovine and human copper,zinc-superoxide dismutases (bSOD1 and hSOD1) treated with H 2 O 2 and bicarbonate (HCO 3 ؊ ) was examined. The time course EPR of wild type human SOD1 (WT hSOD1), W32F hSOD1 mutant (tryptophan 32 substituted with phenylalanine), and bSOD1 treated with H 2 O 2 and HCO 3 ؊ shows an initial reduction of active site Cu(II) to Cu(I) followed by its oxidation back to Cu(II) in the presence of H 2 O 2 . However, HCO 3 ؊ induced a Trp-32-derived radical from WT hSOD1 but not from bSOD1. The mutation of Trp-32 by phenylalanine totally eliminated the Trp-32 radical signal generated from W32F hSOD1 treated with HCO 3 ؊ and H 2 O 2 . Further characterization of the free radical was performed by UV irradiation of WT hSOD1 and bSOD1 that generated tryptophanyl and tyrosyl radicals. Both proton ( 1 H) and nitrogen ( 14 N) ENDOR studies of bSOD1 and hSOD1 in the presence of H 2 O 2 revealed a change in the geometry of His-46 (or His-44) and His-48 (or His-46) coordinated to Cu(II) at the active site of WT hSOD1 and bSOD1, respectively. However, in the presence of HCO 3 ؊ and H 2 O 2 , both 1 H and 14 N ENDOR spectra were almost identical to those derived from native bSOD1. We conclude that HCO 3 ؊ -derived oxidant does not alter significantly the Cu(II) active site geometry and histidine coordination to Cu(II) in SOD1 as does H 2 O 2 alone; however, the oxidant derived from HCO 3 ؊ (i.e. carbonate anion radical) reacts with surface-associated Trp-32 in hSOD1 to form the corresponding radical.Pioneering research from Fridovich and co-workers (1-4) has demonstrated a unique peroxidase activity from bovine SOD1 (bSOD1) 1 that was dependent on bicarbonate levels in phosphate buffers. The peroxidase activity was proposed to result as shown in Equations 1 and 2.The oxidant, E-Cu(II)-⅐ OH, derived from bSOD1 is able to oxidize several small anionic ligands, viz. azide, formate, and others (3-8), that gain access to the active site through a narrow channel as shown in Fig. 1. It has been proposed that the bicarbonate (HCO 3 Ϫ ), a ubiquitous anion present in high concentrations (ϳ25 mM) in biological systems, may enter the active site and be oxidized to form the carbonate anion radical, CO 3 . , which can diffuse out and oxidize other substrates in the bulk solution (3, 11-13) as shown in Equation 3.Previously, we reported that HCO 3 Ϫ enhances the peroxidase activity of human Cu,Zn-SOD (hSOD1) in a concentration-dependent manner, causing protein aggregation through Trp-32-derived oxidation products (14).Recently, Elam et al. (15) proposed an alternative mechanism for HCO 3 Ϫ -mediated peroxidase activity and inactivation of SOD1 via an enzyme-associated peroxycarbonate (HCO 4 Ϫ ) intermediate, which apparently oxidized the histidine coordinated to Cu(II) at the active site causing its inactivation (15). It was propose...