Linking protein structure and dynamics to catalysis: the role of hydrogen tunnelling

154

For several decades the hydride transfer catalyzed by alcohol dehydrogenase has been difficult to understand. Here we add to the large corpus of anomalous and paradoxical data collected for this reaction by measuring a normal (>1) 2°kinetic isotope effect (KIE) for the reduction of benzaldehyde. Because the relevant equilibrium effect is inverse (<1), this KIE eludes the traditional interpretation of 2°KIEs. It does, however, enable the development of a comprehensive model for the "tunneling ready state" (TRS) of the reaction that fits into the general scheme of Marcus-like models of hydrogen tunneling. The TRS is the ensemble of states along the intricate reorganization coordinate, where H tunneling between the donor and acceptor occurs (the crossing point in Marcus theory). It is comparable to the effective transition state implied by ensemble-averaged variational transition state theory. Properties of the TRS are approximated as an average of the individual properties of the donor and acceptor states. The model is consistent with experimental findings that previously appeared contradictory; specifically, it resolves the long-standing ambiguity regarding the location of the TRS (aldehyde-like vs. alcohol-like). The new picture of the TRS for this reaction identifies the principal components of the collective reaction coordinate and the average structure of the saddle point along that coordinate.hydrogen tunneling | enzyme kinetic | secondary isotope effect | Swain-Schaad E nzymes enhance the rates of chemical reactions by many orders of magnitude, and extensive studies have uncovered many aspects of how they do so. The prevailing theory that enzymes stabilize the transition state (TS) relative to the reactants explains many phenomena, and a great deal of contemporary research focuses on how enzymes stabilize the TS. An unfortunate hindrance to developing an understanding of how enzymes stabilize the TS lies in the enigmatic nature of the TS. Many enzymatic hydrogen (proton, hydrogen, or hydride) transfers, for example, occur by quantum mechanical tunneling, where a particle passes through an energy barrier because of its wave properties (1-6).Yeast alcohol dehydrogenase (yADH) serves as an excellent model system for enzyme-catalyzed H transfer because unlike many other enzymes, the chemical step, oxidation of a primary alcohol to an aldehyde by NAD þ , is rate-limiting with aromatic substrates (7). Furthermore, the thermodynamics of the reaction allow for examination of both the forward (alcohol to aldehyde) and reverse (aldehyde to alcohol) reactions under similar conditions (8). This type of nicotinamide-dependent redox reaction appears ubiquitously in biology, and a detailed picture of the TS of such reactions may facilitate many medical and industrial applications.Intriguingly, decades of experiments on the reaction catalyzed by yADH have returned what appear to be contradictory results, some suggesting an early TS, whereas others point to a late TS (7-10). In pioneering studies, Klinman measured linear fr...

supporting

confidence: 68%

Elusive transition state of alcohol dehydrogenase unveiled

Roston

Kohen

2010

154

“…This can be accomplished in two distinct ways. The reduced distance can be reached via a local, picosecond-nanosecond timescale distance sampling contribution to the reorganization barrier (29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40). Evidence for distance sampling has been obtained repeatedly from highly temperature-dependent kinetic isotope effects and has been discussed extensively in the literature (refs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impaired protein conformational landscapes as revealed in anomalous Arrhenius prefactors

Nagel

Dong

Bahnson

et al. 2011

154

A growing body of data supports a role for protein motion in enzyme catalysis. In particular, the ability of enzymes to sample catalytically relevant conformational substates has been invoked to model kinetic and spectroscopic data. However, direct experimental links between rapidly interconverting conformations and the chemical steps of catalysis remain rare. We report here on the kinetic analysis and characterization of the hydride transfer step catalyzed by a series of mutant thermophilic alcohol dehydrogenases (ht-ADH), presenting evidence for Arrhenius prefactor values that become enormously elevated above an expected value of approximately 10 13 s −1 when the enzyme operates below its optimal temperature range. Restoration of normal Arrhenius behavior in the ht-ADH reaction occurs at elevated temperatures. A simple model, in which reduced temperature alters the ability of the ht-ADH variants to sample the catalytically relevant region of conformational space, can reproduce the available data. These findings indicate an impaired landscape that has been generated by the combined condition of reduced temperature and mutation at a single, active-site hydrophobic side chain. The broader implication is that optimal enzyme function requires the maintenance of a relatively smooth landscape that minimizes low energy traps.A complete understanding of the origins of the remarkable rate acceleration and specificity achieved by enzymes remains elusive. Increasingly, studies on the fundamental basis for enzymatic catalysis have focused on the requirement for a range of protein motions in order to achieve efficient enzyme catalysis. Among these, evidence for a class of motion termed conformational sampling (or preorganization) has begun to accumulate recently (cf. refs. 1-4). The impact of such motions can be seen either in the formation of an enzyme-substrate complex or in its subsequent conversion to product.For example, a recent study of adenylate kinase implicates a temperature-dependent preequilibrium among conformers that are either "competent" or "incompetent" toward ligand binding (5). In the context of catalysis, studies of single-enzyme molecules indicate multiple, slowly interconverting conformers that lead to product with different rate constants (6-8). Extensive work on dihydrofolate reductase has shown the role of slow loop closures that occur along the reaction coordinate with the same (millsecond) time constants as catalysis (9, 10).Although computational studies also suggest a role for rapid conformational sampling in enzyme reactions (11, 12), demonstrating the direct link of these motions to catalysis is quite challenging. In this study, we use the thermophilic alcohol dehydrogenase from Bacillus stearothermophilus (ht-ADH) as a system to examine the presence of rapidly interconverting protein substates during catalysis. The ht-ADH catalyzes the transfer of a hydride equivalent from an alcohol donor to an NAD þ cofactor, and previous studies have shown that ht-ADH carries out its reaction via quantum t...

“…Although such a role could be general in nature, many experimental (1-10) and theoretical (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23) studies of enzymecatalyzed hydrogen transfers have invoked protein motions at this time scale to explain anomalous kinetic isotope effects (KIE) and their temperature dependence. These studies result in the development of theoretical models, often referred to as Marcus-like models, in which the environmental reorganization that precedes the hydrogen-tunneling event has evolved to optimize the conformation of the transition state for tunneling (1,7,24). Fig.…”

Section: D Ir Spectroscopy | Enzyme Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterizing the dynamics of functionally relevant complexes of formate dehydrogenase

Bandaria

Dutta

Nydegger

et al. 2010

118

The potential for femtosecond to picosecond time-scale motions to influence the rate of the intrinsic chemical step in enzymecatalyzed reactions is a source of significant controversy. Among the central challenges in resolving this controversy is the difficulty of experimentally characterizing thermally activated motions at this time scale in functionally relevant enzyme complexes. We report a series of measurements to address this problem using twodimensional infrared spectroscopy to characterize the time scales of active-site motions in complexes of formate dehydrogenase with the transition-state-analog inhibitor azide (N − 3 ). We observe that the frequency-frequency time correlation functions (FFCF) for the ternary complexes with NAD þ and NADH decay completely with slow time constants of 3.2 ps and 4.6 ps, respectively. This result suggests that in the vicinity of the transition state, the active-site enzyme structure samples a narrow and relatively rigid conformational distribution indicating that the transition-state structure is well organized for the reaction. In contrast, for the binary complex, we observe a significant static contribution to the FFCF similar to what is seen in other enzymes, indicating the presence of the slow motions that occur on time scales longer than our measurement window. 2D IR spectroscopy | enzyme dynamicsT he functional role of protein motions at the femtosecond to picosecond time scale is a hotly debated topic in enzymology. Although such a role could be general in nature, many experimental (1-10) and theoretical (11-23) studies of enzymecatalyzed hydrogen transfers have invoked protein motions at this time scale to explain anomalous kinetic isotope effects (KIE) and their temperature dependence. These studies result in the development of theoretical models, often referred to as Marcus-like models, in which the environmental reorganization that precedes the hydrogen-tunneling event has evolved to optimize the conformation of the transition state for tunneling (1,7,24). Fig. 1 illustrates the physical picture underlying such models. Heavy atom motions along the reorganization coordinate carry the system to a point where the donor and acceptor wells in the double-well hydrogen atom potential are degenerate and tunneling can proceed. At this position, the donor-acceptor distance and its fluctuations determine the tunneling probability. Mathematically, the rate constant for hydrogen transfer in these models is given by expressions of the form where C is the fraction of reactive complexes, the first exponential, in analogy with the Marcus theory for electron transfer, reflects the reorganization of the heavy atoms that modulates the relative energies of the reactants and the products to minimize the energy defect between the zero-point levels of the donor and acceptor wells. ΔG°is the driving force for the reaction, and λ is the reorganization energy. The second exponential gives the overlap between the donor and acceptor wave functions as a function of the donor-acceptor distan...