Aromatic amine dehydrogenase uses a tryptophan tryptophylquinone (TTQ) cofactor to oxidatively deaminate primary aromatic amines. In the reductive half-reaction, a proton is transferred from the substrate C1 to Asp-128 O-2, in a reaction that proceeds by H-tunneling. Using solution studies, kinetic crystallography, and computational simulation we show that the mechanism of oxidation of aromatic carbinolamines is similar to amine oxidation, but that carbinolamine oxidation occurs at a substantially reduced rate. This has enabled us to determine for the first time the structure of the intermediate prior to the H-transfer/reduction step. The proton-Asp-128 O-2 distance is ϳ3.7 Å , in contrast to the distance of ϳ2.7 Å predicted for the intermediate formed with the corresponding primary amine substrate. This difference of ϳ1.0 Å is due to an unexpected conformation of the substrate moiety, which is supported by molecular dynamic simulations and reflected in the ϳ10 7 -fold slower TTQ reduction rate with phenylaminoethanol compared with that with primary amines. A water molecule is observed near TTQ C-6 and is likely derived from the collapse of the preceding carbinolamine TTQ-adduct. We suggest this water molecule is involved in consecutive proton transfers following TTQ reduction, and is ultimately repositioned near the TTQ O-7 concomitant with protein rearrangement. For all carbinolamines tested, highly stable amide-TTQ adducts are formed following proton abstraction and TTQ reduction. Slow hydrolysis of the amide occurs after, rather than prior to, TTQ oxidation and leads ultimately to a carboxylic acid product.
Aromatic amine dehydrogenase (AADH)4 and the related methylamine dehydrogenase (MADH) are inducible periplasmic quinoproteins produced by some Gram-negative bacteria. These enzymes allow growth on primary amines as a source of carbon and nitrogen (1, 2). In Alcaligenes faecalis, AADH is specific for phenylethylamines, but also reacts to a lesser extent with primary aliphatic amines (1, 4). On the other hand, MADH is highly specific for smaller amines such as methylamine and ethylamine (3). Both enzymes exhibit an ␣ 2  2 heterotetrameric structure (␣ molecular mass 40 kDa,  12 kDa), with each -subunit possessing a covalently bound redox-active tryptophan tryptophylquinone (TTQ) cofactor (4). The oxidative deamination reaction proceeds in two steps. In the reductive half-reaction, the TTQ is reduced by substrate leading to incorporation of the substrate-derived amino group into the TTQ cofactor, resulting in conversion of the TTQ from a quinone to N-quinol form (Fig. 1) (4, 5). In the oxidative half-reaction, the TTQ cofactor is subsequently reoxidized by electron transfer to either the periplasmic type I blue copper protein azurin (AADH) or amicyanin (MADH) (6, 7).Recently, we reported the crystal structures of key intermediates in both the AADH reductive and oxidative half-reactions (8, 9). We have shown that substrate oxidation is dominated by H-tunneling (intermediate IIIa to IVa in Fig. 1) and o...