Probing Substrate Transport Effects on Enzymatic Hydrogen Catalysis : An Alternative Proton Transfer Pathway in Putatively Sensory [FeFe] Hydrogenase

• [FeFe] hydrogenases, metalloenzymes catalyzing proton/dihydrogeninterconversion, have attracted intense attention due to their remarkablecatalytic properties and (bio-)technological potential for a futurehydrogen economy. In order to unravel the factors enabling their efficientcatalysis, both their unique organometallic cofactors and proteinstructural features, i.e., "outer-coordination sphere"effects have been intensively studied. These structurally diverseenzymes are divided into distinct phylogenetic groups, denoted asGroup A-D. Prototypical Group A hydrogenases display high turnoverrates (10(4)-10(5) s(-1)).Conversely, the sole characterized Group D representative, Thermoanaerobacter mathranii HydS (TamHydS), shows relatively low catalytic activity (specific activity10(-1) & mu;mol H-2 mg(-1) min(-1)) and has been proposed to serve a H-2-sensory function. The various groups of [FeFe] hydrogenaseshare the same catalytic cofactor, the H-cluster, and the structuralfactors causing the diverging reactivities of Group A and D remainto be elucidated. In the case of the highly active Group A enzymes,a well-defined proton transfer pathway (PTP) has been identified,which shuttles H+ between the enzyme surface and the activesite. In Group D hydrogenases, this conserved pathway is absent. Here,we report on the identification of highly conserved amino acid residuesin Group D hydrogenases that constitute a possible alternative PTP.We varied two proposed key amino acid residues of this pathway (E252and E289, TamHydS numbering) via site-directed mutagenesisand analyzed the resulting variants via biochemical and spectroscopicmethods. All variants displayed significantly decreased H-2-evolution and -oxidation activities. Additionally, the variantsshowed two redox states that were not characterized previously. Thesefindings provide initial evidence that these amino acid residues arecentral to the putative PTP of Group D [FeFe] hydrogenase. Since theidentified residues are highly conserved in Group D exclusively, ourresults support the notion that the PTP is not universal for differentphylogenetic groups in [FeFe] hydrogenases.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Biokemi och molekylärbiologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

hydrogenases

hydrogen

substrate transport

redox catalysis

bioinorganic chemistry

enzymecatalysis

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)