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Originally published In Press as doi:10.1074/jbc.M701242200 on July 10, 2007

J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 282, Issue 38, 28207-28215, September 21, 2007
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Activation of the Cytochrome cd1 Nitrite Reductase from Paracoccus pantotrophus

REACTION OF OXIDIZED ENZYME WITH SUBSTRATE DRIVES A LIGAND SWITCH AT HEME c*

Jessica H. van Wonderen{ddagger}, Christopher Knight{ddagger}, Vasily S. Oganesyan{ddagger}, Simon J. George§, Walter G. Zumft, and Myles R. Cheesman{ddagger}1

From the {ddagger}Centre for Metalloprotein Spectroscopy and Biology, School of Chemical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom, Institute of Applied Biosciences, Division of Molecular Microbiology, University of Karlsruhe, PF 6980, 76128 Karlsruhe, Germany, and §Physical Biosciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720

Received for publication, February 9, 2007 , and in revised form, July 5, 2007.


   ABSTRACT
TOP
 ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Cytochromes cd1 are dimeric bacterial nitrite reductases, which contain two hemes per monomer. On reduction of both hemes, the distal ligand of heme d1 dissociates, creating a vacant coordination site accessible to substrate. Heme c, which transfers electrons from donor proteins into the active site, has histidine/methionine ligands except in the oxidized enzyme from Paracoccus pantotrophus where both ligands are histidine. During reduction of this enzyme, Tyr25 dissociates from the distal side of heme d1, and one heme c ligand is replaced by methionine. Activity is associated with histidine/methionine coordination at heme c, and it is believed that P. pantotrophus cytochrome cd1 is unreactive toward substrate without reductive activation. However, we report here that the oxidized enzyme will react with nitrite to yield a novel species in which heme d1 is EPR-silent. Magnetic circular dichroism studies indicate that heme d1 is low-spin FeIII but EPR-silent as a result of spin coupling to a radical species formed during the reaction with nitrite. This reaction drives the switch to histidine/methionine ligation at FeIII heme c. Thus the enzyme is activated by exposure to its physiological substrate without the necessity of passing through the reduced state. This reactivity toward nitrite is also observed for oxidized cytochrome cd1 from Pseudomonas stutzeri suggesting a more general involvement of the EPR-silent FeIII heme d1 species in nitrite reduction.


   INTRODUCTION
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Cytochrome cd1 (cd1)2 is a soluble homodimeric enzyme involved in bacterial respiratory denitrification (1-3). It catalyzes the one-electron reduction of nitrite ion (Formula) to nitric oxide (NO).

Formula(Eq.1)

The enzyme monomer comprises two distinct domains, one of which binds heme c, the other heme d1 (4). Heme c transfers electrons from donor proteins to the active site heme d1, an iron-dioxoisobacteriochlorin unique to this class of enzyme. In the crystal structure of the aerobically isolated ("oxidized") cd1 from Paracoccus pantotrophus (Pp), each heme is in the FeIII state with two protein-derived axial ligands, His17 and His69 to heme c and His200 and Tyr25 to heme d1 (see Scheme 1). MCD and EPR spectroscopy confirmed that these are the ligands in solution (5). Crystallography further showed that reduction of both hemes to the FeII state triggers a conformational change, which results in the replacement of the heme c ligand His17 with Met106 and the dissociation of Tyr25 from heme d1 (6), thus creating a vacant coordination site at which substrate can bind (shown in top line of Scheme 1). Both dissociating heme ligands are provided by a 7-residue c-domain loop, which extends into the d1 domain (6, 7). The switch to His/Met ligation significantly raises the reduction potential of heme c, more closely matching the donor proteins cytochrome c550 and pseudoazurin (8-13). This led to the speculation that this facilitates electron transfer (8) but a low heme c potential is not strictly an obstacle because the overall electron transfer from donors to Formula is thermodynamically favorable (13, 14). The purpose of the ligand switch is therefore unclear. Other cytochromes cd1 have His/Met liganded hemes c and lack a residue corresponding to His17. In these species, reduction appears sufficient to trigger dissociation of the distal heme d1 ligand without a coordinated ligand switch at heme c (10, 15-17).

Reoxidation of reduced cytochromes cd1 using Formula yields a mixture of half-reduced species containing stable FeII-nitrosyl heme d1 (18-21), although a recent report described rapid NO dissociation from the fully reduced enzyme (22). Reoxidation of fully reduced cd1 using dioxygen gives rise to oxoferryl (FeIV=O) heme d1 and a protein radical (23). Hydroxylamine, however, is a convenient two-electron non-physiological substrate, which stoichiometrically reoxidizes both hemes in a single turnover (11, 12, 24, 25).

Formula(Eq.2)
With Pp cd1, the product of this reaction, freeze-trapped after ~10 ms, displays FeIII heme c EPR g values different from those of the oxidized enzyme (11). Because these g values are almost identical to those observed for the His/Met liganded heme c in other cytochromes cd1 (see Table 1), it was suggested that the Pp enzyme has been trapped in a transient form (cd1*on Scheme 1) in which heme c retains the coordination normally associated with the reduced state (11, 12). Unambiguous identification of a His/Met ligand pair by MCD spectroscopy confirmed this to be the case (12). The transient cd1* reverts to the oxidized conformation with His/His heme c over a period of ~20 min (11). Until this reversion has occurred, the enzyme is capable of Formula reduction using the physiological electron donor pseudoazurin (11). It is reported that for full activity, oxidized Pp cd1 requires preactivation by chemical reduction (11, 13). Consequently, His/Met ligated heme c is presumed to be a prerequisite of activity, and it has been proposed that the oxidized enzyme is a resting form bypassed in catalysis as the enzyme cycles rapidly compared with the rate of reversion to the His/His form (13, 26). The oxidized state would therefore not exist in vivo without an appropriate reactivation mechanism (8, 12, 26). The only candidate suggested to date is reduction by NapC, a tetraheme protein with reduction potentials ranging down to -235 mV (27, 28).


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  		TABLE 1
EPR g values of low-spin ferric hemes c and d1 in cytochromes cd1

 


Figure 1
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  		SCHEME 1.
The two-electron reoxidation of reduced Pp cd1 by hydroxylamine followed by slow reversion to the oxidized state (within box) and the proposed trapping of cd * by Formula.

 
The intermediate cd1* differs from oxidized Pp cd1 in that it is reported to bind Formula immediately following its formation by hydroxylamine reoxidation. The absorption spectrum of this putative Formula-bound form is characteristic of low-spin FeIII heme d1 (29). It was concluded that Formula binds to the distal side of FeIII heme d1 before the relatively slow rebinding of Tyr25 can occur. However, several observations make it unlikely that the product (hereafter cd1*-X) is the simple Formula-bound FeIII heme d1 species depicted in the lower left of Scheme 1. The long timescale of formation is not consistent with a process, which is preventing the reversion to the oxidized state (29). The EPR spectrum contained no signals characteristic of low-spin FeIII heme d1. A single species was observed with similar g values to those of His/Met heme c in cd1* (29) (Table 1). It was proposed that Formula bound at heme d1 was blocking the rebinding of Tyr25 and preventing the conformational change to His/His ligation at FeIII heme c. This is not strictly proven because ligand orientation, not identity, is the primary determinant of the form of the EPR spectrum (30). Rotation of the histidine ligands from the perpendicular conformation observed in oxidized cd1 could yield the same g values. The work described here was therefore undertaken with two primary objectives: to determine the identity of the ligands to heme c in cd1*-X and to provide an explanation for the EPR silence of the heme d1.


   EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Purification of cd1—Samples of cd1 from Pp and Pseudomonas stutzeri (Ps) strain ZoBell (ATCC 14405) were purified according to published methods (10, 31). Initially, samples of the Pp cd1*-X were prepared according to reported methods (11, 29): oxidized Pp cd1 was reduced in an anaerobic hood (Faircrest Engineering; operating at <1 ppm O2 in an N2 atmosphere) using aliquots of buffered solutions of sodium dithionite; excess reductant was removed by chromatography on a PD-10 desalting column; the enzyme was reoxidized using aliquots of buffered hydroxylamine solution. Aliquots of buffered potassium nitrite solutions, freshly prepared, were added within 10-15 s of this reoxidation. Assays of nitrite reductase activity were performed following published methods (13) using reduced equine cytochrome c as electron donor.

EPR spectra were measured with a Bruker ER300D spectrometer fitted with a dual mode cavity type ER4116DM interfaced to an ELEXSYS computer control system (Bruker Analytische Messtechnik GmBH) and equipped with a variable temperature cryostat and liquid helium transfer line (Oxford Instruments). EPR simulations were performed using the Bruker program WINEPR SimFonia (v1.25). MCD spectra were recorded on JASCO circular dichrographs models J810 and J730 for the UV-visible and near-infrared (NIR) regions, respectively, used in conjunction with an Oxford Instruments SM4 split-coil superconducting solenoid capable of generating magnetic fields of up to 5 tesla.

The intensities of spectra presented are referred to concentrations of cd1 monomer, calculated using the Soret absorption intensity of the oxidized enzymes and extinction coefficients of {epsilon} = 141 mM-1 cm-1 for the Ps enzyme (32) and {epsilon} = 148 mM-1 cm-1 for the Pp enzyme (10). Samples for MCD spectroscopy were prepared in deuterium oxide solutions containing 50 mM BTP buffer at pH* = 6.5 to which equivalent volumes of glycerol had been added as glassing agent (33). pH* is the apparent pH of the D2O-based solutions measured using a standard glass pH electrode.


   RESULTS
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
 RESULTS
DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Preparation and Absorption Spectra of cd1*-X—Samples of the Pp cd1*-X species were prepared anaerobically at pH = 7.0 according to the methods described by Allen et al. (29). After 2-h incubation, the same type of absorption and EPR spectroscopic changes were observed. However, identical results were obtained during control experiments in which oxidized cd1 was incubated with the same concentration (5 mM) of Formula. This was the case whether the incubation was performed anaerobically or aerobically, but at pH 7.0, the reaction still required several hours to go to completion. Further control experiments revealed that the rate of this reaction of resting enzyme with Formula was strongly pH-dependent, increasing significantly at lower pH. Although there are some variations in the rate between preparations, at pH 6.5, the product is fully formed in 5-10 min but at pH 9.0 negligible reaction was observed over 24 h. The substrate itself (pKa 3.35) is fully deprotonated over the pH range investigated, and the pH dependence may be a characteristic of Formula binding and/or the subsequent reaction. No significant changes in the absorption spectrum of the oxidized enzyme were observed over the pH range 5.5-9.0. Assays of Formula reductase activity using published methods (13) confirmed that cd1*-X prepared by this method is catalytically active, as is reported for the species formed by Formula addition to enzyme reoxidized with hydroxylamine (29). All samples used for the spectroscopic characterization of cd1*-X described in this work were prepared in D2O-based buffers at pH* 6.5 by aerobic additions of buffered solutions of potassium nitrite. The absorption spectra of oxidized Pp cd1 and of cd1*-X are shown in Fig. 1a. In oxidized Pp cd1 at room temperature, FeIII heme d1 exists in a thermal equilibrium between a low-spin ground state (S = 1/2) and an excited high-spin state (S = 5/2), which give rise to absorption bands at 644 and 702 nm, respectively (5). The cd1*-X spectrum lacks the high-spin FeIII heme d1 band at 702 nm, but the low-spin band has increased in intensity and is blue-shifted to 631 nm. Low-spin FeIII heme c bands between 500 and 600 nm are present in both forms. It therefore appears that all FeIII heme d1 is in the low-spin state following reaction with Formula. The absorption spectrum of Pp cd1*-X is very similar to those of the oxidized cytochromes cd1 from Pa and Ps, enzymes in which the heme d1 is fully low-spin at all temperatures (5, 19). This reactivity of oxidized Pp cd1 is unexpected given that it is generally accepted that this state does not interact with Formula (34). The heme c ligand switch of the Pp enzyme is unique among known cytochromes cd1, and this raises the question as to whether the ability to react with Formula in this manner is also unique. We found that the cd1 from Ps also reacts with Formula at pH 6.5. When the Ps enzyme is treated with Formula under identical conditions, the heme d1 absorption band undergoes a small shift from 643 to 640 nm (Fig. 1b). However, in this enzyme, formation of a cd1*-X species, which contained low-spin FeIII heme d1 would involve no change of spin-state at either heme. Less significant absorption changes would therefore result. That, these small changes do indicate the formation a cd1*-X, species is confirmed by EPR and MCD spectroscopic studies described below.


Figure 2
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  		FIGURE 1.
Electronic absorption spectra of cd1 from Pp (a) and Ps (b) in the oxidized state (- - -) and after the addition of potassium nitrite (——). Samples were in 50 mM BTP, D2O, pH* 6.5. Where present, Formula ion concentration was 5 mM.

 


Figure 3
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  		FIGURE 2.
X-band EPR spectra showing the effect of Formula addition to cd1: oxidized Pp (a), Formula (b), oxidized Ps (c), Formula (d). Samples were in 50 mM BTP, D2O, pH* 6.5. Where present, Formula concentration was 5 mM. Spectrometer parameters: microwave power, 2 milliwatt; modulation, 1 millitesla; temperature, 10 K.

 
EPR Spectra of cd1*-X—Fig. 2 shows the 10 K X-band perpendicular mode EPR spectra of the oxidized cytochromes cd1 from Pp and Ps, and of the species formed following treatment of each enzyme with Formula. No signals were detected in the parallel mode for any of these samples. Heme c in oxidized Pp cd1 (Fig. 2a) gives rise to a "large gmax" spectrum with a gz feature at ~3.06. This is one of two limiting types of EPR observed for low-spin FeIII c-type hemes (5, 30). The other two g values are often difficult to detect but spectral simulations, presented below, show that broad gy features are present in the g = 2.2-2.3 region. Heme c of oxidized Ps cd1 gives rise to an EPR spectrum of the second limiting type. This "rhombic" spectrum (Fig. 2c) comprises three detectable features at g = 2.99, 2.29, 1.61. Note that, although the hemes c in these two enzymes have different axial ligation, it is not this which leads to the different EPR spectra. The occurrence of a large gmax or rhombic spectrum is dictated primarily by ligand orientation and not ligand identity. Thus both ligand sets could give rise to either type of EPR spectrum. In the case of the His/His-coordinated heme c of oxidized Pp cd1, the observation of a large gmax spectrum is consistent with the perpendicular ligand arrangement observed in the crystal structure (4, 30).


Figure 4
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  		FIGURE 3.
The EPR power saturation characteristics of hemes c and d1 in oxidized Pp cd1, measured by the intensity of the low-field features: gz for heme c at 10 ({triangleup}) and 20 K ({circ}); gx for heme d1 at 10 ({blacktriangleup}) and 20 K (bullet).

 


Figure 5
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  		FIGURE 4.
Experimental (——) and simulated (····) X-band EPR spectra of oxidized cd1 from Pp (a) and Ps (b). Samples were in 50 mM BTP, D2O, pH* 7.0. Spectrometer parameters were: microwave power, 0.64 milliwatt; modulation, 1 millitesla; temperature, 20 K. Experimental and simulated spectra are offset for clarity.

 
At 10 K, only the low-spin state of FeIII heme d1 in oxidized Pp cd1 is significantly populated, and minor traces of the high-spin state are observed at g values of 6.86 and 4.99 (5). The low-spin FeIII state of heme d1 gives rise to EPR spectra, which are unlike either of the limiting cases described for heme c, having narrow features and low g value anisotropy (5). These are observed in the oxidized cd1 spectra with g values of 2.52, 2.19, 1.84 for Pp and 2.58, 2.44, 1.87 for Ps. After addition of Formula, the EPR spectra (Fig. 2, b and d) are devoid of the characteristic low-spin FeIII heme d1 features, although this state of d1 is apparent in the absorption spectra (Fig. 1). The Ps cd1*-X EPR spectrum (Fig. 2d) retains the signals which were assigned to heme c in the oxidized state, and it is reasonable to assume that that these g values do indicate His/Met ligation because the cd1 from this species does not exhibit ligand switching. For Formula-treated Pp cd1 (Fig. 2b), the large gmax spectrum of heme c has been replaced by a rhombic spectrum, with g values of 2.93, 2.32, 1.42 as reported by Allen et al. (29), who proposed that these features originate from FeIII heme c with His/Met ligation. The validity of this assignment will be addressed below using MCD spectroscopy. It has not previously been shown that this EPR spectrum accounts for a single heme, although, given its unusual electronic ground state, low-spin FeIII heme d1 is unlikely to give rise to these signals (5, 30, 35). The EPR signals assigned to heme c in the cd1*-X forms (Fig. 2, b and d) were quantitated by double integration of the spectra and comparison to a CuII-EDTA spin standard using established methods (36). Each represents a single low-spin FeIII heme per monomer confirming that heme d1 is EPR-silent.

In the EPR spectra of the oxidized enzymes (Fig. 2), several features appear to have incompletely resolved structure suggesting minor heterogeneities at each heme. These features are preparation-dependent and of unknown origin. Because cd1 is a dimeric protein and we have identified a form in which both hemes are apparently in the low-spin FeIII state but heme d1 is EPR-silent, this raises the possibility that oxidized samples actually include substoichiometric levels of cd1*-X so that in some dimers one monomer contains an EPR-silent heme d1. This would constitute a heterogeneity, which could be responsible for the EPR splitting. However, if this was so then the contribution of heme d1 to the overall EPR envelope would be less than that of heme c. To the best of our knowledge, it has never been determined that the EPR signals arising from heme c and heme d1 represent equivalent concentrations of heme. This has therefore been tested by simulating the EPR spectrum of each oxidized enzyme. The spectra for simulation were recorded under non-saturating conditions. This required recording at a temperature of 20 K, and because the spin-lattice relaxation of heme d1 is slower than that of heme c, a microwave power of 0.64 milliwatt. The microwave power-dependence of the two hemes at 10 and 20 K is shown in Fig. 3. The spectrum of each oxidized enzyme was simulated using contributions from two low-spin FeIII heme c species (ca and cb) and two low-spin FeIII heme d1 species (da and db). The position and g value for the low-field feature of each simulated species is also indicated on the simulations in Fig. 4. All the g values used in these simulations are included in Table 1, where the weighting for each species is shown in brackets as percentage figures calculated after setting the total heme c to 1.00 in each case. For the Ps enzyme, the heme d1 contributions to the simulations represent only ~2/3 of those of heme c, which would be consistent with the presence of some EPR-silent heme d1. However for the Pp enzyme, which shows a more pronounced EPR heterogeneity, the ratio of total heme d1 to total heme c is 0.99. Thus in the Pp enzyme at least, both hemes are fully EPR detectable, and cd1*-X is not the cause of the observed EPR heterogeneities. Furthermore, it is not apparent from these data that the heterogeneities at the two hemes are correlated because in none of the spectra does the percentage distribution between ca and cb match that between da and db.


Figure 6
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  		FIGURE 5.
Low-temperature NIR-MCD spectra of cd1 from Pp and Ps in the oxidized and cd1*-X states. Pp oxidized (- - -); Pp cd1*-X (——); Ps oxidized (····); Ps cd1*-X (-··-··-). Samples were in 1:1 (v:v) 50 mM BTP, D2O, pH* 6.5/glycerol. Spectra were recorded at a temperature of 4.2 K with a magnetic field of 5 tesla.

 
NIR-MCD Spectra: the Heme c Ligands in cd1*-X—Heme c gives rise to almost identical rhombic EPR spectra in cd1* and in cd1*-X (Table 1 and Fig. 2), but as explained above, this does not necessarily indicate that heme c also has His/Met axial ligation in cd1*-X because these g values could also result from a change in the relative orientation of two histidine ligands from perpendicular to parallel. As was reported for cd1* (12), the identity of the heme c ligands in cd1*-X can be unambiguously determined using MCD spectroscopy in the NIR region (700-2000 nm). At these wavelengths, low-spin FeIII hemes give rise to a characteristic porphyrin-to-FeIII charge-transfer (CT) transition, the exact energy of which is diagnostic of the axial ligands to the heme (37, 38). However, for the unusual (dzx, dyz)2(dxy)1 ground state of low-spin FeIII heme d1, the band is symmetry forbidden and has not been detected (5, 35). Consequently, the transitions observed in this region are solely due to low-spin FeIII heme c. NIR-MCD spectra, recorded at 4.2 K, are shown in Fig. 5 for the four forms of cd1 reported in Figs. 1 and 2. The hemes c in oxidized Pp cd1 and oxidized Ps cd1 give rise to CT bands with peaks at approximately 1550 and 1775 nm, wavelengths diagnostic of His/His and His/Met coordination, respectively, as is previously reported (5). For Ps cd1*-X, the band remains at 1775 nm confirming retention of His/Met ligands. However, on formation of cd1*-X in the Pp enzyme, the CT band is red-shifted from 1550 to 1795 nm proving that a ligand switch to His/Met at heme c has occurred.

The Electronic State of Heme d1 in cd1*-X—This work has established that the low-spin FeIII heme c in cd1*-X has His/Met ligation and so, in the case of the Pp enzyme, a ligand switch has been triggered in the oxidized enzyme by the reaction with Formula. The nature of heme d1 in cd1*-X is complex in that it appears to be low-spin FeIII on the basis of absorption spectra but is EPR-silent. The electronic and magnetic properties of this center have therefore been investigated using variable magnetic field variable temperature MCD spectroscopic methods. The UV-visible region MCD spectrum of a heme contains an extremely detailed pattern of electronic bands, and it is well established for b- and c-type hemes that this pattern is diagnostic of the spin and oxidation state of the iron, including the EPR-silent FeII states (38). Although heme d1 is unique to this class of enzyme, and the available data is limited, it is clear that heme d1 MCD spectra are also sensitive to changes in spin and oxidation state (5, 32, 39-42). The UV region MCD of cd1 is dominated by an intense heme c Soret band but at visible wavelengths, transitions of both hemes are readily observed. Fig. 6a shows MCD spectra of the cd1*-X form of the Pp enzyme recorded in this wavelength region using a magnetic field of 5 tesla and at three temperatures, 1.7, 4.2, and 10 K. All bands are strongly temperature-dependent indicating that they arise from paramagnetic centers. The MCD band pattern of low-spin FeIII c-type hemes is well known (38). The major transitions attributable to low-spin FeIII heme c are therefore readily assigned and are indicated in the upper part of Fig. 6a by blocks, which are offset vertically to illustrate bands of positive and negative intensity. Thus, in the region 520-590 nm, the negative feature at 557 nm and the two positive bands to either side are solely due to low-spin FeIII heme c. Blocks in the lower part of Fig. 6a illustrate the positions and signs of transitions, which have previously been observed for heme d1 in the low-spin FeIII state (5, 32, 39, 40, 42). Transitions from both hemes overlap at 450-520 nm but features in the 590-700 nm region are pure heme d1 transitions.3 The overall pattern of bands in the MCD spectrum here is virtually identical to that previously reported for oxidized cd1 from Ps, in which both hemes are already entirely low-spin FeIII (5). These spectra therefore further support the conclusion that in cd1*-X, heme d1 is in the low-spin FeIII state and is responsible for paramagnetic MCD intensity despite the fact that it does not give rise to a detectable EPR spectrum at X-band.


Figure 7
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  		FIGURE 6.
Low temperature visible region MCD spectra of the cd1*-X form of cd1 from Pp (a) and Ps (b). Samples were in 1:1 (v:v) 50 mM BTP, D2O, pH* 6.5/glycerol. Spectra were recorded at temperatures of 1.7 K (——), 4.2 K (- - -), and 10 K (····) and with a magnetic field of 5 tesla.

 
There is no precedent for an isolated low-spin FeIII heme not giving rise to a detectable EPR spectrum but there are cases of FeIII hemes being rendered EPR-silent by a spin-spin interaction with a second paramagnetic center. For example, the heme at the active site of bacterial nitric oxide reductase gives rise to MCD bands characteristic of the high-spin FeIII state but it is EPR-silent as a result of spin-coupling with a nearby non-heme FeIII iron (43). Such an explanation that FeIII heme d1 in cd1*-X is spin-coupled to a second paramagnet would reconcile the EPR and MCD data, and this possibility was investigated by further MCD measurements.

The pattern of bands in the MCD spectrum reports fundamental properties local to the heme, such as spin and oxidation state, and this band pattern will not be significantly altered if the spin of the heme is spin-coupled to a second paramagnetic species. But even a relatively weak interaction of this nature could preclude the observation of EPR signals. Such an interaction could, however, be detected via the magnetic field and temperature dependence of the MCD intensity. These properties have, therefore, been studied for cd1*-X using the "ratio data" method of MCD spectroscopy (RD-MCD). This method was originally applied to cytochrome bo3 to locate and analyze heme o3 MCD bands from the active site FeIII heme o3-Cu IIB pair against an intense background of low-spin FeIII heme b bands (44). RD-MCD allows the immediate identification of transitions in the MCD spectrum, which arise from paramagnetic species for which the spin S != 1/2. Details of the method are given in Ref. 44, and only a brief summary will be presented here. For the case of an S = 1/2 chromophore, the MCD intensity varies as tanh(-betaH{Gamma}/2 kT), where beta is the Bohr magneton, k is Boltzmann constant, H the magnetic field, and T the absolute temperature. {Gamma} is a function of the g values, which determines the magnitude of the Zeeman splitting between the ground state components, mS =± 1/2 at any orientation of the molecule to the external magnetic field expressed as the spherical polar angles {theta} and {varphi}.

Formula(Eq.3)

Except at extreme high magnetic field or low temperature, outside of those used in this work, tanh(-betaH{Gamma}/2kT) {approx} betaH{Gamma}/2kT, and so the MCD intensities of S = 1/2 systems will be proportional to H/T. Therefore if the MCD spectrum is recorded at different temperatures, but the magnetic field is adjusted so as to maintain the H/T ratio, then the contribution to the spectrum of S = 1/2 species remains constant. Variations in intensity will be observed only for bands arising from paramagnetic centers, which are not simple S = 1/2 species. Fig. 7 shows RD-MCD spectra of cd1*-X, from Pp and Ps, recorded at four different combinations of H/T. It is immediately apparent, for both enzymes, that the spectra are closely matched in intensity across the 520-590 nm region. This is entirely consistent with the previous assignment of these bands in Fig. 6 to the low-spin FeIII heme c. In the regions to either side, where heme d1 bands occur, there are obvious variations in the MCD intensities. This divergence of the spectra is most pronounced in the 590-700 nm region where the bands are exclusively from heme d1. These RD-MCD data therefore demonstrate that heme d1 in cd1*-X is part of a paramagnetic but EPR-silent system. The S = 1/2 low-spin FeIII heme d1 must be interacting with another half-integer (Kramers) paramagnet. Heme c is clearly not involved; it remains EPR detectable and in the RD-MCD spectra gives rise to bands, which overlie as expected for an isolated S = 1/2 species. Therefore, the species interacting with heme d1 can only be a radical resulting from the reaction between oxidized cd1 and Formula.


Figure 8
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  		FIGURE 7.
RD-MCD Spectra of cd1 from Pp (a) and Ps (b) in the cd1*-X form. Samples were in 1:1 (v:v) 50 mM BTP, D2O, pH* 6.5/glycerol. Spectra were recorded at temperature/magnetic field combinations of 1.75 K/0.41 T (——), 4.2 K/1.0 T (- - -), 10 K/2.37 T (····), 20 K/4.72 T (-··-··-)(a) and 1.88 K/0.38 T (——), 4.2 K/1.0 T (- - -), 10 K/2.37 T (····), 20 K/4.72 T (-··-··-)(b).

 

   DISCUSSION
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
REFERENCES
 
This work has shown that Pp cd1 in the oxidized state will react directly with the physiological substrate Formula to form cd1*-X, a complex in which heme d1 is paramagnetic but EPR-silent. This reaction drives a ligand switch at FeIII heme c from His/His to His/Met, the conformation associated with enzyme activity (11-13, 34). Hence, the enzyme has been activated without passing through the reduced state, something previously considered essential (6, 11, 34). Dissociation or displacement of Tyr25 to allow Formula binding does not therefore have to be driven by reduction of the two hemes, and the lack of appropriate P. pantotrophus cellular components with reduction potentials low enough to reduce cd1 may not be an issue (27).

We have also shown that an equivalent cd1*-X species is formed in the reaction of Formula with cd1 from P. stutzeri. The reactivity is not, therefore, unique to enzyme with the ability to switch heme c ligands but may be a property of cytochromes cd1 in general. Over twenty years ago, Muhoberac and Wharton reported that the addition of Formula to Pseudomonas aeruginosa cd1 results in the loss, from the EPR spectrum, of features associated with heme d1 (45). The samples, at pH 7.0, were incubated for 24 h before spectra were recorded. There can be little doubt that this is the same reaction as has been described here in detail.

MCD showed that the EPR-silent FeIII heme d1 is paramagnetic but that S != 1/2. Because heme c is magnetically isolated, and the enzyme contains no other cofactors, heme d1 must be interacting with a second paramagnet, presumably a radical species formed in the reaction with Formula. The spin interaction is of sufficient strength to preclude observation of EPR signals at X-band, and so the magnitude of J, the spin-coupling constant, must therefore be several times that of the microwave photon energy (~0.3 cm-1). However, the two spins are not coupled sufficiently strongly to yield a diamagnetic system; the MCD intensifies significantly between 4.2 and 1.7 K (Fig. 6) placing an upper limit on J of ~5 cm-1 (our preliminary analysis4 of the RD-MCD suggests that J ~ 3cm-1). This order of magnitude would require that the radical is located in close proximity to heme d1. For example, in compound I of cytochrome c peroxidase, the exchange coupling between a tryptophan radical and an oxoferryl (FeIV=O) heme separated by ~5 Åis <0.1 cm-1 (46, 47).

One possible explanation is that a single turnover of Formula has taken place (Equation 1) using an electron abstracted from a nearby residue and so forming a radical. Displacement of the NO by a second Formula would yield a species [R+· d III1-Formula]in which low-spin FeIII heme d1 is coupled to the protein radical. Tyr263 is the only fully conserved residue in close proximity to heme d1 and has already been proposed as the location of a radical species formed during the reaction of reduced cd1 with oxygen (23).

However, although the visible region absorption and MCD spectra of Pp cd1*-X are characteristic of low-spin FeIII heme d1, a band at this specific wavelength (~631 nm, Fig. 1a) has previously been assigned to a FeIII heme d1 nitrosyl species (18, 48) formed in the reaction of Formula with FeII heme d1. The addition of NO to oxidized cd1 from both Pa and Ps also results in absorption spectra similar to that of Ps cd1*-X (Fig. 1b) (19, 49). This would, at first, appear to contradict our data because ferric nitrosyl hemes are best described as diamagnetic FeII-NO+ species (50) and do not give rise to spectra characteristic of FeIII. The unpaired {pi}* electron of the NO is largely transferred to the FeIII dxz,yz orbitals. But we have previously proposed that the fully occupied dxz,yz orbitals in the unusual (dxz,yz)4 (dxy)1 ground state of low-spin FeIII heme d1 could destabilize this mode of NO binding (5). Heme d1 in cd1*-X is clearly paramagnetic and may represent a genuine FeIII-NO species, in which the NO ligand itself is the radical species interacting with the spin of FeIII heme d1. This interpretation would require that a transient protein radical is formed during the reaction but dissipates rapidly. A relatively weak coupling between a radical ligand and the spin of the metal ion to which it is bound is unusual but not without precedent. In horseradish peroxidase compound I, the coupling between the oxoferryl (FeIV=O) iron and a radical on the porphyrin ligand is ~4 cm-1 (51, 52). In the case of low-spin FeIII heme d1, the unpaired electron of metal is located not in dxz,yz orbitals, which readily interact with NO, but in the dxy orbital (5), which lies in the plane of the isobacteriochlorin and is potentially orthogonal to the NO {pi}* orbitals in a linear Fe-N-O conformation. However, these putative FeIII-NO species are stable, and so this property of heme d1 alone is not sufficient to dissociate product. It was previously reported that addition of the chemical reductant ascorbate to as-prepared Pa cd1 resulted in the appearance of the EPR signature of FeII-NO (53). This was attributed to the presence of Formula in the enzyme, which was being reduced to NO. However, it cannot be excluded that the species responsible was equivalent to cd1*-X and contained FeIII-NO. This would also yield ferrous nitrosyl EPR signals upon reduction. EPR spectra of the as-prepared enzyme are not shown (53), and where they are presented elsewhere (17, 32, 39, 45, 54), no integrations are reported. Consequently it is not possible to say whether or not these samples contained EPR-silent heme d1. If they did, then it may be that Pa and Ps cytochromes cd1 are prone to retaining product NO. The contrasting behavior of Pp cd1 may be linked to an ability of Tyr25 to displace distal heme d1 ligands.

NO evolution is detected during cd1 activity assays, which are performed in the presence of excess reductant (13, 55). Yet, in several studies of the reaction of Formula with the fully reduced enzymes from both Pp and Pa, the reaction stopped after a single turnover (18-21). Evidently the role of reductant in product release is complex and may well be related to redox-linked conformational changes at heme c.

The reaction with Formula constitutes a mechanism by which the oxidized Pp enzyme can be activated by substrate but at a rate which is several orders of magnitude slower than turnover. It is unlikely therefore that this species is directly involved in the catalytic cycle in this exact form. However, the involvement of a transient protein radical in Formula reduction would represent an additional redox center and raises the possibility that heme d1 does not access the FeII state during turnover of NO -2. This would perhaps explain the observations that carbon monoxide, a ligand to FeII hemes, inhibits the reduction of O2 by Pa cd1 but not the reduction of Formula. In contrast cyanide ion, a strong ligand to FeIII heme, inhibits both activities (56). The idea that the enzyme turns over too rapidly for reversion to the His/His heme c to occur (13, 26) may still be valid. However, it should be considered that this slow reversion is prevented by substrate binding rather than re-reduction of heme d1.

In summary, we have shown that cd1 in the oxidized state reacts directly with its substrate Formula driving the heme c His/His to His/Met ligand switch required for activity. The reaction also occurs with cd1s that do not undergo ligand switching and do not require activation. The resulting novel species contains low-spin FeIII heme d1 that is rendered EPR-silent by spin-coupling to a radical that we propose is bound nitric oxide formed in the reaction.


   FOOTNOTES
 
* This work was supported by the Biotechnology and Biosciences Research Council (BBSRC) studentship award 02A1B08117 (to J. v. W.), an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) advance fellowship (to V. S. O.), and a Wellcome Trust award from the Joint Infrastructure Fund for equipment. The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact. Back

1 To whom correspondence should be addressed: School of Chemical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom. Tel.: 01603592028; Fax: 01603582023; E-mail: m.cheesman{at}uea.ac.uk.

2 The abbreviations used are: cd1, cytochrome cd1; Pp, Paracoccus pantotrophus; Pa, Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Ps, Pseudomonas stutzeri strain ZoBell (ATCC 14405); CT, charge-transfer; MCD, magnetic circular dichroism; NIR, near-infrared; BTP, 1,3-bis(tris(hydroxymethyl)methylamine)propane; RD-MCD, ratio data method of MCD spectroscopy; H, magnetic field; T, tesla. Back

3 FeIII hemes with His/Met ligation give rise to a CT transition near 695 nm. MCD spectra of the semi-apo form of cd1 show that the intensity of this band in the MCD is two orders of magnitude lower than these heme d1 transitions. G. Kemp and M. R. Cheesman, unpublished. Back

4 V. S. Oganesyan, M. R. Cheesman, and A. J. Thomson, manuscript in preparation. Back


   ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 
We thank Dr. James Allen for valuable discussions and Prof. Andrew Thomson for critical reading of the manuscript.



   REFERENCES
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
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