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Thomas L Poulos

Publications and source records attributed to Thomas L Poulos.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2004

Regiospecificity determinants of human heme oxygenase: differential NADPH- and ascorbate-dependent heme cleavage by the R183E mutant.

The ability of the human heme oxygenase-1 (hHO-1) R183E mutant to oxidize heme in reactions supported by either NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase or ascorbic acid has been compared. The NADPH-dependent reaction, like that of wild-type hHO-1, yields exclusively biliverdin IXalpha. In contrast, the R183E mutant with ascorbic acid as the reductant produces biliverdin IXalpha (79 +/- 4%), IXdelta (19 +/- 3%), and a trace of IXbeta. In the presence of superoxide dismutase and catalase, the yield of biliverdin IXdelta is decreased to 8 +/- 1% with a corresponding increase in biliverdin IXalpha. Spectroscopic analysis of the NADPH-dependent reaction shows that the R183E ferric biliverdin complex accumulates, because reduction of the iron, which is required for sequential iron and biliverdin release, is impaired. Reversal of the charge at position 183 makes reduction of the iron more difficult. The crystal structure of the R183E mutant, determined in the ferric and ferrous-NO bound forms, shows that the heme primarily adopts the same orientation as in wild-type hHO-1. The structure of the Fe(II).NO complex suggests that an altered active site hydrogen bonding network supports catalysis in the R183E mutant. Furthermore, Arg-183 contributes to the regiospecificity of the wild-type enzyme, but its contribution is not critical. The results indicate that the ascorbate-dependent reaction is subject to a lower degree of regiochemical control than the NADPH-dependent reaction. Ascorbate may be able to reduce the R183E ferric and ferrous dioxygen complexes in active site conformations that cannot be reduced by NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase.

Ascorbic Acid↗
PubMed2004

Structural and functional diversity in heme monooxygenases.

Recent advances in understanding structure-function relationships in cytochrome P450 (P450), nitric-oxide synthase (NOS), and heme oxygenase are summarized. Of particular importance is the role that dynamics plays in P450 function, where the active site undergoes large open/close motions to enable substrates to bind and products to leave. In sharp contrast, the heme-containing active site of NOS is rigid and remains relatively exposed compared with P450s. This difference in dynamics and active site exposure requires that the O(2) activation machinery operate somewhat differently in P450 and NOS. Owing to the open NOS active site, the NOS-oxy complex could be subject to nonspecific protonation that short-circuits the normal reaction path. One working hypothesis holds that NOS recruited the cofactor, tetrahydrobiopterin, to bind near the heme for very rapid coupled electron/proton transfer to the oxy complex, which avoids indiscriminate reaction with bulk solvent. Despite these differences, P450, NOS, and also heme oxygenase use a very similar network of H-bonded water molecules in the active site that are required for oxygen activation. Both P450 and NOS are important drug targets. With NOS, the structural basis for isoform-selective inhibition by a class of dipeptide inhibitors has been worked out, thus providing the basis for structure-based drug design.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Human heme oxygenase oxidation of 5- and 15-phenylhemes.

Human heme oxygenase-1 (hHO-1) catalyzes the O2-dependent oxidation of heme to biliverdin, CO, and free iron. Previous work indicated that electrophilic addition of the terminal oxygen of the ferric hydroperoxo complex to the alpha-meso-carbon gives 5-hydroxyheme. Earlier efforts to block this reaction with a 5-methyl substituent failed, as the reaction still gave biliverdin IXalpha. Surprisingly, a 15-methyl substituent caused exclusive cleavage at the gamma-meso-rather than at the normal, unsubstituted alpha-meso-carbon. No CO was formed in these reactions, but the fragment cleaved from the porphyrin eluded identification. We report here that hHO-1 cleaves 5-phenylheme to biliverdin IXalpha and oxidizes 15-phenylheme at the alpha-meso position to give 10-phenylbiliverdin IXalpha. The fragment extruded in the oxidation of 5-phenylheme is benzoic acid, one oxygen of which comes from O2 and the other from water. The 2.29- and 2.11-A crystal structures of the hHO-1 complexes with 1- and 15-phenylheme, respectively, show clear electron density for both the 5- and 15-phenyl rings in both molecules of the asymmetric unit. The overall structure of 15-phenylheme-hHO-1 is similar to that of heme-hHO-1 except for small changes in distal residues 141-150 and in the proximal Lys18 and Lys22. In the 5-phenylheme-hHO-1 structure, the phenyl-substituted heme occupies the same position as heme in the heme-HO-1 complex but the 5-phenyl substituent disrupts the rigid hydrophobic wall of residues Met34, Phe214, and residues 26-42 near the alpha-meso carbon. The results provide independent support for an electrophilic oxidation mechanism and support a role for stereochemical control of the reaction regiospecificity.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Crystal structure of P450cin in a complex with its substrate, 1,8-cineole, a close structural homologue to D-camphor, the substrate for P450cam.

Cytochrome P450cin catalyzes the monooxygenation of 1,8-cineole, which is structurally very similar to d-camphor, the substrate for the most thoroughly investigated cytochrome P450, cytochrome P450cam. Both 1,8-cineole and d-camphor are C(10) monoterpenes containing a single oxygen atom with very similar molecular volumes. The cytochrome P450cin-substrate complex crystal structure has been solved to 1.7 A resolution and compared with that of cytochrome P450cam. Despite the similarity in substrates, the active site of cytochrome P450cin is substantially different from that of cytochrome P450cam in that the B' helix, essential for substrate binding in many cytochrome P450s including cytochrome P450cam, is replaced by an ordered loop that results in substantial changes in active site topography. In addition, cytochrome P450cin does not have the conserved threonine, Thr252 in cytochrome P450cam, which is generally considered as an integral part of the proton shuttle machinery required for oxygen activation. Instead, the analogous residue in cytochrome P450cin is Asn242, which provides the only direct protein H-bonding interaction with the substrate. Cytochrome P450cin uses a flavodoxin-like redox partner to reduce the heme iron rather than the more traditional ferredoxin-like Fe(2)S(2) redox partner used by cytochrome P450cam and many other bacterial P450s. It thus might be expected that the redox partner docking site of cytochrome P450cin would resemble that of cytochrome P450BM3, which also uses a flavodoxin-like redox partner. Nevertheless, the putative docking site topography more closely resembles cytochrome P450cam than cytochrome P450BM3.

Crystallography, X-Ray↗
PubMed2004

Crystal structure of the cytochrome p450cam mutant that exhibits the same spectral perturbations induced by putidaredoxin binding.

The cytochrome P450cam active site is known to be perturbed by binding to its redox partner, putidaredoxin (Pdx). Pdx binding also enhances the camphor monooxygenation reaction (Nagano, S., Shimada, H., Tarumi, A., Hishiki, T., Kimata-Ariga, Y., Egawa, T., Suematsu, M., Park, S.-Y., Adachi, S., Shiro, Y., and Ishimura, Y. (2003) Biochemistry 42, 14507-14514). These effects are unique to Pdx because nonphysiological electron donors are unable to support camphor monooxygenation. The accompanying 1H NMR paper (Tosha, T., Yoshioka, S., Ishimori, K., and Morishima, I. (2004) J. Biol. Chem. 279, 42836-42843) shows that the conformation of active site residues, Thr-252 and Cys-357, and the substrate in the ferrous (Fe(II)) CO complex of the L358P mutant mimics that of the wild-type enzyme complexed to Pdx. To explore how these changes are transmitted from the Pdx-binding site to the active site, we have solved the crystal structures of the ferrous and ferrous-CO complex of wild-type and the L358P mutant. Comparison of these structures shows that the L358P mutation results in the movement of Arg-112, a residue known to be important for putidaredoxin binding, toward the heme. This change could optimize the Pdx-binding site leading to a higher affinity for Pdx. The mutation also pushes the heme toward the substrate and ligand binding pocket, which relocates the substrate to a position favorable for regio-selective hydroxylation. The camphor is held more firmly in place as indicated by a lower average temperature factor. Residues involved in the catalytically important proton shuttle system in the I helix are also altered by the mutation. Such conformational alterations and the enhanced reactivity of the mutant oxy complex with non-physiological electron donors suggest that Pdx binding optimizes the distal pocket for monooxygenation of camphor.

Aspartic Acid↗
PubMed2004

Electrostatic control of the tryptophan radical in cytochrome c peroxidase.

Previously a K(+)-binding site, analogous to that found in ascorbate peroxidase (APX), was engineered into cytochrome c peroxidase (CcP) to test the hypothesis that the bound K(+) influences the stability of the Trp191 cation radical formed during the CcP catalytic cycle (Bonagura et al., (1996) Biochemistry 35, 6107 and Bonagura et al., (1999) Biochemistry 38, 5528). Characterization of this mutant, designated CcPK2, showed that the stability of the Trp191 cation radical is dependent on the occupancy of the engineered K(+) site and that the Trp191 radical was much less stable in this mutant than in wild-type CcP. The mutations Met230Leu, Met231Gln, and Met172Ser have now been constructed on the CcPK2 mutant template to test if the Met residues also contribute to the stabilization of the Trp191 cation radical. Crystal structures show that the mutations affect only the local structure near the sites of mutation. Removal of these electronegative residues located less than 8 A from the Trp radical results in a further destabilization of the Trp radical. The characteristic EPR signal associated with the Trp radical is significantly narrowed and is characteristic of a tyrosine radical signal. Double-mixing stopped-flow experiments, where the delay time between the formation of CcP compound I and its mixing with horse heart ferrocytochrome c is varied, show that the stability of the Trp radical decreases as the Met residues are removed from the proximal cavity. When taken together, these results demonstrate a strong correlation between the experimentally determined stability of the Trp191 radical, the enzyme activity, and the calculated electrostatic stabilization of the Trp191 radical.

Crystallography, X-Ray↗
PubMed2004

Structures of the neuronal and endothelial nitric oxide synthase heme domain with D-nitroarginine-containing dipeptide inhibitors bound.

In a continuing effort to unravel the structural basis for isoform-selective inhibition of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) by various inhibitors, we have determined the crystal structures of the nNOS and eNOS heme domain bound with two D-nitroarginine-containing dipeptide inhibitors, D-Lys-D-Arg(NO)2-NH(2) and D-Phe-D-Arg(NO)2-NH(2). These two dipeptide inhibitors exhibit similar binding modes in the two constitutive NOS isozymes, which is consistent with the similar binding affinities for the two isoforms as determined by K(i) measurements. The D-nitroarginine-containing dipeptide inhibitors are not distinguished by the amino acid difference between nNOS and eNOS (Asp 597 and Asn 368, respectively) which is key in controlling isoform selection for nNOS over eNOS observed for the L-nitroarginine-containing dipeptide inhibitors reported previously [Flinspach, M., et al. (2004) Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 11, 54-59]. The lack of a free alpha-amino group on the D-nitroarginine moiety makes the dipeptide inhibitor steer away from the amino acid binding pocket near the active site. This allows the inhibitor to extend into the solvent-accessible channel farther away from the active site, which enables the inhibitors to explore new isoform-specific enzyme-inhibitor interactions. This might be the structural basis for why these D-nitroarginine-containing inhibitors are selective for nNOS (or eNOS) over iNOS.

Amino Acid Substitution↗
PubMed2004

Structural basis for novel delta-regioselective heme oxygenation in the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

The Gram-negative bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa contains a heme oxygenase (pa-HO) that primarily oxygenates the delta-meso heme carbon [Caignan, G. A., Deshmukh, R., Wilks, A., Zeng, Y., Huang, H. W., Moenne-Loccoz, P., Bunce, R. A., Eastman, M. A., and Rivera, M. (2002) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 124, 14879-14892]. This differs from other previously characterized heme oxygenases, which display regioselectivity for the alpha-meso heme carbon. Here we report the crystal structure of pa-HO at 1.60 A resolution and compare it to the 1.50 A structure of nm-HO from Neisseria meningitidis [Schuller, D. J., Zhu, W., Stojiljkovic, I., Wilks, A., and Poulos, T. L. (2001) Biochemistry 40, 11552-11558]. The crystal structure of pa-HO maintains the same overall fold as other bacterial and mammalian heme oxygenases, including a conserved network of hydrogen-bonded solvent molecules important for dioxygen activation. The novel delta-regioselectivity of heme oxygenation observed by pa-HO is due to the heme being rotated by approximately 100 degrees, which places the delta-meso heme carbon in the same position as the alpha-meso heme carbon in other heme oxygenases. The main interaction in pa-HO that stabilizes the unique heme orientation is a salt bridge between Lys132 and the heme 7-propionate, as well as hydrophobic contacts involving Leu29, Val33, and Phe189 with the heme methyl and vinyl groups.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Crystal structure and characterization of a cytochrome c peroxidase-cytochrome c site-specific cross-link.

A specific covalently cross-linked complex between redox partners yeast cytochrome c peroxidase (CCP) and cytochrome c (cyt. c) has been made by engineering cysteines into CCP and cyt. c that form an intermolecular disulfide bond in high yield. The crystal structure of the cross-linked complex has been solved to 1.88-A resolution and closely resembles the structure of the noncovalent complex [Pellitier, H. & Kraut, J. (1992) Science 258, 1748-1755]. The higher resolution of the covalent complex has enabled the location of ordered water molecules at the peroxidase-cytochrome c interface that serve to bridge between the two proteins by hydrogen bonding. As in the noncovalent complex, direct electrostatic interactions between protein groups appear not to be critical in complex formation. UV-visible spectroscopic and stopped-flow studies indicate that CCP in the covalent complex reacts normally with H(2)O(2) to give compound I. Stopped-flow kinetic studies also show that intramolecular electron transfer between the cross-linked ferrocytochrome c and the Trp-191 cation radical site in CCP compound I occurs fast and is nearly complete within the dead time ( approximately 2 ms) of the instrument. These results indicate that the structure of the covalent complex closely mimics the physiological electron transfer complex. In addition, single-turnover and steady-state experiments reveal that CCP compound I in the covalent complex oxidizes exogenously added ferrocytochrome c at a slow rate (t(1/2) approximately 2 min), indicating that CCP does not have a second independent site for physiologically relevant electron transfer.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed2004

Crystal structure of human heme oxygenase-1 in a complex with biliverdin.

Heme oxygenase oxidatively cleaves heme to biliverdin, leading to the release of iron and CO through a process in which the heme participates both as a cofactor and as a substrate. Here we report the crystal structure of the product, iron-free biliverdin, in a complex with human HO-1 at 2.19 A. Structural comparisons of the human biliverdin-HO-1 structure with its heme complex and the recently published rat HO-1 structure in a complex with the biliverdin-iron chelate [Sugishima, M., Sakamoto, H., Higashimoto, Y., Noguchi, M., and Fukuyama, K. (2003) J. Biol. Chem. 278, 32352-32358] show two major differences. First, in the absence of an Fe-His bond and solvent structure in the active site, the distal and proximal helices relax and adopt an "open" conformation which most likely encourages biliverdin release. Second, iron-free biliverdin occupies a different position and orientation relative to heme and the biliverdin-iron complex. Biliverdin adopts a more linear conformation and moves from the heme site to an internal cavity. These structural results provide insight into the rate-limiting step in HO-1 catalysis, which is product, biliverdin, release.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Crystal structure of putidaredoxin reductase from Pseudomonas putida, the final structural component of the cytochrome P450cam monooxygenase.

The crystal structure of recombinant putidaredoxin reductase (Pdr), an FAD-containing NADH-dependent flavoprotein component of the cytochrome P450cam monooxygenase from Pseudomonas putida, has been determined to 1.90 A resolution. The protein has a fold similar to that of disulfide reductases and consists of the FAD-binding, NAD-binding, and C-terminal domains. Compared to homologous flavoenzymes, the reductase component of biphenyl dioxygenase (BphA4) and apoptosis-inducing factor, Pdr lacks one of the arginine residues that compensates partially for the negative charge on the pyrophosphate of FAD. This uncompensated negative charge is likely to decrease the electron-accepting ability of the flavin. The aromatic side-chain of the "gatekeeper" Tyr159 is in the "out" conformation and leaves the nicotinamide-binding site of Pdr completely open. The presence of electron density in the NAD-binding channel indicates that NAD originating from Escherichia coli is partially bound to Pdr. A structural comparison of Pdr with homologous flavoproteins indicates that an open and accessible nicotinamide-binding site, the presence of an acidic residue in the middle part of the NAD-binding channel that binds the nicotinamide ribose, and multiple positively charged arginine residues surrounding the entrance of the NAD-binding channel are the special structural elements that assist tighter and more specific binding of the oxidized pyridine nucleotide by the BphA4-like flavoproteins. The crystallographic model of Pdr explains differences in the electron transfer mechanism in the Pdr-putidaredoxin redox couple and their mammalian counterparts, adrenodoxin reductase and adrenodoxin.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2004

Crystal structures of ferrous and ferrous-NO forms of verdoheme in a complex with human heme oxygenase-1: catalytic implications for heme cleavage.

Heme oxygenase oxidatively degrades heme to biliverdin resulting in the release of iron and CO through a process in which the heme participates both as a cofactor and substrate. One of the least understood steps in the heme degradation pathway is the conversion of verdoheme to biliverdin. In order to obtain a better understanding of this step we report the crystal structures of ferrous-verdoheme and, as a mimic for the oxy-verdoheme complex, ferrous-NO verdoheme in a complex with human HO-1 at 2.20 and 2.10 A, respectively. In both structures the verdoheme occupies the same binding location as heme in heme-HO-1, but rather than being ruffled verdoheme in both sets of structures is flat. Both structures are similar to their heme counterparts except for the distal helix and heme pocket solvent structure. In the ferrous-verdoheme structure the distal helix moves closer to the verdoheme, thus tightening the active site. NO binds to verdoheme in a similar bent conformation to that found in heme-HO-1. The bend angle in the verodoheme-NO structure places the terminal NO oxygen 1 A closer to the alpha-meso oxygen of verdoheme compared to the alpha-meso carbon on the heme-NO structure. A network of water molecules, which provide the required protons to activate the iron-oxy complex of heme-HO-1, is absent in both ferrous-verdoheme and the verdoheme-NO structure.

Biliverdine↗
PubMed2004

Crystallization of cytochromes P450 and substrate-enzyme interactions.

Our understanding of structure-function relationships have made considerable advances owing to the increasing number of new P450 crystal structures. This is especially true with mammalian P450s. As always, the main bottleneck in a structure determination project is crystallization. While the crystallization techniques used for P450 crystal growth are not much different from that utilized for other proteins, special protein engineering strategies have been developed in order to generate soluble, homogeneous membrane-bound P450 samples amendable for crystallization. Newly determined P450 structures also provide convincing evidence that P450 enzymes are highly dynamic and flexible. Common structural elements found in all P450s have been identified that undergo large conformational changes to allow substrate access and product release. In addition, flexible regions may enable the active site to adapt to the binding of substrates of different size, shape, and polarity. This review will focus on the successful membrane P450 crystallization techniques and the new structural insights based on the growing P450 structure database.

Binding Sites↗
PubMed2003

Structural basis for dipeptide amide isoform-selective inhibition of neuronal nitric oxide synthase.

Three nitric oxide synthase (NOS) isoforms, eNOS, nNOS and iNOS, generate nitric oxide (NO) crucial to the cardiovascular, nervous and host defense systems, respectively. Development of isoform-selective NOS inhibitors is of considerable therapeutic importance. Crystal structures of nNOS-selective dipeptide inhibitors in complex with both nNOS and eNOS were solved and the inhibitors were found to adopt a curled conformation in nNOS but an extended conformation in eNOS. We hypothesized that a single-residue difference in the active site, Asp597 (nNOS) versus Asn368 (eNOS), is responsible for the favored binding in nNOS. In the D597N nNOS mutant crystal structure, a bound inhibitor switches to the extended conformation and its inhibition of nNOS decreases >200-fold. Therefore, a single-residue difference is responsible for more than two orders of magnitude selectivity in inhibition of nNOS over eNOS by L-N(omega)-nitroarginine-containing dipeptide inhibitors.

Amides↗
PubMed2003

Computer modeling of selective regions in the active site of nitric oxide synthases: implication for the design of isoform-selective inhibitors.

Selective inhibition of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) isoforms has great therapeutic potential in the treatment of certain disease states arising from the pathological overproduction of nitric oxide. In this study three structures of each NOS isoform were employed to examine selective regions in the active site using the GRID/CPCA approach. In the GRID calculations, 10 probes covering hydrophobic, steric, and hydrogen-bond-acceptor and -donor interactions were used to calculate the molecular interaction fields (MIFs) in the active site. The side chain flexibility of the residues and the grid spacings were considered at the same time. Consensus principal component analysis (CPCA) was applied to analyze the MIFs differences in the active site between the NOS isoforms. By combining the cutout tool with GRID/CPCA pseudofield differential plots, several selective regions in the active site were identified. The selectivity analysis showed that the most important determinants for NOS inhibitor selectivity are hydrophobic and charge-charge interactions. Twenty-five inhibitors of NOS were then docked into the active site using the program AutoDock3.0. The regions identified as being important for selectivity by this method are in excellent agreement with inhibitor structure-activity relationships. A rational usage of the selective region described in this work should make it possible to develop NOS isoform-selective inhibitors.

Binding Sites↗
PubMed2003

Crystal structure of putidaredoxin, the [2Fe-2S] component of the P450cam monooxygenase system from Pseudomonas putida.

Stability of the [2Fe-2S]-containing putidaredoxin (Pdx), the electron donor to cytochrome P450cam in Pseudomonas putida, was improved by mutating non-ligating cysteine residues, Cys73 and Cys85, to serine singly and in combination. The increasing order of stability is Cys73Ser/Cys85Ser>Cys73Ser>Cys85Ser>WT Pdx. Crystal structures of Cys73Ser/Cys85Ser and Cys73Ser mutants of Pdx, solved by single-wavelength anomalous dispersion phasing using the [2Fe-2S] iron atoms to 1.47 A and 1.65 A resolution, respectively, are nearly identical and very similar to those of bovine adrenodoxin (Adx) and Escherichia coli ferredoxin. However, unlike the Adx structure, no motion between the core and interaction domains of Pdx is observed. This higher conformational stability of Pdx might be due to the presence of a more extensive hydrogen bonding network at the interface between the two structural domains around the conserved His49. In particular, formation of a hydrogen bond between the side-chain of Tyr51 and the carbonyl oxygen atom of Glu77 and the presence of two well-ordered water molecules linking the interaction domain and the C-terminal peptide to the core of the molecule are unique to Pdx. The folding topology of the NMR model is similar to that of the X-ray structure of Pdx. The overall rmsd of Calpha positions between the two models is 1.59 A. The largest positional differences are observed for residues 18-21 and 33-37 in the loop regions and the C terminus. The latter two peptides display conformational heterogeneity in the crystal structures. Owing to flexibility, the aromatic ring of the C-terminal Trp106 can closely approach the side-chains of Asp38 and Thr47 (3.2-3.9 A) or move away and leave the active site solvent-exposed. Therefore, Trp106, previously shown to be important in the Pdr-to-Pdx and Pdx-to-P450cam electron transfer reactions is in a position to regulate and/or mediate electron transfer to or from the [2Fe-2S] center of Pdx.

Adrenodoxin↗