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Journal of Bacteriology, July 2003, p. 4211-4218, Vol. 185, No. 14
0021-9193/03/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JB.185.14.4211-4218.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Department of Biology, Graduate School of Science, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-0043,1 Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8581,2 RIKEN Harima Institute/SPring-8, Sayo-gun, Hyogo 679-5148, Japan3
Received 28 January 2003/ Accepted 3 April 2003
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-crystalline-like soluble quinone oxidoreductase from Thermus thermophilus HB8 (QORTt) and of its complex with NADPH have been determined at 2.3- and 2.8-Å resolutions, respectively. QORTt is composed of two domains, and its overall fold is similar to the folds of Escherichia coli quinone oxidoreductase (QOREc) and horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase. QORTt forms a homodimer in the crystal by interaction of the ßF-strands in domain II, forming a large ß-sheet that crosses the dimer interface. High thermostability of QORTt was evidenced by circular dichroic measurement. NADPH is located between the two domains in the QORTt-NADPH complex. The disordered segment involved in the coenzyme binding of apo-QORTt becomes ordered upon NADPH binding. The segment covers an NADPH-binding cleft and may serve as a lid. The 2'-phosphate group of the adenine of NADPH is surrounded by polar and positively charged residues in QORTt, suggesting that QORTt binds NADPH more readily than NADH. The putative substrate-binding site of QORTt, unlike that of QOREc, is largely blocked by nearby residues, permitting access only to small substrates. This may explain why QORTt has weak p-benzoquinone reduction activity and is inactive with such large substrates of QOREc as 5-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone and phenanthraquinone. |
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-crystallin (5, 11, 25-28, 32), the quinone oxidoreductase from Escherichia coli (QOREc) (6, 7, 18, 31), and horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase (LADH) (3, 4, 8, 9), all of which catalyze NADH- or NADPH-dependent redox reactions of various substrates. This superfamily consists of two subfamilies: dehydrogenases and reductases. The former, represented by LADH, require zinc ions for activity, whereas reductases do not necessarily require metal ions (6). The zinc-binding residues of LADH are replaced by other residues or deleted in the protein of T. thermophilus, indicating that the protein is a reductase. In fact, because the product of the open reading frame from T. thermophilus HB8 has NADPH-dependent p-benzoquinone reduction activity, we have called it quinone oxidoreductase (QORTt) (29).
QORTt has weaker p-benzoquinone reduction activity than
-crystallin and no activity for 1,2-naphthoquinone and phenanthraquinone, good
-crystallin substrates.
-Crystallin is an NADPH-dependent quinone oxidoreductase, a major eye lens protein in such vertebrates as guinea pigs and camels. It is a soluble enzyme and is distinct from membrane-bound quinone oxidoreductase, the large complex in the respiratory chain (36). It is also distinct from the mammalian quinone oxidoreductase called DT-diaphorase, a flavin adenine dinucleotide-containing enzyme that catalyses NAD(P)H-dependent two-electron reduction of quinones (10, 17).
-Crystallin reduces such naturally occurring quinones as 1,2-naphthoquinone and phenanthraquinone but is inactive with menadione, ubiquinone, and vitamins K1 and K2 (25, 26, 28). The physiological function of
-crystallin is speculated to be detoxification or the metabolism of a quinone (5, 11, 27, 32). Genes encoding
-crystallin homologs are widely distributed from bacteria to higher plants and animals, but the only well characterized one is the P1
-crystallin from Arabidopsis thaliana (19, 20). The P1 gene is induced by various oxidative stress treatments in A. thaliana and confers tolerance toward oxidative stress to yeast when it is introduced into the yeast, suggesting that the enzyme is involved in an antioxidative mechanism in plants. The enzyme was shown to reduce not only quinones but also diamides and 2-alkenals which may cause cytotoxic effects. The reason why QORTt and
-crystallin differ in substrate specificity is not known.
An interesting problem in relation to enzyme catalysis is how conformational change of the protein occurs when the cofactor or substrate binds to the targeted protein (30, 35). LADH shows conformational change induced by coenzyme binding (4, 9). When the coenzyme or its analog binds to the cleft between the domains, the catalytic domain rotates 7.5° relative to the coenzyme-binding domain. This results in the closure of the coenzyme-binding cleft, and the active site is shielded from the solution. Increased hydrophobicity of the active site has been suggested to facilitate hydride transfer from alcohol to NAD+ (9). In the reductase subfamily, the crystal structure of the quinone oxidoreductase from E. coli (QOREc) in complex with NADPH was determined at 2.2-Å resolution (6, 7, 18, 31). QOREc, as QORTt, is an NADPH-dependent quinone oxidoreductase that has no metal ion. Our interest is how domain movement and/or any other structural changes occur when NADPH binds to quinone oxidoreductases. No structural information about this enzyme is available, however, because the structure of apo-QOREc is unknown. In addition, QORTt is expected to be thermostable because T. thermophilus HB8 is an extremely thermophilic bacterium.
To shed light on its structure-function relationship we determined the crystal structures of QORTt in the absence and presence of NADPH at resolutions of 2.3 and 2.8 Å, respectively. We report the structural basis for its substrate specificity and discuss the conformational change that occurs in QORTt upon coenzyme binding.
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The SeMet-labeled protein was crystallized under the same conditions as the native protein. Crystals of the native QORTt in complex with NADPH were grown as described previously (29). Because the electron density for the bound NADPH was broad, indicative of low occupancy, the NADPH concentration in the cocrystallization was increased from 14 to 25 mM.
Data collection.
For the cryogenic experiment, the SeMet-labeled QORTt crystal was soaked in Paratone-N (Hampton Research) and the QORTt-NADPH complex crystal was soaked in a solution of 150 mM NaCl, 20 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8.0), 0.4 M ammonium dihydrogen phosphate, 30% glycerol, and 50 mM NADPH. Each crystal was mounted on a cryo-loop and then flash-cooled in a nitrogen gas stream at 100 K. X-ray diffraction data were collected with a Mar charge-coupled device and synchrotron radiation at BL41XU, SPring-8. Multiwavelength anomalous dispersion (MAD) data for the SeMet-labeled crystal were collected for three wavelengths (peak, 0.9791 Å; edge, 0.9793 Å; remote, 0.9000 Å) at the crystal detector distance of 200 mm. Intensity data for the QORTt-NADPH complex crystal within the 180° rotation range were collected at
= 1.000 Å and a camera distance of 180 mm. To measure the wide range of diffraction intensities, two data sets were collected with different oscillation angles and exposure times.
All data were processed with the program package HKL2000 (23). Both the apo-QORTt and the QORTt-NADPH complex crystals belong to the hexagonal space group P6122. The unit cell parameters were a = b = 77.7 Å and c = 236.6 Å for the apo-QORTt crystal and a = b = 77.6 Å and c = 235.6 Å for the QORTt-NADPH complex crystal. Data collection statistics are given in Table 1.
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TABLE 1. Data collection statistics
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The apo-QORTt model was built with the aid of the amino acid sequence and the program O (13). Models of the secondary structure elements were fitted manually to the electron density map and then connected by loops. A segment (residues 218 to 224) whose electron density was not clear was excluded from the model, and residues whose side chains were not clear were replaced by alanine. The structure was revised by adjusting the model and by simulated annealing and individual temperature factor refinements, in which remote data of the SeMet-labeled crystal were used. Finally, 104 water molecules and one sulfate anion were included in the refinement. The R and Rfree values for the apo-QORTt were 22.4 and 24.9%, respectively.
Because the structure of the QORTt-NADPH complex was isomorphous with that of apo-QORTt, rigid body, simulated annealing, and individual temperature factor refinements were applied to the apo-QORTt model by using diffraction data of the QORTt-NADPH complex. Electron densities for several residues in the segment invisible in the apo-QORTt, as well as for the NADPH molecule, were found in the Fo-Fc map, to which the model was fitted. After several cycles of refinement and minor manual revisions, 36 water molecules were added to the model. Residues 222 to 224 were not included, and 26 residues were replaced by alanine because their electron densities were not clear. The R and Rfree values were 21.9 and 25.6%, respectively, for the QORTt-NADPH complex. Refinement statistics are given in Table 2.
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TABLE 2. Refinement statistics
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Protein Data Bank accession codes. The atomic parameters and observed structure factors have been deposited in the RCSB Protein Data Bank (apo-QORTt, 1IZ0; QORTt-NADPH complex, 1IYZ).
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-helices and 10 ß-strands that form three ß-sheets: ßI (ß4, ß5, ß7, ß10, ß11, and ß12), ßII (ß3, pseudo-ß8, and ß9), and ßIII (ß1 and ß2). Domain II has six
-helices and six ß-strands that form one ß-sheet (ßIV). Domain II is composed of two ß
ß
ß units connected by
D. The first ß
ß unit (ßA,
B, and ßB) has the AXXGXXG motif and is involved in NADPH binding.
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FIG. 1. Structure of QORTt. (a) Ribbon diagram with secondary structure assignments of the QORTt monomer. Domain I is shown in red, and domain II is shown in blue. NADPH (green) is between domains I and II. Secondary structure elements of QORTt were assigned with the program PROCHECK (16). (b) Amino acid sequence of QORTt expected from the DNA sequence together with secondary structure assignments. Cylinders indicate -helices, and arrows indicate ß-strands. All the figures in this paper were prepared by the programs O (13), Molray (12), MOLSCRIPT (15), and Raster3D (21).
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-helices and ß-strands in QORTt were so labeled to be consistent with those of the two proteins. Superimposition of C
-traces of the QORTt-NADPH and QOREc-NADPH complexes and of the QORTt-NADPH complex and apo-LADH are shown in Fig. 2. Root mean square deviation between QORTt and QOREc is 1.7 Å for 275 C
atoms, and between QORTt and LADH it is 2.0 Å for 259 C
atoms.
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FIG. 2. Superimposition of C traces of the QORTt-NADPH complex and the QOREc-NADPH complex (Protein Data Bank code 1QOR) (a) and the QORTt-NADPH complex and apo-LADH (Protein Data Bank code 8ADH) (b). QORTt is shown in green, and QOREc and LADH are shown in blue. Segments in QOREc and LADH that are absent in QORTt are highlighted in red. Red spheres in panel b indicate the zinc atoms in LADH. For clarity, coenzymes are not shown.
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-helix. Thermal denaturation of QORTt monitored at 222 nm (Fig. 3) occurred at about 80°C, and therefore, it is indeed a highly thermostable enzyme. A notable structural difference between QORTt and QOREc is that a surface loop in QOREc (residues 69 to 81) is absent in QORTt (Fig. 2 a). That region has strand ß6 and its neighboring loop, corresponding to residues 73 to 85 of LADH; therefore, it may not affect enzyme activity or dimer association. In QOREc and LADH, the surface regions that are absent in QORTt indicate higher B factor values than the remaining regions. Similar deletions are reported in other thermostable proteins (14, 34) and are believed to be a source of thermostability. The other source of QORTt thermostability may be its high proline content (7.95%) (22, 33).
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FIG. 3. Thermal denaturation curve of QORTt monitored at 222 nm. Inset, the CD spectrum of QORTt.
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FIG. 4. Structure of the QORTt dimer. Inset, close-up view of the interface. Residues of ßF strands are shown with ball-and stick models. Dotted lines indicate hydrogen bonds.
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FIG. 5. Fo-Fc map around NADPH (contour level > 2 ). Models of NADPH (green) and the disordered region in apo-QORTt (yellow) are overlaid on the map.
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FIG. 6. Possible hydrogen bonds (less than 3.2 Å) between NADPH and QORTt. Hydrogen bonds are shown by broken lines. The distances (in angstroms) between NADPH and QORTt are as follows: Leu224 to 7N, 2.89; Ile217O to N7N, 2.71; Phe242O to N7N, 2.91; Wat40 to O1PN, 2.80; Phe39N to O2PN, 2.86; Ala137N to O1PA, 2.70; Ser158N to OP1, 2.96; Tyr177O to OP2, 2.87; Arg292N 2 to OP2, 2.53; Ser158O to OP3, 2.66; Lys162N to OP3, 2.87; Glu221O 2 to N6A, 2.68; Glu221O 1 to N7A, 3.06; Arg292N 1 to N7A, 3.17; Arg292N 2 to N7A, 3.06.
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Substrate-binding site. The substrate-binding site is accepted as being close to the C-4 atom in the nicotinamide ring of the NADPH bearing the catalytic hydrogens. Residues Thr113, Leu138, Ile217, and Phe242 in QORTt are close to the B side of the nicotinamide ring, and therefore, the substrate cannot access the nicotinamide ring from the B side. The A side of the nicotinamide ring is accessible from the solvent, indicating that, like LADH, QORTt is an A-side-specific enzyme (3). In the ternary complex of LADH with NAD+ and dimethyl sulfoxide, the substrate analog is located between the A side of the nicotinamide ring and the catalytic domain (9). The corresponding site in QOREc is speculated to be the putative substrate-binding site (31). Unexpectedly, local structures of the putative substrate-binding sites of QORTt and QOREc differ markedly although their overall backbone structures are similar. In QORTt, entrance to this site from the solvent is blocked by residues Leu50, Ala51, and Trp243, whereas in QOREc the substrate-binding site opens more widely toward the solvent (Fig. 7). Accessibility of the substrate-binding site of QORTt is limited, and large substrates cannot reach it unless large conformation change occurs in the protein. This structural feature may explain why QORTt has weak p-benzoquinone reduction activity and is inactive with such large substrates as 5-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone and phenanthraquinone (Y. Shimomura, unpublished data).
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FIG.7. Stereo views around the putative substrate-binding sites of QORTt (a) and QOREc (b). NADPH is shown in green; the C-4 atom that binds active hydrogen atoms is shown in dark green. Leu50, Ala51, and Trp243 in QORTt, which block the substrate-binding site from the solvent, and Ser265 in QOREc, which corresponds to Trp243 in QORTt, are shown in cyan.
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-crystallin, may be involved in catalysis. Interestingly, features of the putative substrate-binding site of QORTt differ markedly from those of QOREc, even though the conserved residues are near the site. This difference appears to be due to the insertion of two residues (Leu50 and Ala51) in the loop of QORTt relative to QOREc, as is evident from the superposition of the two structures. In addition, QOREc has characteristic polar or charged residues Tyr46, Asn240, and Arg263, but in QORTt, they are replaced by the nonpolar residues Leu43, Ala219, and Gly241. These structural differences in the substrate-binding sites of QORTt and QOREc may provide information about the physiological substrate of QORTt, which has yet to be characterized.
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FIG. 8. Characteristic residues around the substrate-binding sites of QORTt (a) and QOREc (b). The residues in magenta are conserved in both QORTt and QOREc. Cyan and yellow indicate characteristic residues in QORTt and QOREc, respectively. NADPH is shown in green; the active C-4 atom is shown in dark green.
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This work was supported in part by a grant-in-aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas (Biological Machinary) to K.F. (no. 11169223) and by the National Project on Protein Structural and Functional Analyses from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan.
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-Crystallin from guinea pig lens is capable of functioning catalytically as an oxidoreductase. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 167:1221-1228.
subunit gene from Thermus thermophilus HB8 and characterization of the protein. J. Biochem. 125:143-150.
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