Shewanella oneidensis contains four genes that encode proteins that have high sequence identity with yeast OYE (Old Yellow Enzyme, an NADPH oxidoreductase), the well-studied archetype of the OYE protein family. The present paper describes the first comparative study of OYEs that are present in a single bacterial species, performed to gain insight into their biochemical properties and physiological importance. The four proteins [named SYE1-SYE4 (Shewanella Yellow Enzyme 1-4)] were expressed as glutathione S-transferase fusion proteins in Escherichia coli. The yield of SYE2, however, was too low for further characterization, even after expression attempts in S. oneidensis. The SYE1, SYE3 and SYE4 proteins were found to have characteristics similar to those of other OYE family members. They were identified as flavoproteins that catalyse the reduction of different alpha,beta-unsaturated carbonyl compounds and form charge transfer complexes with a range of phenolic compounds. Whereas the properties of SYE1 and SYE3 were very similar, those of SYE4 were clearly different in terms of ligand binding, catalytic efficiency and substrate specificity. Also, the activity of SYE4 was found to be NADPH-dependent, whereas SYE1 and SYE3 had a preference for NADH. It has been suggested that yeast OYE protects the actin cytoskeleton from oxidative stress. There are indications that bacterial OYEs are also involved in the oxidative stress response, but their exact role is unclear. Induction studies in S. oneidensis revealed that yeast and bacterial OYEs may share a common physiological role, i.e. the protection of cellular components against oxidative damage. As only SYE4 was induced under oxidative stress conditions, however, a functional divergence between bacterial OYEs is likely to exist.

We have recently reported that Shewanella oneidensis, a Gram-negative ␥-proteobacterium with a rich arsenal of redox proteins, possesses four old yellow enzyme (OYE) homologues. Here, we report a series of high resolution crystal structures for one of these OYEs, Shewanella yellow enzyme 1 (SYE1), in its oxidized form at 1.4 Å resolution, which binds a molecule of PEG 400 in the active site, and in its NADH-reduced and p-hydroxybenzaldehyde-and p-hydroxyacetophenone-bound forms at 1.7 Å resolution. Although the overall structure of SYE1 reveals a monomeric enzyme based on the ␣ 8 ␤ 8 barrel scaffold observed for other OYEs, the active site exhibits a unique combination of features: a strongly butterfly-bent FMN cofactor both in the oxidized and NADH-reduced forms, a collapsed and narrow active site tunnel, and a novel combination of conserved residues involved in the binding of phenolic ligands. Furthermore, we identify a second p-hydroxybenzaldehyde-binding site in a hydrophobic cleft next to the entry of the active site tunnel in the capping subdomain, formed by a restructuring of Loop 3 to an "open" conformation. This constitutes the first evidence to date for the entire family of OYEs that Loop 3 may indeed play a dynamic role in ligand binding and thus provides insights into the elusive NADH complex and into substrate binding in general. Structure-based sequence alignments indicate that the novelties we observe in SYE1 are supported by conserved residues in a number of structurally uncharacterized OYEs from the ␤-and ␥-proteobacteria, suggesting that SYE1 represents a new subfamily of bacterial OYEs.

Shewanella oneidensis is an environmentally versatile Gram-negative -proteobacterium that is endowed with an unusually large proteome of redox proteins. Of the four old yellow enzyme (OYE) homologues found in S. oneidensis, SYE4 is the homologue most implicated in resistance to oxidative stress. SYE4 was recombinantly expressed in Escherichia coli, purified and crystallized using the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method. The crystals belonged to the orthorhombic space group P2 1 2 1 2 1 and were moderately pseudo-merohedrally twinned, emulating a P422 metric symmetry. The native crystals of SYE4 were of exceptional diffraction quality and provided complete data to 1.10 Å resolution using synchrotron radiation, while crystals of the reduced enzyme and of the enzyme in complex with a wide range of ligands typically led to highquality complete data sets to 1.30-1.60 Å resolution, thus providing a rare opportunity to dissect the structure-function relationships of a good-sized enzyme (40 kDa) at true atomic resolution. Here, the attainment of a number of experimental milestones in the crystallographic studies of SYE4 and its complexes are reported, including isolation of the elusive hydride-Meisenheimer complex.

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