Hydrogen is an attractive fuel with potential for production scalability, provided that inexpensive, efficient molecular catalysts utilizing base metals can be developed for hydrogen production. Here we show for the first time that cobalt myoglobin (CoMyo) catalyzes hydrogen production in mild aerobic conditions with turnover number of 520 over 8 hours. Compared to free Co-protoporphyrin IX, incorporation into the myoglobin scaffold results in a 4-fold increase in photoinduced hydrogen production activity. Engineered variants in which specific histidine resides in proximity of the active site were mutated to alanine result in modulation of the catalytic activity, with the H64A/H97A mutant displaying activity 2.5-fold higher than wild type. Our results demonstrate that protein scaffolds can augment and modulate the intrinsic catalytic activity of molecular hydrogen production catalysts.

[Fe-S] clusters, nature's modular electron transfer units, are often arranged in chains that support long-range electron transfer. Despite considerable interest, the design of biomimetic artificial systems emulating multicluster-binding proteins, with the final goal of integrating them in man-made oxidoreductases, remains elusive. Here, we report a novel bis-[4Fe-4S] cluster binding protein, DSD-Fdm, in which the two clusters are positioned within a distance of 12 Å, compatible with the electronic coupling necessary for efficient electron transfer. The design exploits the structural repeat of coiled coils as well as the symmetry of the starting scaffold, a homodimeric helical protein (DSD). In total, eight hydrophobic residues in the core of DSD were replaced by eight cysteine residues that serve as ligands to the [4Fe-4S] clusters. Incorporation of two [4Fe-4S] clusters proceeds with high yield. The two [4Fe-4S] clusters are located in the hydrophobic core of the helical bundle as characterized by various biophysical techniques. The secondary structure of the apo and holo proteins is conserved; further, the incorporation of clusters results in stabilization of the protein with respect to chemical denaturation. Most importantly, this de novo designed protein can mimic the function of natural ferredoxins: we show here that reduced DSD-Fdm transfers electrons to cytochrome c, thus generating the reduced cyt c stoichiometrically.

Bioinspired, protein-based molecular catalysts utilizing base metals at the active are emerging as a promising avenue to sustainable hydrogen production. The protein matrix modulates the intrinsic reactivity of organometallic active sites by tuning second-sphere and long-range interactions. Here, we show that swapping Co-Protoporphyrin IX for Fe-Protoporphyrin IX in cytochrome b562 results in an efficient catalyst for photoinduced proton reduction to molecular hydrogen. Further, the activity of wild type Co-cyt b562 can be modulated by a factor of 2.5 by exchanging the coordinating methionine with alanine or aspartic acid. The observed turnover numbers (TON) range between 125 and 305, and correlate well with the redox potential of the Co-cyt b562 mutants. The photosensitized system catalyzes proton reduction with high efficiency even under an aerobic atmosphere, implicating its use for biotechnological applications. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Biodesign for Bioenergetics--the design and engineering of electronic transfer cofactors, proteins and protein networks, edited by Ronald L. Koder and J.L. Ross Anderson.

Incorporation of biotinylated aminopyridine cobalt complexes derived from the triazacyclononane scaffold into the streptavidin protein leads to formation of artificial metalloenzymes for water reduction to hydrogen. The synthesized artificial metalloenzymes have lower overpotential (at the half-peak up to 100 mV) and higher photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity (up to 14and 10-fold increase in TOF and TON, respectively, at pH 12.5) than the free biotinylated cobalt complexes. 1 H-NMR, EPR and XAS highlight the presence of the metal complexes upon supramolecular attachment to the streptavidin. pHdependent catalytic studies and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations suggest that the increase in the catalytic activity could be induced by the protein residues positioned close to the metal centers. These findings illustrate the ability of the biotin−streptavidin technology to produce artificial metalloproteins for photo-and electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction.

Molecular string of beads: modular extension of a protein backbone builds a chain of electroactive clusters.

Over the last 25 years, de novo design has proven to be a valid approach to generate novel, well-folded proteins, and most recently, functional proteins. In response to societal needs, this approach is been used increasingly to design functional proteins developed with an eye toward sustainable fuel production. This review surveys recent examples of bioinspired de novo designed peptide based catalysts, focusing in particular on artificial hydrogenases.

Copper amine oxidases (CAOs) are a large family of proteins that use molecular oxygen to oxidize amines to aldehydes with the concomitant production of hydrogen peroxide and ammonia. CAOs utilize two cofactors for this reaction: topaquinone (TPQ) and a Cu(II) ion. Two mechanisms for oxygen reduction have been proposed for these enzymes. In one mechanism (involving inner-sphere electron transfer to O(2)), Cu(II) is reduced by TPQ, forming Cu(I), to which O(2) binds, forming a copper-superoxide complex. In an alternative mechanism (involving outer-sphere electron transfer to O(2)), O(2) is directly reduced by TPQ, without reduction of Cu(II). Substitution of Cu(II) with Co(II) has been used to distinguish between the two mechanisms in several CAOs. Because it is unlikely that Co(II) could be reduced to Co(I) in this environment, an inner-sphere mechanism, as described above, is prevented. We adapted metal replacement methods used for other CAOs to the amine oxidase from pea seedlings (PSAO). Cobalt-substituted PSAO (CoPSAO) displayed nominal catalytic activity: k(cat) is 4.7% of the native k(cat), and K(M) (O(2)) for CoPSAO is substantially (22-fold) higher. The greatly reduced turnover number for CoPSAO suggests that PSAO uses the inner-sphere mechanism, as has been predicted from (18)O isotope effect studies (Mukherjee et al. in J Am Chem Soc 130:9459-9473, 2008), and is catalytically compromised when constrained to operate via outer-sphere electron transfer to O(2). This study, together with previous work, provides strong evidence that CAOs use both proposed mechanisms, but each homolog may prefer one mechanism over the other.

The current trend in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations is causing increasing concerns for its environmental impacts, and spurring the developments of sustainable methods to reduce CO2 to usable molecules. We report the light-driven CO2 reduction in water in mild conditions by artificial protein catalysts based on cytochrome b562 and incorporating cobalt protoporphyrin IX as cofactor. Incorporation into the protein scaffolds enhances the intrinsic reactivity of the cobalt porphyrin toward proton reduction and CO generation. Mutations around the binding site modulate the activity of the enzyme, pointing to the possibility of further improving catalytic activity through rational design or directed evolution.