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Long chain hydroxy acid oxidase (LCHAO) is a member of an FMN-dependent enzyme family that oxidizes L-2-hydroxy acids to ketoacids. LCHAO is a peroxisomal enzyme, and the identity of its physiological substrate is unclear. Mandelate is the most efficient substrate known and is commonly used in the test tube. LCHAO differs from most family members in that one of the otherwise invariant active site residues is a phenylalanine (Phe23) instead of a tyrosine. We now report the crystal structure of LCHAO. It shows the same beta8alpha8 TIM barrel structure as other structurally characterized family members, e.g., spinach glycolate oxidase (GOX) and the electron transferases yeast flavocytochrome b2 (FCB2) and Pseudomonas putida mandelate dehydrogenase (MDH). Loop 4, which is mobile in other family members, is visible in part. An acetate ion is present in the active site. The flavin interacts with the protein in the same way as in the electron transferases, and not as in GOX, an unexpected observation. An interpretation is proposed to explain this difference between GOX on one hand and FCB2 and LCHAO on the other hand, which had been proposed to arise from the differences between family members in their reactivity with oxygen. A comparison of models of the substrate bound to various published structures suggests that the very different reactivity with mandelate of LCHAO, GOX, FCB2, and MDH cannot be rationalized by a hydride transfer mechanism.

No abstract

Flavocytochrome b(2) catalyzes the oxidation of L-lactate to pyruvate and the transfer of electrons to cytochrome c. The enzyme consists of a flavin-binding domain, which includes the active site for lacate oxidation, and a b(2)-cytochrome domain, required for efficient cytochrome c reduction. To better understand the structure and function of intra- and interprotein electron transfer, we have determined the crystal structure of the independently expressed flavin-binding domain of flavocytochrome b(2) to 2.50 A resolution and compared this with the structure of the intact enzyme, redetermined at 2.30 A resolution, both structures being from crystals cooled to 100 K. Whereas there is little overall difference between these structures, we do observe significant local changes near the interface region, some of which impact on amino acid side chains, such as Arg289, that have been shown previously to have an important role in catalysis. The disordered loop region found in flavocytochrome b(2) and its close homologues remain unresolved in frozen crystals of the flavin-binding domain, implying that the presence of the b(2)-cytochrome domain is not responsible for this positional disorder. The flavin-binding domain interacts poorly with cytochrome c, but we have introduced acidic residues in the interdomain interface region with the aim of enhancing cytochrome c binding. While the mutations L199E and K201E within the flavin-binding domain resulted in unimpaired lactate dehydrogenase activity, they failed to enhance electron-transfer rates with cytochrome c. This is most likely due to the disordered loop region obscuring all or part of the surface having the potential for productive interaction with cytochrome c.

Flavocytochrome b(2) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae couples L-lactate dehydrogenation to cytochrome c reduction. The crystal structure of the native yeast enzyme has been determined [Xia, Z.-X., and Mathews, F. S. (1990) J. Mol. Biol. 212, 837-863] as well as that of the sulfite adduct of the recombinant enzyme produced in Escherichia coli [Tegoni, M., and Cambillau, C. (1994) Protein Sci. 3, 303-313]; several key active site residues were identified. In the sulfite adduct crystal structure, Arg289 adopts two alternative conformations. In one of them, its side chain is stacked against that of Arg376, which interacts with the substrate; in the second orientation, the R289 side chain points toward the active site. This residue has now been mutated to lysine and the mutant enzyme, R289K-b(2), characterized kinetically. Under steady-state conditions, kinetic parameters (including the deuterium kinetic isotope effect) indicate the mutation affects k(cat) by a factor of about 10 and k(cat)/K(M) by up to nearly 10(2). Pre-steady-state kinetic analysis of flavin and heme reduction by lactate demonstrates that the latter is entirely limited by flavin reduction. Inhibition studies on R289K-b(2) with a range of compounds show a general rise in K(i) values relative to that of wild-type enzyme, in line with the elevation of the K(M) for L-lactate in R289K-b(2); they also show a change in the pattern of inhibition by pyruvate and oxalate, as well as a loss of the inhibition by excess substrate. Altogether, the kinetic studies indicate that the mutation has altered the first step of the catalytic cycle, namely, flavin reduction; they suggest that R289 plays a role both in Michaelis complex and transition-state stabilization, as well as in ligand binding to the active site when the flavin is in the semiquinone state. In addition, it appears that the mutation has not affected electron transfer from fully reduced flavin to heme, but may have slowed the second intramolecular ET step, namely, transfer from flavin semiquinone to heme b(2). Finally, the X-ray crystal structure of R289K-b(2), with sulfite bound at the active site, has been determined to 2.75 A resolution. The lysine side chain at position 289 is well-defined and in an orientation that corresponds approximately to one of the alternative conformations observed in the structure of the recombinant enzyme-sulfite complex [Tegoni, M., and Cambillau, C. (1994) Protein Sci. 3, 303-313]. Comparisons between the R289K-b(2) and wild-type structures allow the kinetic results to be interpreted in a structural context.