Pseudoazurin (Paz) is the physiological electron donor to copper-containing nitrite reductase (Nir), which catalyzes the reduction of NO2 (-) to NO. The Nir reaction mechanism involves the reduction of the type 1 (T1) copper electron transfer center by the external physiological electron donor, intramolecular electron transfer from the T1 copper center to the T2 copper center, and nitrite reduction at the type 2 (T2) copper catalytic center. We report the cloning, expression, and characterization of Paz from Sinorhizobium meliloti 2011 (SmPaz), the ability of SmPaz to act as an electron donor partner of S. meliloti 2011 Nir (SmNir), and the redox properties of the metal centers involved in the electron transfer chain. Gel filtration chromatography and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis together with UV-vis and EPR spectroscopies revealed that as-purified SmPaz is a mononuclear copper-containing protein that has a T1 copper site in a highly distorted tetrahedral geometry. The SmPaz/SmNir interaction investigated electrochemically showed that SmPaz serves as an efficient electron donor to SmNir. The formal reduction potentials of the T1 copper center in SmPaz and the T1 and T2 copper centers in SmNir, evaluated by cyclic voltammetry and by UV-vis- and EPR-mediated potentiometric titrations, are against an efficient Paz T1 center to Nir T1 center to Nir T2 center electron transfer. EPR experiments proved that as a result of the SmPaz/SmNir interaction in the presence of nitrite, the order of the reduction potentials of SmNir reversed, in line with T1 center to T2 center electron transfer being thermodynamically more favorable.

Two domain copper-nitrite reductases (NirK) contain two types of copper centers, one electron transfer (ET) center of type 1 (T1) and a catalytic site of type 2 (T2). NirK activity...

The Cys-His bridge as electron transfer conduit in the enzymatic catalysis of nitrite to nitric oxide by nitrite reductase from Sinorhizobium meliloti 2011 (SmNir) was evaluated by site-directed mutagenesis, steady state kinetic studies, UV-vis and EPR spectroscopic measurements as well as computational calculations. The kinetic, structural and spectroscopic properties of the His171Asp (H171D) and Cys172Asp (C172D) SmNir variants were compared with the wild type enzyme. Molecular properties of H171D and C172D indicate that these point mutations have not visible effects on the quaternary structure of SmNir. Both variants are catalytically incompetent using the physiological electron donor pseudoazurin, though C172D presents catalytic activity with the artificial electron donor methyl viologen (k=3.9(4) s) lower than that of wt SmNir (k=240(50) s). QM/MM calculations indicate that the lack of activity of H171D may be ascribed to the NH…OC hydrogen bond that partially shortcuts the T1-T2 bridging Cys-His covalent pathway. The role of the NH…OC hydrogen bond in the pH-dependent catalytic activity of wt SmNir is also analyzed by monitoring the T1 and T2 oxidation states at the end of the catalytic reaction of wt SmNir at pH6 and 10 by UV-vis and EPR spectroscopies. These data provide insight into how changes in Cys-His bridge interrupts the electron transfer between T1 and T2 and how the pH-dependent catalytic activity of the enzyme are related to pH-dependent structural modifications of the T1-T2 bridging chemical pathway.