The amidohydrolase superfamily has remarkable functional diversity, with considerable structural and functional annotation of known sequences. In microbes, the recent evolution of several members of this family to catalyze the breakdown of environmental xenobiotics is not well understood. An evolutionary transition from binuclear to mononuclear metal ion coordination at the active sites of these enzymes could produce large functional changes such as those observed in nature, but there are few clear examples available to support this hypothesis. To investigate the role of binuclear-mononuclear active-site transitions in the evolution of new function in this superfamily, we have characterized two recently evolved enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of the synthetic herbicides molinate (MolA) and phenylurea (PuhB). In this work, the crystal structures, mutagenesis, metal ion analysis, and enzyme kinetics of both MolA and PuhB establish that these enzymes utilize a mononuclear active site. However, bioinformatics and structural comparisons reveal that the closest putative ancestor of these enzymes had a binuclear active site, indicating that a binuclear-mononuclear transition has occurred. These proteins may represent examples of evolution modifying the characteristics of existing catalysts to satisfy new requirements, specifically, metal ion rearrangement leading to large leaps in activity that would not otherwise be possible.T he amidohydrolase superfamily (AHS) has been extensively studied, with Ͼ36,000 attributed sequences since its first classification in 1998, most of which are from bacteria (1, 2). All AHS members have a (␤/␣) 8 -barrel structural fold and catalyze metaldependent hydrolysis reactions (3). The scissile bond cleaved varies between AHS enzymes, with C-O, P-O, P-S, C-N, C-S, and C-Cl bonds all having been reported to be hydrolyzed (4-8). In accordance with the metal-dependent mechanism, a mononuclear or binuclear metal binding site is observed in all AHS enzymes (9, 10). The role of the metal ion(s) in catalysis varies, depending on the substrate being hydrolyzed and the enzyme involved (10, 11). Generally, one or two metals are enlisted to lower the pK a of a catalytic water molecule, favoring the formation of a nucleophilic hydroxide (12). A second metal may polarize the substrate directly, often at a carbonyl or phosphoryl bond, or stabilize a negative charge in the transition state (13,14).Enzymes within the AHS can be separated into subtypes on the basis of the specific metal binding ligands at the conserved mononuclear or binuclear metal binding sites. Since the comprehensive review published by Seibert and Raushel in 2005 (9), in which seven subtypes were defined, two additional subtypes have been identified (Table 1) (6,15). A typical binuclear metal binding site (subtypes I, II, and VI) is characterized by a bridging ligand (generally a glutamate or carboxylated lysine residue) that coordinates both (M ␣ and M ␤ ) metal ions (16-18). Mononuclear metal binding ligands are more variable, ...

Oligomerization has been suggested to be an important mechanism for increasing or maintaining the thermostability of proteins. Although it is evident that protein-protein contacts can result in substantial stabilization in many extant proteins, evidence for evolutionary selection for oligomerization is largely indirect and little is understood of the early steps in the evolution of oligomers. A laboratory-directed evolution experiment that selected for increased thermostability in the αE7 carboxylesterase from the Australian sheep blowfly, Lucilia cuprina, resulted in a thermostable variant, LcαE7-4a, that displayed increased levels of dimeric and tetrameric quaternary structure. A trade-off between activity and thermostability was made during the evolution of thermostability, with the higher-order oligomeric species displaying the greatest thermostability and lowest catalytic activity. Analysis of monomeric and dimeric LcαE7-4a crystal structures revealed that only one of the oligomerization-inducing mutations was located at a potential protein-protein interface. This work demonstrates that by imposing a selective pressure demanding greater thermostability, mutations can lead to increased oligomerization and stabilization, providing support for the hypothesis that oligomerization is a viable evolutionary strategy for protein stabilization.

Previous electrophysiological and behavioural studies implicate esterase 6 in the processing of the pheromone cis-vaccenyl acetate and various food odorants that affect aggregation and reproductive behaviours. Here we show esterase 6 has relatively high activity against many of the short-mid chain food esters, but negligible activity against cis-vaccenyl acetate. The crystal structure of esterase 6 confirms its substrate-binding site can accommodate many short-mid chain food esters but not cis-vaccenyl acetate. Immunohistochemical assays show esterase 6 is expressed in non-neuronal cells in the third antennal segment that could be accessory or epidermal cells surrounding numerous olfactory sensilla, including basiconics involved in food odorant detection. Esterase 6 is also produced in trichoid sensilla, but not in the same cell types as the cis-vaccenyl acetate binding protein LUSH. Our data support a model in which esterase 6 acts as a direct odorant degrading enzyme for many bioactive food esters, but not cis-vaccenyl acetate.

Carboxylesterase (CBE)-mediated metabolic resistance to organophosphate and carbamate insecticides is a major problem for the control of insect disease vectors, such as the mosquito. The most common mechanism involves overexpression of CBEs that bind to the insecticide with high affinity, thereby sequestering them before they can interact with their target. However, the absence of any structure for an insecticide-sequestering CBE limits our understanding of the molecular basis for this process. We present the first structure of a CBE involved in sequestration, Cqestβ2, from the mosquito disease vector Culex quinquefasciatus. Lysine methylation was used to obtain the crystal structure of Cqestβ2, which adopts a canonical α/β-hydrolase fold that has high similarity to the target of organophosphate and carbamate insecticides, acetylcholinesterase. Sequence similarity networks of the insect carboxyl/cholinesterase family demonstrate that CBEs associated with metabolic insecticide resistance across many species share a level of similarity that distinguishes them from a variety of other classes. This is further emphasized by the structural similarities and differences in the binding pocket and active site residues of Cqestβ2 and other insect carboxyl/cholinesterases. Stopped-flow and steady-state inhibition studies support a major role for Cqestβ2 in organophosphate resistance and a minor role in carbamate resistance. Comparison with another isoform associated with insecticide resistance, Cqestβ1, showed both enzymes have similar affinity to insecticides, despite 16 amino acid differences between the two proteins. This provides a molecular understanding of pesticide sequestration by insect CBEs and could facilitate the design of CBE-specific inhibitors to circumvent this resistance mechanism in the future.

The evolution of new enzymatic activity is rarely observed outside of the laboratory. In the agricultural pest Lucilia cuprina, a naturally occurring mutation (Gly137Asp) in α-esterase 7 (LcαE7) results in acquisition of organophosphate hydrolase activity and confers resistance to organophosphate insecticides. Here, we present an X-ray crystal structure of LcαE7:Gly137Asp that, along with kinetic data, suggests that Asp137 acts as a general base in the new catalytic mechanism. Unexpectedly, the conformation of Asp137 observed in the crystal structure obstructs the active site and is not catalytically productive. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal that alternative, catalytically competent conformers of Asp137 are sampled on the nanosecond time scale, although these states are less populated. Thus, although the mutation introduces the new reactive group responsible for organophosphate detoxification, the catalytic efficiency appears to be limited by conformational disorganization: the frequent sampling of low-energy nonproductive states. This result is consistent with a model of molecular evolution in which initial function-changing mutations can result in enzymes that display only a fraction of their catalytic potential due to conformational disorganization.