Nucleic-acid detection via isothermal amplification and collateral cleavage of reporter molecules by CRISPR-associated enzymes is a promising alternative to quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Here, we report the clinical validation of the SHERLOCK (specific high-sensitivity enzymatic reporter unlocking) assay using the enzyme Cas13a from Leptotrichia wadei for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) -the virus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) -in 154 nasopharyngeal and throat swab samples collected at Siriraj Hospital, Thailand. Within a detection limit of 42 RNA copies per

The reaction of flavoenzymes with oxygen remains a fascinating area of research because of its relevance for reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. Several exciting recent studies provide consistent mechanistic clues about the specific functional and structural properties of the oxidase and monooxygenase flavoenzymatic systems. Specifically, the spatial arrangement of the reacting oxygen that is in direct contact with the flavin group is emerging as a crucial factor that differentiates between oxidase and monooxygenase enzymes. A challenge for the future will be to use these emerging concepts to rationally engineer flavoenzymes, paving the way to new research avenues with far-reaching implications for oxidative biocatalysis and metabolic engineering.

Pyranose 2-oxidase (P2Ox) participates in fungal lignin degradation by producing the H 2 O 2 needed for lignin-degrading peroxidases. The enzyme oxidizes cellulose-and hemicellulose-derived aldopyranoses at C2 preferentially, but also on C3, to the corresponding ketoaldoses. To investigate the structural determinants of catalysis, covalent flavinylation, substrate binding, and regioselectivity, wild-type and mutant P2Ox enzymes were produced and characterized biochemically and structurally. Removal of the histidyl-FAD linkage resulted in a catalytically competent enzyme containing tightly, but noncovalently bound FAD. This mutant (H167A) is characterized by a 5-fold lower k cat , and a 35-mV lower redox potential, although no significant structural changes were seen in its crystal structure. In previous structures of P2Ox, the substrate loop (residues 452-457) covering the active site has been either disordered or in a conformation incompatible with carbohydrate binding. We present here the crystal structure of H167A in complex with a slow substrate, 2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose. Pyranose 2-oxidase (P2Ox, 3 pyranose:oxygen 2-oxidoreductase; glucose 2-oxidase; EC 1.1.3.10) is a flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD)-dependent oxidase present in the hyphal periplasmic space (1) of wood-degrading basidiomycetes (2, 3). These fungi are the only known microorganisms that are capable of fully mineralizing lignin, and P2Ox has a proposed role in the oxidative events (4) of lignin degradation by providing the essential co-substrate, H 2 O 2 , for lignin and manganese peroxidases (5, 6). An alternative hypothesis assigns a role for P2Ox in both H 2 O 2 production and in the reduction of quinones in the periplasm or in the extracellular environment (7). P2Ox from the white-rot fungi Trametes multicolor (Trametes ochracea) and Peniophora gigantea are hitherto the most studied biochemically (7-10) and structurally (11, 12).P2Ox oxidizes a broad range of carbohydrate substrates that are natural constituents of hemicelluloses, allowing most lignocellulose-derived sugars to be utilized. Substrates can be oxidized regioselectively at the C2 position, although some oxidation at C3 can occur as a side reaction (10). For C2 oxidation, D-glucose, D-xylose, and L-sorbose are good or reasonably good substrates, and D-galactose and L-arabinose perform poorly as substrates (7). Based on the catalytic efficiency, k cat /K m , D-glucose (D-Glc) is the best substrate for T. multicolor P2Ox (7). Substrates that are oxidized at C3 were analyzed for P. gigantea P2Ox and include 2-deoxy-D-glucose, 2-keto-D-glucose, and methyl ␤-D-glucosides (13, 10). That oxidation can take place either at C2 or at C3 presupposes two distinct, productive binding modes (referred to here as C2 ox and C3 ox ) for a monosaccharide in the P2Ox active site.P2Ox from T. multicolor is homotetrameric with a molecular mass of 270 kDa (7) where each of the four subunits carries one FAD molecule bound covalently to N ⑀2 (i.e. N3) of His 167 via its 8␣-methyl group (14, 11). The...

Hydroxylation of aromatic compounds in bacteria by single component flavoprotein hydroxylases has been studied extensively for 40 years (1-3). Recently, several research groups, including ours, reported that hydroxylation of aromatic compounds can be catalyzed by two-protein or multiprotein monooxygenases. These include p-hydroxyphenylacetate 3-hydroxylase (HPAH) 3 from Pseudomonas putida (4), Escherichia coli (5), andAcinetobacter baumannii (6), phenol hydroxylase (PheA) from both Bacillus stearothermophilus BR219 and Bacillus thermoglucosidasius A7 (7, 8), chlorophenol-4-monooxygenase from Burkholderia cepacia AC1100 (9), 2,4,6-trichlorophenol monooxygenase from Ralstonia eutropha JMP134 (10), pyrrole-2-carboxylate monooxygenase from Rhodococcus sp (11), styrene monooxygenase from Pseudomonas VLB120 (12, 13), and p-nitrophenol hydroxylase from Bacillus sphaericus (14). Most of these enzyme systems consist of reductase and monooxygenase components, where the reductase component provides reduced flavin for the monooxygenase component to use for hydroxylating the aromatic substrate. The number of enzymes known in this class continues to increase and many more hypothetical proteins derived from genome projects have also been identified (15). Hydroxylation of p-hydroxyphenylacetate (HPA) to form 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetate (DHPA) by HPAH is especially interesting because the same reaction is carried out by at least three types of two-component enzymes. The first HPAH purified was from P. putida, and it was shown to have FAD tightly bound to the smaller protein, and the larger protein (at that time) was thought to be a coupling protein enabling hydroxylation (4, 16). A different HPAH system was later isolated from E. coli W, and studies have shown that the smaller component (HpaC) is a flavin reductase that generates reduced FAD to be transferred to the larger component (HpaB) to hydroxylate HPA (5, 17). A detailed analysis of the mechanism of the E. coli-type HPAH is now in progress using the homologue from P. aeruginosa (18). The oxygenase in this system exhibits complex dynamics in catalysis (19).Our group has isolated HPAH from A. baumannii and shown that the enzyme is quite different from the analogous HPAH enzymes from either P. putida or E. coli (6,15,20). The A. baumannii HPAH is a two protein enzyme system consisting of a smaller reductase component (C 1 ) and a larger oxygenase component (C 2 ) (6). Sequence and several catalytic properties indicate that both components are different from others in the two protein class of aromatic hydroxylases (15,20). Our recent investigations of the reaction mechanisms of C 1 have shown that HPA controls the reduction of C 1 -bound FMN by NADH by shifting the enzyme into a more active conformation (20). By contrast, HPA has no effect at all on the activity of the reductase from the E. coli-type HPAH from P. aeruginosa (18). The HPAH from P. putida (above) (16) requires fresh examination based upon our current knowledge. It is possible that this enzyme system operates in ...

Dioxygen (O2) and other gas molecules have a fundamental role in a variety of enzymatic reactions. However, it is only poorly understood which O2 uptake mechanism enzymes employ to promote efficient catalysis and how general this is. We investigated O2 diffusion pathways into monooxygenase and oxidase flavoenzymes, using an integrated computational and experimental approach. Enhanced-statistics molecular dynamics simulations reveal spontaneous protein-guided O2 diffusion from the bulk solvent to preorganized protein cavities. The predicted protein-guided diffusion paths and the importance of key cavity residues for oxygen diffusion were verified by combining site-directed mutagenesis, rapid kinetics experiments, and high-resolution X-ray structures. This study indicates that monooxygenase and oxidase flavoenzymes employ multiple funnel-shaped diffusion pathways to absorb O 2 from the solvent and direct it to the reacting C4a atom of the flavin cofactor. The difference in O 2 reactivity among dehydrogenases, monooxygenases, and oxidases ultimately resides in the fine modulation of the local environment embedding the reactive locus of the flavin.computational biochemistry ͉ enzymology ͉ flavin ͉ oxygen reactivity