The role of Thr268 and Phe393 in cytochrome P450 BM3.

In flavocytochrome P450 BM3 there are several active site residues that are highly conserved throughout the P450 superfamily. Of these, a phenylalanine (Phe393) has been shown to modulate heme reduction potential through interactions with the implicitly conserved heme-ligand cysteine. In addition, a distal threonine (Thr268) has been implicated in a variety of roles including proton donation, oxygen activation and substrate recognition. Substrate binding in P450 BM3 causes a shift in the spin state from low- to high-spin. This change in spin-state is accompanied by a positive shift in the reduction potential (DeltaE(m) [WT+arachidonate (120 microM)]=+138 mV). Substitution of Thr268 by an alanine or asparagine residue causes a significant decrease in the ability of the enzyme to generate the high-spin complex via substrate binding and consequently leads to a decrease in the substrate-induced potential shift (DeltaE(m) [T268A+arachidonate (120 microM)]=+73 mV, DeltaE(m) [T268N+arachidonate (120 microM)]=+9 mV). Rate constants for the first electron transfer and for oxy-ferrous decay were measured by pre-steady-state stopped-flow kinetics and found to be almost entirely dependant on the heme reduction potential. More positive reduction potentials lead to enhanced rate constants for heme reduction and more stable oxy-ferrous species. In addition, substitutions of the threonine lead to an increase in the production of hydrogen peroxide in preference to hydroxylated product. These results suggest an important role for this active site threonine in substrate recognition and in maintaining an efficiently functioning enzyme. However, the dependence of the rate constants for oxy-ferrous decay on reduction potential raises some questions as to the importance of Thr268 in iron-oxo stabilisation.

Interactions between the isolated oxygenase and reductase domains of neuronal nitric-oxide synthase: assessing the role of calmodulin.

Nitric-oxide synthase (NOS) is a fusion protein composed of an oxygenase domain with a heme-active site and a reductase domain with an NADPH binding site and requires Ca(2+)/calmodulin (CaM) for NO formation activity. We studied NO formation activity in reconstituted systems consisting of the isolated oxygenase and reductase domains of neuronal NOS with and without the CaM binding site. Reductase domains with 33-amino acid C-terminal truncations were also examined. These were shown to have faster cytochrome c reduction rates in the absence of CaM. N(G)-hydroxy-l-Arg, an intermediate in the physiological NO synthesis reaction, was found to be a viable substrate. Turnover rates for N(G)-hydroxy-l-Arg in the absence of Ca(2+)/CaM in most of the reconstituted systems were 2.3-3.1 min(-1). Surprisingly, the NO formation activities with CaM binding sites on either reductase or oxygenase domains were decreased dramatically on addition of Ca(2+)/CaM. However, NADPH oxidation and cytochrome c reduction rates were increased by the same procedure. Activation of the reductase domains by CaM addition or by C-terminal deletion failed to increase the rate of NO synthesis. Therefore, both mechanisms appear to be less important than the domain-domain interaction, which is controlled by CaM binding in wild-type neuronal NOS, but not in the reconstituted systems.