Copper(II) cation and bathophenanthroline coordination enhance therapeutic effects of naringenin against lung tumor cells.

The development of new anticancer compounds is one of the challenges of bioinorganic and medicinal chemistry. Naringenin and its metal complexes have been recognized as promising inhibitors of cell proliferation, having enormous potential to act as an antioxidant and antitumorigenic agent. Lung cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed type of cancer. Therefore, this study is devoted to investigate the effects of Cu(II), naringenin (Nar), binary Cu(II)-naringenin complex (CuNar), and the Cu(II)-naringenin containing bathophenanthroline as an auxiliary ligand (CuNarBatho) on adenocarcinoma human alveolar basal epithelial cells (A549 cells) that are used as models for the study of drug therapies against lung cancer. The ternary complex shows selectivity being high cytotoxic against malignant cells. The cell death generated by CuNarBatho involves ROS production, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, and depletion of GSH level and GSH/GSSG ratio. The structure-relationship activity was assessed by comparison with the reported Cu(II)-naringenin-phenanthroline complex. The CuNarBatho complex was synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, molar conductivity, mass spectrometry, thermogravimetric measurements and UV-VIS, FT-IR, EPR, Raman and 1H-NMR spectroscopies. In addition, the binding to bovine serum albumin (BSA) was studied at the physiological conditions (pH = 7.4) by fluorescence spectroscopy.

Heterologous production and functional characterization of Bradyrhizobium japonicum copper-containing nitrite reductase and its physiological redox partner cytochrome c550.

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 is pH-dependent, which has been suggested to be produced by structural modifications at high pH of some catalytically relevant residues. To characterize the pH-dependent kinetics of NirK and the relevance of T1 covalency in intraprotein ET, we studied the biochemical, electrochemical, and spectroscopic properties complemented with QM/MM calculations of Bradyrhizobium japonicum NirK (BjNirK) and of its electron donor cytochrome c550 (BjCycA). BjNirK presents absorption spectra determined mainly by a S(Cys)3pπ → Cu2+ ligand-to-metal charge-transfer (LMCT) transition. The enzyme shows low activity likely due to the higher flexibility of a protein loop associated with BjNirK/BjCycA interaction. Nitrite is reduced at high pH in a T1-decoupled way without T1 → T2 ET in which proton delivery for nitrite reduction at T2 is maintained. Our results are analyzed in comparison with previous results found by us in Sinorhizobium meliloti NirK, whose main UV-vis absorption features are determined by S(Cys)3pσ/π → Cu2+ LMCT transitions.

Study of the Cys-His bridge electron transfer pathway in a copper-containing nitrite reductase by site-directed mutagenesis, spectroscopic, and computational methods.

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 (kcat=3.9(4) s-1) lower than that of wt SmNir (kcat=240(50) s-1). QM/MM calculations indicate that the lack of activity of H171D may be ascribed to the Nδ1H…OC hydrogen bond that partially shortcuts the T1-T2 bridging Cys-His covalent pathway. The role of the Nδ1H…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.

Pseudoazurin from Sinorhizobium meliloti as an electron donor to copper-containing nitrite reductase: influence of the redox partner on the reduction potentials of the enzyme copper centers.

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.

Nitrate reduction associated with respiration in Sinorhizobium meliloti 2011 is performed by a membrane-bound molybdoenzyme.

The purification and biochemical characterization of the respiratory membrane-bound nitrate reductase from Sinorhizobium meliloti 2011 (Sm NR) is reported together with the optimal conditions for cell growth and enzyme production. The best biomass yield was obtained under aerobic conditions in a fed-batch system using Luria-Bertani medium with glucose as carbon source. The highest level of Sm NR production was achieved using microaerobic conditions with the medium supplemented with both nitrate and nitrite. Sm NR is a mononuclear Mo-protein belonging to the DMSO reductase family isolated as a heterodimeric enzyme containing two subunits of 118 and 45 kDa. Protein characterization by mass spectrometry showed homology with respiratory nitrate reductases. UV-Vis spectra of as-isolated and dithionite reduced Sm NR showed characteristic absorption bands of iron-sulfur and heme centers. Kinetic studies indicate that Sm NR follows a Michaelis-Menten mechanism (K (m) = 97 ± 11 µM, V = 9.4 ± 0.5 µM min(-1), and k (cat) = 12.1 ± 0.6 s(-1)) and is inhibited by azide, chlorate, and cyanide with mixed inhibition patterns. Physiological and kinetic studies indicate that molybdenum is essential for NR activity and that replacement of this metal for tungsten inhibits the enzyme. Although no narGHI gene cluster has been annotated in the genome of rhizobia, the biochemical characterization indicates that Sm NR is a Mo-containing NR enzyme with molecular organization similar to NarGHI.