Structure and characterization of the glycan moiety of L-amino-acid oxidase from the Malayan pit viper Calloselasma rhodostoma.

Ophidian L-amino-acid oxidase (L-amino-acid oxygen:oxidoreductase, deaminating, EC 1.4.3.2) is found in the venom of many poisonous snakes (crotalids, elapids and viperids). This FAD-dependent glycoprotein has been studied from several snake species (e.g. Crotalus adamanteus, Crotalus atrox and Calloselasma rhodostoma) in detail with regard to the biochemical and enzymatic properties. The nature of glycosylation, however, as well as the chemical structure(s) of the attached oligosaccharide(s) are unknown. In view of the putative involvement of the glycan moiety in the biological effects of ophidian L-amino-acid oxidase, notably the apoptotic activity of the enzyme, structural knowledge is needed to evaluate its exact function. In this study we report on the glycosylation of L-amino-acid oxidase from the venom of the Malayan pit viper (Calloselasma rhodostoma). Its glycosylation is remarkably homogeneous with the major oligosaccharide accounting for approximately 90% of the total sugar content. Based on detailed analysis of the isolated oligosaccharide by 2D NMR spectroscopies and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry the glycan is identified as a bis-sialylated, biantennary, core-fucosylated dodecasaccharide. The biological significance of this finding is discussed in light of the biological activities of the enzyme.

Channeling efficiency in the bifunctional methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase/cyclohydrolase domain: the effects of site-directed mutagenesis of NADP binding residues.

The three-dimensional structure of the dehydrogenase-cyclohydrolase bifunctional domain of the human trifunctional enzyme indicates that Arg-173 and Ser-197 are within 3 A of the 2'-phosphate of bound NADP. Site-directed mutagenesis confirms that Arg-173 is essential for efficient binding and cannot be substituted by lysine. R173A and R173K have detectable dehydrogenase activity, but the K(m) values for NADP are increased by at least 500-fold. The S197A mutant has a K(m) for NADP that is only 20-fold higher than wild-type, indicating that it plays a supporting role. Forward and reverse cyclohydrolase activities of all the mutants were unchanged, except that the reverse cyclohydrolase activity of mutants that bind NADP poorly, or lack Ser-197, cannot be stimulated by 2',5'-ADP. The 50% channeling efficiency in the forward direction is not improved by the addition of exogenous NADPH and cannot be explained by premature dissociation of the dinucleotide from the ternary complex. As well, channeling is unaffected in mutants that exhibit a wide range of dinucleotide binding. Given that dinucleotide binding is unrelated to substrate channeling efficiency in the D/C domain, we propose that the difference in forward and reverse channeling efficiencies can be explained solely by the movement of the methenylH(4)folate between two overlapping subsites to which it has different binding affinities.

The structure of L-amino acid oxidase reveals the substrate trajectory into an enantiomerically conserved active site.

The structure of L-amino acid oxidase (LAAO) from Calloselasma rhodostoma has been determined to 2.0 A resolution in the presence of two ligands: citrate and o-aminobenzoate (AB). The protomer consists of three domains: an FAD-binding domain, a substrate-binding domain and a helical domain. The interface between the substrate-binding and helical domains forms a 25 A long funnel, which provides access to the active site. Three AB molecules are visible within the funnel of the LAAO-AB complex; their orientations suggest the trajectory of the substrate to the active site. The innermost AB molecule makes hydrogen bond contacts with the active site residues, Arg90 and Gly464, and the aromatic portion of the ligand is situated in a hydrophobic pocket. These contacts are proposed to mimic those of the natural substrate. Comparison of LAAO with the structure of mammalian D-amino acid oxidase reveals significant differences in their modes of substrate entry. Furthermore, a mirror-symmetrical relationship between the two substrate-binding sites is observed which facilitates enantiomeric selectivity while preserving a common arrangement of the atoms involved in catalysis.

Methenyltetrahydrofolate cyclohydrolase is rate limiting for the enzymatic conversion of 10-formyltetrahydrofolate to 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate in bifunctional dehydrogenase-cyclohydrolase enzymes.

The kinetic properties of three methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase-cyclohydrolase (D/C) enzymes (the NADP-dependent bifunctional domain of the human cytoplasmic trifunctional enzyme, the human mitochondrial NAD-dependent bifunctional enzyme, and the NAD(P)-dependent bifunctional enzyme from Photobacterium phosphoreum) were determined in both forward and reverse directions. In the forward direction, the enzymes possess widely different ratios of kcat C/Kcat D, but all channel methenylH4folate produced by the D activity to the C activity with approximately the same efficiency. A deuterium isotope effect is observed with the human NADP-dependent enzyme in both forward and reverse dehydrogenase assays, consistent with hydride transfer being rate limiting for the interconversion of methenyl- and methyleneH4folate. However, no kinetic isotope effect is observed for the overall reverse reaction (formylH4folate to methyleneH4folate). We devised an assay to measure the reverse cyclohydrolase activity independent of the dehydrogenase, and determined that the Kcat (overall reverse) for each enzyme is approximately equal to the Kcat for its reverse cyclohydrolase activity. Therefore, the rate-limiting step in the overall reverse reaction is not hydride transfer by the dehydrogenase, but the production of methenylH4folate catalyzed by the cyclohydrolase. The reverse cyclohydrolase activities of the NADP-dependent D/C and the P. phosphoreum enzymes, but not the mitochondrial NAD-dependent enzyme, can be stimulated 2-fold by the addition of 2',5'-ADP. The results suggest that the cyclohydrolases of the human NADP dependent and P. phosphoreum enzymes are optimized to catalyze the reverse reaction in the presence of bound coenzyme. These results imply that essentially all of the methenylH4folate produced by the cyclohydrolase in the reverse reaction is channeled to the dehydrogenase.

Methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase-cyclohydrolase from Photobacterium phosphoreum shares properties with a mammalian mitochondrial homologue.

The marine bioluminescent bacterium Photobacterium phosphoreum expresses a bifunctional methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase-cyclohydrolase with dual cofactor specificity. An investigation of the kinetic parameters of the P. phosphoreum enzyme indicate that its utilization of dinucleotide cofactors shares similarities with the human mitochondrial dehydrogenase-cyclohydrolase. Both enzymes exhibit dual cofactor specificity and the NAD(+)-dependent dehydrogenase activities from both enzymes can be activated by inorganic phosphate. Furthermore, an analysis of multiply aligned dehydrogenase-cyclohydrolase sequences from 11 species revealed that bacterial and mitochondrial enzymes are more closely related to each other than to the dehydrogenase-cyclohydrolase domains from eukaryotic trifunctional enzymes, and that the bacterial and mitochondrial enzymes share a common point of divergence. Since the NADP+ cofactor is kinetically favoured by a factor of 18 over NAD+, and is therefore likely to be the preferred in vivo cofactor, we propose that the P. phosphoreum enzyme and the human mitochondrial enzyme evolved from a common ancestral dehydrogenase-cyclohydrolase with dual cofactor specificity, but that cofactor preference in these two enzymes diverged in response to different metabolic requirements.