Spectroscopic Evidence for Electronic Control of Heme Hydroxylation by IsdG.

Staphylococcus aureus IsdG catalyzes a unique trioxygenation of heme to staphylobilin, and the data presented in this article elucidate the mechanism of the novel chemical transformation. More specifically, the roles of the second-sphere Asn and Trp residues in the monooxygenation of ferric-peroxoheme have been clarified via spectroscopic characterization of the ferric-azidoheme analogue. Analysis of UV/vis absorption data quantified the strength of the hydrogen bond that exists between the Asn7 side chain and the azide moiety of ferric-azidoheme. X-band electron paramagnetic resonance data were acquired and analyzed, which revealed that this hydrogen bond weakens the π-donor strength of the azide, resulting in perturbations of the Fe 3d based orbitals. Finally, nuclear magnetic resonance characterization of 13C-enriched samples demonstrated that the Asn7···N3 hydrogen bond triggers partial porphyrin to iron electron transfer, resulting in spin density delocalization onto the heme meso carbons. These spectroscopic experiments were complemented by combined quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics computational modeling, which strongly suggested that the electronic structure changes observed for the N7A variant arose from loss of the Asn7···N3 hydrogen bond as opposed to a decrease in porphyrin ruffling. From these data a fascinating picture emerges where an Asn7···N3 hydrogen bond is communicated through four bonds, resulting in meso carbons with partial cationic radical character that are poised for hydroxylation. This chemistry is not observed in other heme proteins because Asn7 and Trp67 must work in concert to trigger the requisite electronic structure change.

Hydrogen bond donation to the heme distal ligand of Staphylococcus aureus IsdG tunes the electronic structure.

Staphylococcus aureus IsdG catalyzes the final step of staphylococcal iron acquisition from host hemoglobin, whereby host-derived heme is converted to iron and organic products. The Asn7 distal pocket residue is known to be critical for enzyme activity, but the influence of this residue on the substrate electronic structure was unknown prior to this work. Here, an optical spectroscopic and density functional theory characterization of azide- and cyanide-inhibited wild type and N7A IsdG is presented. Magnetic circular dichroism data demonstrate that Asn7 perturbs the electronic structure of azide-inhibited, but not cyanide-inhibited, IsdG. As the iron-ligating α-atom of azide, but not cyanide, can act as a hydrogen bond acceptor, these data indicate that the terminal amide of Asn7 is a hydrogen bond donor to the α-atom of a distal ligand to heme in IsdG. Circular dichroism characterization of azide- and cyanide-inhibited forms of WT and N7A IsdG strongly suggests that the Asn7···N3 hydrogen bond influences the orientation of a distal azide ligand with respect to the heme substrate. Specifically, density functional theory calculations suggest that Asn7···N3 hydrogen bond donation causes the azide ligand to rotate about an axis perpendicular to the porphyrin plane and weakens the π-donor strength of the azide ligand. This lowers the energies of the Fe 3d xz and 3d yz orbitals, mixes Fe 3d xy and porphyrin a 2u character into the singly-occupied molecular orbital, and results in spin delocalization onto the heme meso carbons. These discoveries have important implications for the mechanism of heme oxygenation catalyzed by IsdG.

Ruffling is essential for Staphylococcus aureus IsdG-catalyzed degradation of heme to staphylobilin.

Non-canonical heme oxygenases are enzymes that degrade heme to non-biliverdin products within bacterial heme iron acquisition pathways. These enzymes all contain a conserved second-sphere Trp residue that is essential for enzymatic turnover. Here, UV/Vis absorption (Abs) and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopies were employed to show that the W67F variant of IsdG perturbs the heme substrate conformation. In general, a dynamic equilibrium between "planar" and "ruffled" substrate conformations exists within non-canonical heme oxygenases, and that the second-sphere Trp favors population of the "ruffled" substrate conformation. 1H nuclear magnetic resonance and magnetic CD spectroscopies were used to characterize the electronic structures of IsdG and IsdI variants with different substrate conformational distributions. These data revealed that the "ruffled" substrate conformation promotes partial porphyrin-to­iron electron transfer, which makes the meso carbons of the porphyrin ring susceptible to radical attack. Finally, UV/Vis Abs spectroscopy was utilized to quantify the enzymatic rates, and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry was used to identify the product distributions, for variants of IsdG with altered substrate conformational distributions. In general, the rate of heme oxygenation by non-canonical heme oxygenases depends upon the population of the "ruffled" substrate conformation. Also, the production of staphylobilin or mycobilin by these enzymes is correlated with the population of the "ruffled" substrate conformation, since variants that favor population of the "planar" substrate conformation yield significant amounts of biliverdin. These data can be understood within the framework of a concerted rearrangement mechanism for the monooxygenation of heme to meso-hydroxyheme by non-canonical heme oxygenases.

Tight binding of heme to Staphylococcus aureus IsdG and IsdI precludes design of a competitive inhibitor.

The micromolar equilibrium constants for heme dissociation from IsdG and IsdI reported in the literature call into question whether these enzymes are actually members of the iron-regulated surface determinant system of Staphylococcus aureus, which harvests heme iron from a host during infection. In order to address this question, the heme dissociation constants for IsdG and IsdI were reevaluated using three approaches. The heme dissociation equilibrium constants were measured using a UV/Vis absorption-detected assay analyzed with an assumption-free model, and using a newly developed fluorescence-detected assay. The heme dissociation rate constants were estimated using apomyoglobin competition assays. Analyses of the UV/Vis absorption data revealed a critical flaw in the previous measurements; heme is 99.9% protein-bound at the micromolar concentrations needed for UV/Vis absorption spectroscopy, which renders accurate equilibrium constant measurement nearly impossible. However, fluorescence can be measured for more dilute samples, and analyses of these data resulted in dissociation equilibrium constants of 1.4 ± 0.6 nM and 12.9 ± 1.3 nM for IsdG and IsdI, respectively. Analyses of the kinetic data obtained from apomyoglobin competition assays estimated heme dissociation rate constants of 0.022 ± 0.002 s-1 for IsdG and 0.092 ± 0.008 s-1 for IsdI. Based upon these data, and what is known regarding the post-translational regulation of IsdG and IsdI, it is proposed that only IsdG is a member of the heme iron acquisition pathway and IsdI regulates heme homeostasis. Furthermore, the nanomolar dissociation constants mean that heme is bound tightly by IsdG and indicates that competitive inhibition of this protein will be difficult. Instead, uncompetitive inhibition based upon a detailed understanding of enzyme mechanism is a more promising antibiotic development strategy.