New approach to the construction of an artificial hemoprotein complex

Proteins as diverse, efficient, and evolvable scaffolds for artificial metalloenzymes

We have extracted and categorized the desirable properties of proteins that are adapted as the scaffolds for artificial metalloenzymes.

Myoglobin-based non-precious metal carbon catalysts for an oxygen reduction reaction

A non-precious metal catalyst (NPMC) promoting a four-electron oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) was synthesized by heat treatment of myoglobin (Mb) containing a heme (iron protoporphyrin IX) as a source of iron, nitrogen, and carbon atoms. Samples of the mixture of Mb and carbon black (Vulcan XC72R: VC) were pyrolyzed at 740, 840, 940, 1040 or 1140°C under N 2 flow. The microstructures of the carbonized Mb catalysts were characterized by XRD, Raman spectroscopy, XPS, and TEM. Results indicate that the iron-containing active site is embedded within the surface structure in an amorphous domain of the carbon materials. The catalyst ink in a 0.05 wt% Nafion solution in isopropanol was coated onto a glassy carbon electrode and the ORR activity of Mb-based NPMCs was evaluated in a rotating disk electrode experiment in an O 2-saturated 0.1 M HClO 4 solution at 25°C. The catalyst synthesized at 940°C has the highest ORR activity in terms of the onset potential and the current density. In contrast, pyrolytic temperatures above 940°C decrease the activity, suggesting that the active structure of the catalyst apparently decomposes at higher temperatures. The Koutecky–Levich plots indicate that the Mb-based catalyst prepared at 940°C catalyzes four-electron ORR (n = ca. 4). The catalysts prepared at other temperatures have n values of 3.6 at 740°C, 3.7 at 840°C, and 2.9 at 1040°C. The ORR of Mb/VC is diffusion-controlled at potentials lower than 0.3 V (vs. RHE) and the onset potential is 0.84 ± 0.01 V.

Covalent Anchor Positions Play an Important Role in Tuning Catalytic Properties of a Rationally Designed MnSalen-containing Metalloenzyme

Two questions important to the success in metalloenzyme design are how to attach or anchor metal cofactors inside protein scaffolds, and in what way such positioning affects enzymatic properties. We have previously reported a dual anchoring method to position a nonnative cofactor, MnSalen (1), inside the heme cavity of apo sperm whale myoglobin (Mb) and showed that the dual anchoring can increase both the activity and enantioselectivity over the single anchoring methods, making this artificial enzyme an ideal system to address the above questions. Here we report systematic investigations of the effect of different covalent attachment or anchoring positions on reactivity and selectivity of sulfoxidation by the MnSalen-containing Mb enzymes. We have found that changing the left anchor from Y103C to T39C has an almost identical effect of increasing rate by 1.8-fold and increasing selectivity by +14% for S, whether the right anchor is L72C or S108C. At the same time, regardless of the identity of the left anchor, changing the right anchor from S108C to L72C increases rate by 4-fold and selectivity by +66%. The right anchor site was observed to have a greater influence than the left anchor site on the reactivity and selectivity in sulfoxidation of a wide scope of other ortho-, meta- and para- substituted substrates. The 1•Mb(T39C/L72C) showed the highest reactivity (TON up to 2.31 min(-1)) and selectivity (ee% up to 83%) among the different anchoring positions examined. Molecular dynamic simulations indicate that these changes in reactivity and selectivity may be due to the steric effects of the linker arms inside the protein cavity. These results indicate that small differences in the anchor positions can result in significant changes in reactivity and enantioselectivity, probably through steric interactions with substrates when they enter the substrate-binding pocket, and that the effects of right and left anchor positions are independent and additive in nature. The finding that the anchoring arms can influence both the positioning of the cofactor and steric control of substrate entrance will help design better functional metalloenzymes with predicted catalytic activity and selectivity.

Dynamics of heme in hemoproteins: proton NMR study of myoglobin reconstituted with iron 3-ethyl-2-methylporphyrin

The asymmetric 3-ethyl-2-methylporphyrin iron complex was synthetized and inserted into apomyoglobin. UV-visible spectroscopic studies demonstrated the capacity of iron to coordinate different exogenous axial ligands in ferrous and ferric forms. The position of synthetic heme into the hydrophobic pocket of the reconstituted myoglobin was investigated by ((1))H NMR spectroscopy. In absence of exogenous ligand, signals of the synthetic prosthetic group were not detected, suggesting a rotational disorder of the synthetic porphyrin into the heme pocket. This direct interconversion behavior is favored since site-specific interactions between the poorly substituted heme and protein in the chiral hydrophobic cavity were weak. Complexion of cyanide to the iron allowed to quench partially the heme reorientation and two interconvertible forms, around the meso-Cα-Cγ axis, were detected in solution.

Metal ion-dependent fluorescent dynamics of photoexcited zinc-porphyrin and zinc-myoglobin modified with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid

The reconstituted zinc-myoglobin (ZnMb) dyads, ZnMb-[M(II)(edta)], have been prepared by incorporating a zinc-porphyrin (ZnP) cofactor modified with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (H(4)edta) into apo-Mb. In case of the monomeric ZnP(edta) cofactor coordinated by one pyridine molecule, ZnP(py)(edta), a spontaneous 1:1 complex with a transient metal ion was formed in an aqueous solvent, and the photoexcited singlet state of ZnP, (1)(ZnP)*, was quenched by the [Cu(II)(edta)] moiety through intramolecular photoinduced electron-transfer (ET) reaction. The rate constant for the intramolecular quenching ET (k(q)) at 25 degrees C was successfully obtained as k(q) = 5.1 x 10(9) s(-1). In the case of Co(2+), Ni(2+), and Mn(2+), intersystem crossing by paramagnetic effect was mainly considered between (1)(ZnP)* and the [M(II)(edta)] complex. For the ZnMb-[M(II)(edta)] systems, the intramolecular ET reaction between the excited singlet state of (1)(ZnMb)* and the [Cu(II)(edta)] moieties provided the slower quenching rate constant, k(q) = 2.1 x 10(8) s(-1), compared with that of the ZnP(py)(edta) one. Kinetic studies also presented the efficient fluorescence quenching of the (1)(ZnMb)*-[Co(II)(edta)] dyad. Our study clearly demonstrates that wrapping of the ZnP cofactor by the apoprotein matrix and synthetic manipulation at the Mb surface ensure metal ion-sensitive fluorescent dynamics of ZnMb and provides valuable information to elucidate the complicated mechanism of the biological photoinduced ET reactions of hemoproteins.

Thermostability, solvent tolerance, catalytic activity and conformation of cofactor modified horseradish peroxidase

Artificial prosthetic groups, HeminD1 and HeminD2, were designed and synthesized, which contain one benzene ring and one carboxylic group or two carboxylic groups at the terminal of each propionate side chain of hemin, respectively. HeminD1 and HeminD2 were reconstituted with apo-HRP successfully to produce the two novel HRPs, rHRP1 and rHRP2, respectively. The thermal and solvent tolerances of native and reconstituted HRPs were compared. The cofactor modification increased the thermostability both in aqueous buffer and some organic solvents, and also enhanced the tolerance of some organic solvents. To determine the conformation stability, the unfolding of native and reconstituted HRPs by heat was investigated. Tm was increased from 70.0 degrees C of nHRP to 75.4 degrees C of rHRP1 and 76.5 degrees C of rHRP2 after cofactor modification. Kinetic studies indicated that the cofactor modification increased the substrate affinity and catalytic efficiency both in aqueous buffer and some organic solvents. The catalytic efficiency for phenol oxidation was increased by approximately 55% for rHRP1 in aqueous buffer, and it was also increased by approximately 70% for rHRP1 in 10% ACN. Spectroscopic studies proved that the cofactor modification changed the microenvironment of both heme and tryptophan, increased alpha-helix content, and increased the tertiary structure around the aromatic residue in HRP. The improvements of catalytic properties are related to these changes of the conformation. The introduction of the hydrophobic domain as well as the retention of the moderate carboxylic group in active site is an efficient method to improve the thermodynamic and catalytic efficiency of HRP.

Biosynthetic Inorganic Chemistry

Inorganic chemistry and biology can benefit greatly from each other. Although synthetic and physical inorganic chemistry have been greatly successful in clarifying the role of metal ions in biological systems, the time may now be right to utilize biological systems to advance coordination chemistry. One such example is the use of small, stable, easy-to-make, and well-characterized proteins as ligands to synthesize novel inorganic compounds. This biosynthetic inorganic chemistry is possible thanks to a number of developments in biology. This review summarizes the progress in the synthesis of close models of complex metalloproteins, followed by a description of recent advances in using the approach for making novel compounds that are unprecedented in either inorganic chemistry or biology. The focus is mainly on synthetic "tricks" learned from biology, as well as novel structures and insights obtained. The advantages and disadvantages of this biosynthetic approach are discussed.

Contribution of heme-propionate side chains to structure and function of myoglobin: chemical approach by artificially created prosthetic groups

Horse heart myoglobin was reconstituted with mesohemin derivatives methylated at the 6- or 7-position to evaluate the role of the heme-6-propionate or heme-7-propionate side chain in the protein. The association and dissociation of the O(2) binding for the deoxymyoglobin with 6-methyl-7-propionate mesoheme are clearly accelerated. Furthermore, the myoglobin with 6-methyl-7-propionate mesoheme shows fast autoxidation from oxymyoglobin to metmyoglobin compared to the myoglobin with 6-propionate-7-methyl heme and the reference protein. These results indicate the 6-propionate plays an important physiological role in the stabilization of oxymyoglobin because of the formation of a salt-bridge with the Lys45. The acceleration of CO binding rate is observed for the myoglobin with 6-propionate-7-methyl mesoheme, suggesting that the replacement of the 7-propionate with a methyl group has an influence on the His93-heme iron coordination. The structural perturbation of His93 imidazole was also supported by 1H NMR spectra of cyanide and deoxy forms of the myoglobin with 6-propionate-7-methyl mesoheme. Thus, it is found that the 7-propionate regulates the hydrogen-bonding network and His93-heme iron coordination in the proximal site.

Design of an artificial light-harvesting unit by protein engineering: cytochrome b(562)-green fluorescent Protein chimera

We have generated a novel model protein for an artificial light-harvesting complex composed of two proteins, cytochrome b(562) (cytb(562)) and enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP), in which two chromophores are fixed in each protein matrix. Cytb(562) was appended to the N-terminus of EGFP via a Gly-Ser linker and the resultant fusion protein was successfully expressed in Escherichia coli as a mixture of the apo- and the holo-forms as to the cytb(562) moiety. The fluorescence of EGFP was substantially quenched when the apo-form was reconstituted with hemin. Based on the fluorescence lifetime measurements, it appeared that light energy entrapped by EGFP is transferred to the heme of cytb(562) by resonance energy transfer (energy transfer yield: 65%). Spatial organization of two chromophores using small and stable protein matrices will be promising toward the construction of an artificial light-harvesting complex by protein engineering.

Introduction of a specific binding domain on myoglobin surface by new chemical modification

A new myoglobin, reconstituted with a modified zinc protoporphyrin, having a total of four ammonium groups at the terminal of the two propionate side chains was constructed to introduce a substrate binding site. The protein with a positively charged patch on the surface formed a stable complex with negatively charged substrates, such as hexacyanoferrate(III) and anthraquinonesulfonate via an electrostatic interaction. The complexation was monitored by fluorescence quenching due to singlet electron transfer from the photoexcited reconstituted zinc myoglobin to the substrates. The binding properties were evaluated by Stern-Volmer plots from the fluorescence quenching of the zinc myoglobin by a quencher. Particularly, anthraquinone-2,7-disulfonic acid showed a high affinity with a binding constant of 1.5 x 10(5) M(-1) in 10 mM phosphate buffer, pH 7.0. In contrast, the plots upon the addition of anthraquinone-2-sulfonic acid at different ionic strengths indicated that the complex was formed not only by an electrostatic interaction but also by a hydrophobic contact. The findings from the fluorescence studies conclude that the present system is a useful model for discussion of electron transfer via non-covalently linked donor-acceptor pairing on the protein surface.