ABSTRACT
Among the molecular mechanisms of adaptation in biology, enzyme functional diversification is indispensable. By allowing organisms to expand their catalytic repertoires and adopt fundamentally different chemistries, animals can harness or eliminate new-found substances and xenobiotics that they are exposed to in new environments. Here, we explore the flavin-containing monooxygenases (FMOs) that are essential for xenobiotic detoxification. Employing a paleobiochemistry approach in combination with enzymology techniques we disclose the set of historical substitutions responsible for the family's functional diversification in tetrapods. Remarkably, a few amino acid replacements differentiate an ancestral multi-tasking FMO into a more specialized monooxygenase by modulating the oxygenating flavin intermediate. Our findings substantiate an ongoing premise that enzymatic function hinges on a subset of residues that is not limited to the active site core.
Subject(s)
Mixed Function Oxygenases , Oxygenases , Animals , Oxygenases/metabolism , Mixed Function Oxygenases/metabolism , Catalysis , Flavins/metabolismABSTRACT
Mammals rely on the oxidative flavin-containing monooxygenases (FMOs) to detoxify numerous and potentially deleterious xenobiotics; this activity extends to many drugs, giving FMOs high pharmacological relevance. However, our knowledge regarding these membrane-bound enzymes has been greatly impeded by the lack of structural information. We anticipated that ancestral-sequence reconstruction could help us identify protein sequences that are more amenable to structural analysis. As such, we hereby reconstructed the mammalian ancestral protein sequences of both FMO1 and FMO4, denoted as ancestral flavin-containing monooxygenase (AncFMO)1 and AncFMO4, respectively. AncFMO1, sharing 89.5% sequence identity with human FMO1, was successfully expressed as a functional enzyme. It displayed typical FMO activities as demonstrated by oxygenating benzydamine, tamoxifen, and thioanisole, drug-related compounds known to be also accepted by human FMO1, and both NADH and NADPH cofactors could act as electron donors, a feature only described for the FMO1 paralogs. AncFMO1 crystallized as a dimer and was structurally resolved at 3.0 Å resolution. The structure harbors typical FMO aspects with the flavin adenine dinucleotide and NAD(P)H binding domains and a C-terminal transmembrane helix. Intriguingly, AncFMO1 also contains some unique features, including a significantly porous and exposed active site, and NADPH adopting a new conformation with the 2'-phosphate being pushed inside the NADP+ binding domain instead of being stretched out in the solvent. Overall, the ancestrally reconstructed mammalian AncFMO1 serves as the first structural model to corroborate and rationalize the catalytic properties of FMO1.
Subject(s)
NADP/chemistry , NAD/chemistry , Oxygenases/chemistry , Amino Acid Sequence , Animals , Benzydamine/chemistry , Benzydamine/metabolism , Binding Sites , Cloning, Molecular , Crystallography, X-Ray , Escherichia coli/genetics , Escherichia coli/metabolism , Gene Expression , Genetic Vectors/chemistry , Genetic Vectors/metabolism , Humans , Isoenzymes/antagonists & inhibitors , Isoenzymes/chemistry , Isoenzymes/genetics , Isoenzymes/metabolism , Kinetics , Mammals , Models, Molecular , NAD/metabolism , NADP/metabolism , Oxygenases/genetics , Oxygenases/metabolism , Protein Binding , Protein Conformation, alpha-Helical , Protein Conformation, beta-Strand , Protein Interaction Domains and Motifs , Recombinant Proteins/chemistry , Recombinant Proteins/genetics , Recombinant Proteins/metabolism , Sequence Alignment , Sequence Homology, Amino Acid , Substrate Specificity , Sulfides/chemistry , Sulfides/metabolismABSTRACT
An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
ABSTRACT
Flavin-containing monooxygenases (FMOs) are ubiquitous in all domains of life and metabolize a myriad of xenobiotics, including toxins, pesticides and drugs. However, despite their pharmacological importance, structural information remains bereft. To further our understanding behind their biochemistry and diversity, we used ancestral-sequence reconstruction, kinetic and crystallographic techniques to scrutinize three ancient mammalian FMOs: AncFMO2, AncFMO3-6 and AncFMO5. Remarkably, all AncFMOs could be crystallized and were structurally resolved between 2.7- and 3.2-Å resolution. These crystal structures depict the unprecedented topology of mammalian FMOs. Each employs extensive membrane-binding features and intricate substrate-profiling tunnel networks through a conspicuous membrane-adhering insertion. Furthermore, a glutamate-histidine switch is speculated to induce the distinctive Baeyer-Villiger oxidation activity of FMO5. The AncFMOs exhibited catalysis akin to human FMOs and, with sequence identities between 82% and 92%, represent excellent models. Our study demonstrates the power of ancestral-sequence reconstruction as a strategy for the crystallization of proteins.
Subject(s)
Oxygenases/chemistry , Animals , Catalytic Domain , Crystallography, X-Ray , Evolution, Molecular , Humans , Mammals , Models, Molecular , Mutation , Oxygenases/genetics , Oxygenases/metabolism , Phylogeny , Protein Conformation , Protein MultimerizationABSTRACT
The flavin-containing monooxygenases (FMOs) play an important role in drug metabolism but they also have a high potential in industrial biotransformations. Among the hitherto characterized FMOs, there was no thermostable representative, while such biocatalyst would be valuable for FMO-based applications. Through a targeted genome mining approach, we have identified a gene encoding for a putative FMO from Nitrincola lacisaponensis, an alkaliphilic extremophile bacterium. Herein, we report the biochemical and structural characterization of this newly discovered bacterial FMO (NiFMO). NiFMO can be expressed as active and soluble enzyme at high level in Escherichia coli (90-100 mg/L of culture). NiFMO is relatively thermostable (melting temperature (Tm) of 51 °C), displays high organic solvent tolerance, and accepts a broad range of substrates. The crystal structure of NiFMO was solved at 1.8 Å resolution, which allows future structure-based enzyme engineering. Altogether, NiFMO represents an interesting newly discovered enzyme with the appropriate features to develop into an industrially applied biocatalyst.
