Engineering GST M2-2 for high activity with indene 1,2-oxide and indication of an H-site residue sustaining catalytic promiscuity.

The substrate-binding H-site of human glutathione transferase (GST) M2-2 was subjected to iterative saturation mutagenesis in order to obtain an efficient enzyme with the novel epoxide substrate indene 1,2-oxide. Residues 10, 116, and 210 were targeted, and the activities with the alternative substrates, benzyl isothiocyanate and the prodrug azathioprine, undergoing divergent chemical reactions were monitored for comparison. In general, increased activities were found when the smaller residues Gly, Ser, and Ala replaced the original Thr210. The most active mutant T210G was further mutated at position 116, but no mutant showed enhanced catalytic activity. However, saturation mutagenesis of position 10 identified one double mutant T210G/I10C with 100-fold higher specific activity with indene 1,2-oxide than wild-type GST M2-2. This enhanced epoxide activity of 50 µmol min(-1) mg(-1) resulted primarily from an increased k(cat) value (70 s(-1)). The specific activity is 24-fold higher than that of wild-type GST M1-1, which is otherwise the most proficient GST enzyme with epoxide substrates. A second double mutant T210G/I10W displayed 30-fold increased activity with azathioprine, 0.56 µmol min(-1) mg(-1). In both double mutants, the replacement of Ile10 led to narrowed acceptance of alternative substrates. Ile10 is evolutionarily conserved in related class Mu GSTs. Conservation usually indicates preservation of a particular function, and in the Mu class, it would appear that the conserved Ile10 is not necessary to maintain catalytic functions but to prevent loss of broad substrate acceptance. In summary, our data underscore the facile transition between alternative substrate selectivity profiles in GSTs by a few mutations.

Cys-X scanning for expansion of active-site residues and modulation of catalytic functions in a glutathione transferase.

We propose Cys-X scanning as a semisynthetic approach to engineer the functional properties of recombinant proteins. As in the case of Ala scanning, key residues in the primary structure are identified, and one of them is replaced by Cys via site-directed mutagenesis. The thiol of the residue introduced is subsequently modified by alternative chemical reagents to yield diverse Cys-X mutants of the protein. This chemical approach is orthogonal to Ala or Cys scanning and allows the expansion of the repertoire of amino acid side chains far beyond those present in natural proteins. In its present application, we have introduced Cys-X residues in human glutathione transferase (GST) M2-2, replacing Met-212 in the substrate-binding site. To achieve selectivity of the modifications, the Cys residues in the wild-type enzyme were replaced by Ala. A suite of simple substitutions resulted in a set of homologous Met derivatives ranging from normethionine to S-heptyl-cysteine. The chemical modifications were validated by HPLC and mass spectrometry. The derivatized mutant enzymes were assayed with alternative GST substrates representing diverse chemical reactions: aromatic substitution, epoxide opening, transnitrosylation, and addition to an ortho-quinone. The Cys substitutions had different effects on the alternative substrates and differentially enhanced or suppressed catalytic activities depending on both the Cys-X substitution and the substrate assayed. As a consequence, the enzyme specificity profile could be changed among the alternative substrates. The procedure lends itself to large-scale production of Cys-X modified protein variants.

Engineering the enantioselectivity of glutathione transferase by combined active-site mutations and chemical modifications.

Based on the crystal structure of human glutathione transferase M1-1, cysteine residues were introduced in the substrate-binding site of a Cys-free mutant of the enzyme, which were subsequently alkylated with 1-iodoalkanes. By different combinations of site-specific mutations and chemical modifications of the enzyme the enantioselectivity in the conjugation of glutathione with the epoxide-containing substrates 1-phenylpropylene oxide and styrene-7,8-oxide were enhanced up to 9- and 10-fold. The results also demonstrate that the enantioselectivity can be diminished, or even reversed, by suitable modifications, which can be valuable under some conditions. The redesign of the active-site structure for enhanced or diminished enantioselectivities have divergent requirements for different epoxides, calling for a combinatorial approach involving alternative mutations and chemical modifications to optimize the enantioselectivity for a targeted substrate. This approach outlines a general method of great potential for fine-tuning substrate specificity and tailoring stereoselectivity of recombinant enzymes.

Alternative mutations of a positively selected residue elicit gain or loss of functionalities in enzyme evolution.

All molecular species in an organism are connected physically and functionally to other molecules. In evolving systems, it is not obvious to what extent functional properties of a protein can change to selective advantage and leave intact favorable traits previously acquired. This uncertainty has particular significance in the evolution of novel pathways for detoxication, because an organism challenged with new xenobiotics in the environment may still require biotransformation of previously encountered toxins. Positive selection has been proposed as an evolutionary mechanism for facile adaptive responses of proteins to changing conditions. Here, we show, by saturation mutagenesis, that mutations of a hypervariable residue in human glutathione transferase M2-2 can differentially change the enzyme's substrate-activity profile with alternative substrates and, furthermore, enable or disable dissimilar chemical reactions. Crystal structures demonstrate that activity with epoxides is enabled through removal of steric hindrance from a methyl group, whereas activities with an orthoquinone and a nitroso donor are maintained in the variant enzymes. Given the diversity of cellular activities in which a single protein can be engaged, the selective transmutation of functional properties has general significance in molecular evolution.