The enhancing of a cysteine proteinase activity at acidic pH by protein engineering, the role of glutamic 50 in the enzyme mechanism of caricain.

Carica papaya produces four cysteine proteinases. Calculations show that the Cys25, His159 essential ion pair is fully ionised at pH 2.99, where activity cannot be detected, but apparently an additional ionisation with a pKa of 4 is essential for activity (an electrostatic switch). Caricain (EC 3.4.22.30) wt and D158E genetic backgrounds were used to study the contribution of E50A to activity. E50 or E135 are candidates for the switch, E50A would be expected to reduce activity. However, activity increased at pH 5.0 in both backgrounds and at the pH optimum in D158E E50A but decreased slightly in the wt background. This challenges the hypothesis of an electrostatic switch.

Rapid kinetic studies and structural determination of a cysteine proteinase mutant imply that residue 158 in caricain has a major effect upon the ability of the active site histidine to protonate a dipyridyl probe.

Cysteine proteinases are endopeptidases whose catalytic activity depends upon the nucleophilicity of the active site cysteine thiol group. An ion pair forms with an active site histidine. The presence in some cysteine proteinases of an aspartic acid close to the ion pair has been used as evidence of a "catalytic triad" as found in the serine proteinases. In these enzymes, the correct alignment of serine, histidine, and aspartate residues controls catalysis. However, the absence of the homologous aspartate residue in the mammalian cysteine proteinases cathepsins B and H argues against this pivotal role for aspartic acid. Instead, an Asn, physically close to the histidine in cysteine proteinases, has been proposed as a member of the catalytic triad. Protein engineering is being used to investigate these questions. In this study, the Asp158Glu mutant of the plant cysteine proteinase caricain was analyzed by stopped-flow rapid kinetics. The probe that was used was 2,2'-dipyridyl disulfide (2 PDS), and the profile of k versus pH gave results more closely allied to a small molecule active site model than the normal profile with cysteine proteinases. Multiple pKa's identified in the profile are as follows: pK1 = 3.4 (Cys 25), pK2 = 3.6, pK3 = 7.0, and pK4 = 8.6 (His 158). The structure of the enzyme with the bound inhibitor E64 was solved (R factor of 19.3%). Although the distance between the imadazolium and the surrounding charged amino acids is only slightly changed in the mutant, the reduced steady state activity and narrower pH range can be related to changes in the hydrogen-bonding capacity of the imadazolium.

Crystal structure of a caricain D158E mutant in complex with E-64.

The structure of the D158E mutant of caricain (previously known as papaya protease omega) in complex with E-64 has been determined at 2.0 A resolution (overall R factor 19.3%). The structure reveals that the substituted glutamate makes the same pattern of hydrogen bonds as the aspartate in native caricain. This was not anticipated since in the native structure there is insufficient room to accommodate the glutamate side chain. The glutamate is accommodated in the mutant by a local expansion of the structure demonstrating that small structural changes are responsible for the change in activity.