Peroxidase activity in prostaglandin endoperoxide H synthase-1 occurs with a neutral histidine proximal heme ligand.

Prostaglandin endoperoxide H synthases-1 and -2 (PGHS-1 and -2) convert arachidonic acid to prostaglandin H(2) (PGH(2)), the committed step in prostaglandin and thromboxane formation. Interaction of peroxides with the heme sites in PGHSs generates a tyrosyl radical that catalyzes subsequent cyclooxygenase chemistry. To study the peroxidase reaction of ovine oPGHS-1, we combined spectroscopic and directed mutagenesis data with X-ray crystallographic refinement of the heme site. Optical and Raman spectroscopy of oxidized oPGHS-1 indicate that its heme iron (Fe(3+)) exists exclusively as a high-spin, six-coordinate species in the holoenzyme and in heme-reconstituted apoenzyme. The sixth ligand is most likely water. The cyanide complex of oxidized oPGHS-1 has a six-coordinate, low-spin ferric iron with a v[Fe-CN] frequency at 445 cm(-)(1); a monotonic sensitivity to cyanide isotopomers that indicates the Fe-CN adduct has a linear geometry. The ferrous iron in reduced oPGHS-1 adopts a high-spin, five-coordinate state that is converted to a six-coordinate, low-spin geometry by CO. The low-frequency Raman spectrum of reduced oPGHS-1 reveals two v[Fe-His] frequencies at 206 and 222 cm(-)(1). These vibrations, which disappear upon addition of CO, are consistent with a neutral histidine (His388) as the proximal heme ligand. The refined crystal structure shows that there is a water molecule located between His388 and Tyr504 that can hydrogen bond to both residues. However, substitution of Tyr504 with alanine yields a mutant having 46% of the peroxidase activity of native oPGHS-1, establishing that bonding of Tyr504 to this water is not critical for catalysis. Collectively, our results show that the proximal histidine ligand in oPGHS-1 is electrostatically neutral. Thus, in contrast to most other peroxidases, a strongly basic proximal ligand is not necessary for peroxidase catalysis by oPGHS-1.

ADP binding induces long-distance structural changes in the beta polypeptide of the chloroplast ATP synthase.

Binding of ADP to the beta polypeptide isolated from the catalytic F1 portion (CF1) of the chloroplast ATP synthase caused an increase of 10-20% in the steady state fluorescence intensity of fluorescent maleimides attached to the cysteine residue at position 63. Fluorescence lifetime distributions indicated that the beta polypeptide switched between two conformational states depending on the presence or absence of bound ADP. The fluorescence enhancement induced by ADP binding allowed a direct calculation of the dissociation constant for ADP of 0.7 microM. ATP did not cause a fluorescence enhancement but competed with ADP for binding to the same site. An apparent dissociation constant of 2 microM was obtained for ATP binding. Fluorescence resonance energy transfer experiments indicated that Cys63 is 42 A away from the nucleotide binding site on the beta polypeptide, confirming a previous measurement [(Colvert, K.K., Mills, D.A., Richter, M.L. (1992) Biochemistry 31, 3930-3935]. Frequency domain fluorescence anisotropy measurements indicated that the beta polypeptide has an irregular, elongated shape which is in good agreement with the conformation found in the crystal structure of the beef heart mitochondrial F1 enzyme [Abrahams, J.P., Leslie, A.G.W., Lutter, R., & Walker, J.E. (1994) Nature 370, 621-628]. The rotational correlation time did not change significantly upon ADP binding, indicating that ADP did not induce a large change in the overall shape of the beta polypeptide. The results show that the nucleotide binding domain and the N-terminal domain of the beta polypeptide communicate with each other over a significant distance via conformational changes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)