Catalase active site

Fita and Rossmann [100] presented a comprehensive analysis of the catalase active site and discussed probable catalytic mechanisms with the participation of acid-base catalytic groups in the redox transformations of the substrate. Figure 6.3 is a diagram of catalase redox transformation with formation of intermediate complexes A, III and IV. Note that in this work the experimentally found analogy of complex II formation for catalase and cytochrome-c-peroxidase complex is applied to particular simulations [101, 102],... 

Enzymes are nature s catalysts. For the moment it is sufficient to consider an enzyme as a large protein, the structure of which results in a very shape-specific active site (Fig. 1.3). Flaving shapes that are optimally suited to guide reactant molecules (usually referred to as substrates) in the optimum configuration for reaction, enzymes are highly specific and efficient catalysts. For example, the enzyme catalase catalyzes the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen... 

Intracellular H2O2 is catalytically removed by catalase. The enzyme contains Fe(III) at its active site and is found in the cytosol of erythrocytes as well as the mitochondria and peroxisomes of most other cells. The concentration of catalase in rheumatoid synovial fluid is extremely low and may only be present as a result of erythrocyte lysis. 

The molecular masses of heme catalases are usually significantly higher as compared with peroxidases. If expressed in Lg-1s-1, rate constants for the Fem-TAML activators when compared with catalase from beef liver, which has a molecular weight 250,000 gmol-1 (Table IV, entry 13) (89), look very impressive, viz. 17 L g 1 s-1 for 11 vs. 22 L g 1 s 1 for the enzyme. Nevertheless, the catalase-like activity of the Fem-TAML activators can be suppressed by the addition of electron donors -it is negligible in the presence of the substrates tested in this work. In Nature, catalases display only minor peroxidase-like activity (79) because electron donors bulkier than H202 cannot access the deeply buried active sites of these massive enzymes (90). The comparatively unprotected Fem-TAML active sites are directly exposed to electron donors such that the overall behavior is determined by the inherent relative reactivity of the substrates. 

Bacterial SODs typically contain either nonheme iron (FeSODs) or manganese (MnSODs) at their active sites, although bacterial copper/zinc and nickel SODs are also known (Imlay and Imlay 1996 Chung et al. 1999). Catalases are usually heme-containing enzymes that catalyze disproportionation of hydrogen peroxide to water and molecular oxygen (Eq. 10.2) (Zamocky and Koller 1999 Loewen et al. 2000). 

Obviously, there must be a limit to the turnover of any enzyme. Rates cannot theoretically go on increasing indefinitely with substrate concentration. In the case of mammalian catalases, the limits appear to lie in the range between a first order rate of 2 x 10 sec and 1x10 sec (36). That is, each heme active site can theoretically decompose between 2 and 10 million molecules of H2O2 per second. As two molecules... 

Fig. 13. Active site residues in a small-subunit catalase BLC (A) and a large-subunit catalase HPIl (B). The active site residues are labeled, and hydrogen bonds are shown between the serine (113 in BLC and 167 in HPll) and the essential histidine (74 in BLC and 128 in HPll). A single water is shown hydrogen bonded to the histidine. The equivalent water in BLC is located by analogy to the position of the water in HPll. The unusual covalent bond between the N of His392 and the C of Tyr415 in HPll is evident on the proximal side of the heme in B. The flipped orientations of the hemes are evident in a comparison of the two structures, as is the eis-hydroxyspirolactone structure of heme d in B.

Fig. 16. A cartoon showing the putative channels that provide access to the active site of a large-subunit catalase in A and a small-subunit catalase in B. The main or perpendicular channel is labeled P and the minor or lateral channel, which is bifurcated, is labeled L. A potential channel leading to the proximal side of the heme is shown with a dashed line.

Catalases have proven to be a treasure trove of unusual modifications. The first noted modification was the oxidation of Met53 of PMC to a methionine sulfone (77). Met53 is situated in the distal side active site adjacent to the essential His54 in a location where oxidation by a molecule of peroxide would not be unexpected. Among the catalases whose structures have been solved, PMC is unique in having the sulfone because valine is the more common replacement in other catalases. The sulfone does not seem to have a role in the catalytic mechanism and is clearly generated as a posttranslational modification. A small number of catalases from other sources, principally bacteria, have Met in the same location as PMC, and it is a reasonable prediction that the same oxidation occurs in those enzymes as well, although this has not been demonstrated. 

In the type A catalases, there are only two active site residues in locations where they can influence the reaction, a histidine and an asparagine. A mechanism for compound I reduction in catalases was... 

Have we exhausted catalases as a source of information about protein structure and the catalatic mechanisms The answer is clearly no. With each structure reported comes new information, often including structural modifications seemingly unique to catalases and with roles that remain to be explained. Despite a deeply buried active site, catalases exhibit one of the fastest turnover rates determined. This presents the as yet unanswered question of how substrate can access the active site while products are simultaneously exhausted with a potential turnover rate of up to 10 per second. The complex folding pathway that produces the intricate interwoven arrangement of subunits also remains to be fully clarified. 

The hemocyanlns which cooperatively bind dioxygen are found in two invertebrate phyla arthropod and mollusc. The mollusc hemocyanlns additionally exhibit catalase activity. Tyrosinase, which also reversibly binds dioxygen and dlsmutates peroxide, is a monooxygenase, using the dloxygen to hydroxylate monophenols to ortho-diphenols and to further oxidize this product to the quinone. Finally, the multicopper oxidases (laccase, ceruloplasmin and ascorbate oxidase) also contain coupled binuclear copper sites in combination with other copper centers and these catalyze the four electron reduction of dloxygen to water. 

Catalases catalyze the conversion of hydrogen peroxide to dioxygen and water. Two families of catalases are known, one having a heme cofactor and the second a structurally distinct family, found in thermophilic and lactic acid bacteria. The manganese enzymes contain a binuclear active site and the functional form of the enzyme cycles between the (Mn )2 and the (Mn )2 oxidation states. When isolated, the enzyme is in a mixture of oxidation states including the Mn /Mn superoxidized state and this form of the enzyme has been extensively studied using XAS, UV-visible, EPR, and ESEEM spectroscopies. Multifrequency EPR and microwave polarization studies of the (Mn )2 catalytically active enzyme from L. plantarum have also been reported. ... 

Crystal structures of manganese catalases (in the (111)2 oxidation state) from Lactobacillus plantarum,its azide-inhibited complex, " and from Thermus thermophilus have been determined. There are differences between the structures that may reflect distinct biological functions for the two enzymes, the L. plantarum enzyme functions only as a catalase, while the T. thermo-philus enzyme may function as a catalase/peroxidase. The active sites are conserved in the two enzymes and are shown schematically in Figure 32. Each subunit contains an Mu2 active site,... 

Figure 32 Schematic of the active site of the catalase from L. plantarum.

Manganese is an element that is essential for life. It is present at the active site of many en2ymes [4, 5]. Those en2ymes in which the metal center is involved in a redox process are manganese catalase [101], peroxidase [102], and SOD [103]. In addition, a cluster containing four Mn and one Ca atoms in the water-oxidizing center (WOC) of PSII is the site at which dioxygen is produced photosynthetically on Earth [3,104]. 

Fig. 13 A schematic drawing of the active site of manganese catalase from Lactobacillus plantarum (reprinted from Ref 105, Copyright 2003 with permission from Elsevier).

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