Electron Transfer in Molybdenum Enzymes

With the exception of the recently reported DMSO reductases from bacteria (71,72), all of the enzymes of Table I contain additional redox active prosthetic groups besides Mo-co. Substrate oxidation (reduction) occurs at the molybdenum center, and electrons are removed (added) via one of the other prosthetic groups. These two processes are coupled by intramolecular electron transfer between the molybdenum center and the other redox centers of the enzyme. Results for xanthine oxidase and sulfite oxidase and approaches to modeling the coupling in sulfite oxidase are summarized below. 

Xanthine is converted to uric acid at the molybdenum center of the enzyme, and the electrons are removed from the enzyme by oxidation of the flavin center. From early reductive titrations of xanthine oxidase with sodium dithionite, it was proposed that reducing equivalents were equilibrated among the four redox-active centers (Mo-co, two separate Fe2S2 centers, flavin) at a rate that was rapid relative to the overall catalytic rate of substrate turnover (243). Under such conditions, the flux of reducing equivalents through the enzyme should be influenced by the relative reduction potentials of the redox centers involved (244). Any effects of pH and temperature on the reduction potentials of individual redox components would affect the apparent rates of intramolecular transfer of the enzyme. 

The potentials of the redox centers of xanthine oxidase have been investigated by titrations in the presence of redox mediator dyes. An early study (245) used dithionite to generate reducing equivalents and quantified the reduced species by EPR measurements at low temperature. Subsequent studies as a function of pH showed that the potential of the molybdenum center was sensitive to pH (246). Concern over the effect of temperature on the observed potentials led to redox titrations monitored by room temperature CD and EPR spectroscopy (247). These experiments indicated that the redox potentials of all of the prosthetic 

Sulfite oxidase contains an oxo-molybdenum center and a 6-type cytochrome. The proposed catalytic sequence (254-256) for the enzyme is shown in Fig. 16. Oxidation of sulfite to sulfate, a two-electron process, occurs at the molybdenum center with concomitant reduction of the molybdenum from VI to IV. Electrons are removed from the enzyme by interactions of the heme of the 6-type cytochrome with exogenous cytochrome c, a one-electron process. Thus, the proposed mechanism of Fig. 16 involves two separate intramolecular electron transfers be- 

Steady-state kinetics experiments have shown that anions such as S04 , Cl , and HP04 are inhibitors of the flow of electrons from sulfite to cytochrome c but not to O2 (90, 257). In 1971 Cohen and Fridovich proposed (regarding inhibition by sulfate) that the sulfate sensitive step was not the reduction of the enzyme by sulfite, but was rather the egress of electrons from the enzyme to the 1-electron acceptors (257). 

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The chapter consists of nine sections. Sections II through VII deal with the pterin-containing molybdenum enzymes. Biochemical and model studies of molybdopterin, Mo-co, and related species are described in Section II. In Section III, we briefly survey physical and spectroscopic techniques employed in the study of the enzymes, and consider their impact upon the current understanding of the coordination about the molybdenum atom in sulfite oxidase and xanthine oxidase. Model studies are described in Sections IV and V. Section IV concentrates on structural and spectroscopic models, whereas Section V considers aspects of the reactivity of model and enzyme systems. The xanthine oxidase cycle (Section VI) and facets of intramolecular electron transfer in molybdenum enzymes (Section VII) are then treated. Section VIII describes the pterin-containing tungsten enzymes and the evolving model chemistry thereof Future directions are addressed in Section IX. 

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