Molybdenum enzymes with 2+ oxidized centers

Iron-sulfur proteins contain non-heme iron and inorganic (acid-labile) sulfur in their active centers as 4Fe-4S or 2Fe-2S or, in the case of rubredoxin, as one iron alone. The iron is always bonded to cysteine sulfur. They catalyze redox reactions between +350 and —600 mV (hydrogen electrode = —420 mV). They are usually of low molecular weight (6000-15,000 Daltons) but can form complex enzymes with molybdenum and flavin. They occur as soluble or membrane-bound proteins and catalyze key reactions in photosynthesis, oxidative phosphorylation, nitrogen fixation, H2 metabolism, steroid hydroxylation, carbon and sulfur metabolism, etc. They occur in all organisms so far investigated and may... 

This chemistry may be relevant to the nature and function of the molybdenum center of E. coli formate dehydrogenase. The Mo K-edge EXAFS of both the oxidized and reduced form of this enzyme were found to be very similar, each inolving a des-oxo-molybdenum site with four Mo S bonds at 2.35 A, (probably) one Mo O bond at 2.1 A, and one Mo—Se interaction at 2.62 A. The Se K-edge EXAFS showed clear evidence for a S Se contact of 2.19 A, presumably indicative of a novel seleno-sulfide ligand to the molybdenum (121). 

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. 

It is usually believed that NO inhibits enzymes by reacting with heme or nonheme iron or copper or via the S-nitrosilation or oxidation of sulfhydryl groups, although precise mechanisms are not always evident. By the use of ESR spectroscopy, Ichimori et al. [76] has showed that NO reacts with the sulfur atom coordinated to the xanthine oxidase molybdenum center, converting xanthine oxidase into a desulfo-type enzyme. Similarly, Sommer et al. [79] proposed that nitric oxide and superoxide inhibited calcineurin, one of the major serine and threonine phosphatases, by oxidation of metal ions or thiols. 

Some compounds of this type may have a high affinity for proteins that is not due to their binding to two thiol groups (35). In particular, arsenite also reacts with the molybdenum-pterin cofactor of many enzymes (35a-d). This usually inhibits the enzyme, but in particular cases (35e) the arsenite may be oxidized indeed the enzyme arsenite oxidase contains such a center (35f). 

M(VI) and M(IV) oxidation states. The M(V) state is generated by a one-electron reduction of the M(VI) state, or the one-electron oxidation of the M(IV) state, and occurs during the catalytic cycle—en route to the regeneration of the catalytically active state. Spectroscopic studies of the Mo—MPT enzymes, notably electron spin resonance (EPR) investigations of the Mo(V) state, have clearly demonstrated that the substrate interacts directly with the metal center (37). The first structural characterization of a substrate-bound complex was achieved for the DMSOR from Rhodobacter capsulatus DMS was added to the as-isolated enzyme to generate a complex with DMSO that was O-bound to the molybdenum (43). 

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