Molybdenum enzymic activities

Several decades ago, the earliest genetic work in molybdenum enzymes identified mutants of two fungi, Aspergillus nidulans (125) and Neurospora crassa (126) that lacked all molybdenum enzyme activities, specifically, nitrate reductase, XDH, and aldehyde oxidase. The mutant N. crassa produces an... 

The photoelectron spectra of model complexes for these molybdenum enzyme active sites have been investigated to gain a better understanding of their basic electronic structure and the role of the ene-dithiolate hgand. For example, the metal coordination of model complexes such as Tp MoO(tdt) are similar to the molybdenum center of sulfite oxidase, which possesses the basic structural core of a terminal oxo group cis to a 1,2-dithiolate. 

Fig. 4. Anaerobic titration of xanthine oxidase with xanthine at pH 8.2 with a reaction time of 2 min. at about 20°. The integrated intensity of the Rapid molybdenum EPR signals (in arbitrary units) is plotted against the number of moles of xanthine added per mole of active enzyme. Activity/A4jo for the enzyme samples used was 112 corresponding to an active enzyme content of 57%. Thus the molar ratios of xanthine/total xanthine oxidase have been multiplied by 1.76 to refer to the active form only. Some of the EPR spectra (recorded at about — 130° and 9.3 GHz) are reproduced to show the changes in signal type as the amount of xanthine is increased. (Data re-calculated from ref. 88, with intensities corrected for variations in tube diameter and enzyme concentration calculated in terms of active enzyme.)...

Fig. 6. Difference spectra between xanthine oxidase inactivated with various pyra-zolo [3, 4-d] pyrimidines and the native enzyme. The spectra are believed to represent the increase in absorption occurring when Mo(VI) of native enzyme is converted to Mo(IV) complexed with the inhibitors. Spectra were obtained by treating the enzyme with inhibitors in the presence of xanthine, then admitting air, so as to re-oxidize the iron and flavin chromophores. The extinction coefficients, de, are expressed per mole of enzyme flavin. Since some inactivated enzyme was present, extinction coefficients per atom of molybdenum of active enzyme will be about 30% higher than these values. (Reproduced from Ref. 33, with the permission of Dr. V. Massey.)...

Fig. 6.9 The catalysts for denitrification. Nitrate is reduced by a molybdenum enzyme while nitrite and oxides of nitrogen are reduced today mainly by copper enzymes. However, there are alternatives, probably earlier iron enzymes. The electron transfer bct complex is common to that in oxidative phosphorylation and similar to the bf complex of photosynthesis, while cytochrome c2 is to be compared with cytochrome c of oxidative phosphorylation. These four processes are linked in energy capture via proton (H+) gradients see Figure 6.8(a) and (b) and the lower parts of Fig. 6.9 which show separately the active site of the all iron NO-reductase, and the active site of cytochrome oxidase (02 reductase).

XOD is one of the most complex flavoproteins and is composed of two identical and catalytically independent subunits each subunit contains one molybdenium center, two iron sulfur centers, and flavine adenine dinucleotide. The enzyme activity is due to a complicated interaction of FAD, molybdenium, iron, and labile sulfur moieties at or near the active site [260], It can be used to detect xanthine and hypoxanthine by immobilizing xanthine oxidase on a glassy carbon paste electrode [261], The elements are based on the chronoamperometric monitoring of the current that occurs due to the oxidation of the hydrogen peroxide which liberates during the enzymatic reaction. The biosensor showed linear dependence in the concentration range between 5.0 X 10 7 and 4.0 X 10-5M for xanthine and 2.0 X 10 5 and 8.0 X 10 5M for hypoxanthine, respectively. The detection limit values were estimated as 1.0 X 10 7 M for xanthine and 5.3 X 10-6M for hypoxanthine, respectively. Li used DNA to embed xanthine oxidase and obtained the electrochemical response of FAD and molybdenum center of xanthine oxidase [262], Moreover, the enzyme keeps its native catalytic activity to hypoxanthine in the DNA film. So the biosensor for hypoxanthine can be based on... 

Xanthine oxidase (XO) was the first enzyme studied from the family of enzymes now known as the molybdenum hydroxylases (HiUe 1999). XO, which catalyzes the hydroxylation of xanthine to uric acid is abundant in cow s milk and contains several cofactors, including FAD, two Fe-S centers, and a molybdenum cofactor, all of which are required for activity (Massey and Harris 1997). Purified XO has been shown to use xanthine, hypoxan-thine, and several aldehydes as substrates in the reduction of methylene blue (Booth 1938), used as an electron acceptor. Early studies also noted that cyanide was inhibitory but could only inactivate XO during preincubation, not during the reaction with xanthine (Dixon 1927). The target of cyanide inactivation was identified to be a labile sulfur atom, termed the cyanolyzable sulfur (Wahl and Rajagopalan 1982), which is also required for enzyme activity. 

Many proteins, including many enzymes, contain hghtly bound metal ions. These may be inhmately involved in enzyme catalysis or may serve a purely structural role. The most common tightly bound metal ions found in metalloproteins include copper (Cu+ and Cu +), zinc (Zn +), iron (Fe + and Fe +), and manganese (Mn +). Other proteins may contain weakly bound metal ions that generally serve as modulators of enzyme activity. These include sodium (Na+), potassium (K+), calcium (Ca +), and magnesium (Mg +). There are also exotic cases for which enzymes may depend on nickel, selenium, molybdenum, or silicon for activity. These account for the very small requirements for these metals in the human diet. 

The thermochromism in Scheme 1-54 represents valence tautomerism in molybdenum complexes and, at the same time, the inherent redox activity of a dithoilate ligand. This phenomenon may be significant with respect to the biological activity of various molybdenum enzymes. 

Redox potentials of the molybdenum centers in several of the enzymes have been obtained by potentiometric titration (Table 3a). Although the substrate reaction chemistry requires the metal center to participate in net two-electron redox reactions, the simple electron-transfer reactions of the active sites occur in one-electron steps involving the MoVI/Mov and Mov/MoIV couples. Several of the molybdenum enzymes studied have MoVI/Mov and Mov/MoIV couples that differ by less than 40 mV. However, in sulfite oxidase the Movl/Mov (38 mV) and Mov/Molv (-239 mV) couples are separated by roughly 275 mV [88], In formate dehydrogenase (D. desulfuricans) the MoVI/Mov (-160 mV) and Mov/MoIV (-330 mV) couples are separated by 170 mV [89], Both the MoVI/Mov and... 

The substrate half-reactions are displayed in Tables I and II. In each case, a two-electron process seems to be involved. Only in nitro-genase are greater numbers of electrons transferred, and the discussion earlier in this paper summarizes the evidence that these processes occur in two-electron steps. The two-electron reaction of the molybdenum site never appears to be simply an electron transfer reaction. In the case of nitrogenase, each substrate takes up an equal (or greater) number of protons to form the product. In the other molybdenum enzymes, proton transfer and addition or removal of H20 are also required. In each case, however, there is at least one proton transferred in the same direction as the pair of electrons. These data, taken in conjunction with the EPR evidence for proton transfer from the substrate to the active site in xanthine oxidase, suggest that the molybdenum site in all the enzymes... 

Mo(V) complex disproportionates as it dissociates to produce mononuclear Mo (IV) and Mo (VI). As Mo (IV) and Mo (VI) are directly interconvertible by an oxo transfer reaction, they are viable participants in catalytic cycles. A dinuclear Mo(V) species of this nature can thus supply either the oxidizing or reducing member of this couple and presents a mechanism by which molybdenum enzymes can channel reducing or oxidizing power. Several inorganic reactions have recently been explained using this scheme (80, 81). To date, however, Reaction 12 only applies when the ligand is a dithiocarbamate or dithiophosphate. Nevertheless, were there known dinuclear active sites in enzymes, this would be an important mechanism to consider. 

The dithiolene structural unit that is common and required by all Mo and W enzymes was only recently identified definitively. After several decades of active research on molybdenum enzymes, conclusive structural evidence for the dithiolene piece was available as recently as 1995 (42). 

There are now three different proteins of the XDH/XO family whose structures have been determined by X-ray protein crystallography. The structure of aldehyde oxidoreductase from the bacterium Desulfovibrio gigas was the first X-ray structure determined for an oxo-molybdenum enzyme (17) and has been followed by stmctures of XO/XDH (10) and carbon monoxide dehydrogenase (CODH) (19, 21). Although the three enzymes are placed in the same family, there are structural differences among them at the active site and at the phosphate remote from the Mo center. 

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