Molybdopterin enzymes

Khangulov, S. V., Gladyshev, V. N., Dismukes, G. C., and Stadtman, T. C., 1998, Selenium-containing formate dehydrogenase H from Escherichia coli a molybdopterin enzyme that catalyzes formate oxidation without oxygen transfer. Biochemistry 37 351893528. 

The properties of CODH/acetyl-CoA synthase are summarized in Table II. The enzyme has been isolated from eight species. There exist three types of CODH. One, which lacks nickel and acetyl-CoA synthase activity, contains a molybdopterin active site and will not be... 

The three known crystal structures of molybdopterin-containing enzymes are from members of the first two families the aldehyde oxido-reductase from D. gigas (MOP) belongs to the xanthine oxidase family (199, 200), whereas the DMSO reductases from Rhodobacter (R.) cap-sulatus (201) and from/ , sphaeroides (202) and the formate dehydrogenase from E. coli (203) are all members of the second family of enzymes. There is a preliminary report of the X-ray structure for enzymes of the sulfite oxidase family (204). 

The protein from D. desulfuricans has been characterized by Mbss-bauer and EPR spectroscopy 224). The enzyme has a molecular mass of approximately 150 kDa (three different subunits 88, 29, and 16 kDa) and contains three different types of redox-active centers four c-type hemes, nonheme iron arranged as two [4Fe-4S] centers, and a molybdopterin site (Mo-bound to two MGD). Selenium was also chemically detected. The enzyme specific activity is 78 units per mg of protein. 

Acetylene hydratase from the anaerobe Pelobacter acetylenicus is a tungsten-iron-sulfur enzyme that resembles molybdopterin with W replacing Mo (Meckenstock et al. 1999), and catalyzes the addition of the elements of water to acetylene (Figure 3.30a). 

Molybdopterin is a component of four enzyme families all of which contain Mo(VI) the xanthine oxidase and the sulfite oxidase families with one molybdopterin and the DMSO family with two molybdopterins. There are a number of tungsten-containing enzymes with structures analogous... 

Tungsten-containing enzymes have been found to mediate a variety of reactions both in aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, and their structure may plausibly be assumed to be analogous to the molybdopterins ... 

Xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR) is a molybdenum-containing complex homodimeric 300-kDa cytosolic enzyme. Each subunit contains a molybdopterin cofactor, two nonidentical iron-sulfur centers, and FAD (89). The enzyme has an important physiologic role in the oxidative metabolism of purines, e.g., it catalyzes the sequence of reactions that convert hypoxanthine to xanthine then to uric acid (Fig. 4.36). 

ScHiNDELiN, H., Kisker, C., and Rajagopalan, K. V. Molybdopterin from molybdenum and tungsten enzymes, Adv Protein Chem 2001, 58,... 

Figure 16-31 (A) Structure of molybdopterin cytosine dinucleotide complexed with an atom of molybdenum. (B) Stereoscopic ribbon drawing of the structure of one subunit of the xanthine oxidase-related aldehyde oxidoreductase from Desulfo-vibrio gigas. Each 907-residue subunit of the homodimeric protein contains two Fe2S2 clusters visible at the top and the molybdenum-molybdopterin coenzyme buried in the center. (C) Alpha-carbon plot of portions of the protein surrounding the molybdenum-molybdopterin cytosine dinucleotide and (at the top) the two plant-ferredoxin-like Fe2S2 clusters. Each of these is held by a separate structural domain of the protein. Two additional domains bind the molybdopterin coenzyme and there is also an intermediate connecting domain. In xanthine oxidase the latter presumably has the FAD binding site which is lacking in the D. gigas enzyme. From Romao et al.633 Courtesy of R. Huber.

The active site structures of the three classes of molybdenum-containing enzymes are compared in Fig. 16-32. In the DMSO reductase family there are two identical molybdopterin dinucleotide coenzymes complexed with one molybdenum. However, only one of these appears to be functionally linked to the Fe2S2 center. 

Formate dehydrogenases from many bacteria contain molybdopterin and also often selenium (Table 15-4).664/665 A membrane-bound Mo-containing formate dehydrogenase is produced by E. coli grown anaerobically in the presence of nitrate. Under these circumstances it is coupled to nitrate reductase via an electron-transport chain in the membranes which permits oxidation of formate by nitrate (Eq. 18-26). This enzyme is also a multisubunit protein.665 666 Two other Mo- and Se- containing formate dehydrogenases are produced... 

The first hint of an essential role of molybdenum in metabolism came from the discovery that animals raised on a diet deficient in molybdenum had decreased liver xanthine oxidase activity. There is no evidence that xanthine oxidase is essential for all life, but a human genetic deficiency of sulfite oxidase or of its molybdopterin coenzyme can be lethal.646,646a,b The conversion of molybdate into the molybdopterin cofactor in E. coli depends upon at least five genes.677 In Drosophila the addition of the cyanolyzable sulfur (Eq. 16-64) is the final step in formation of xanthine dehydrogenase.678 It is of interest that sulfur (S°) can be transferred from rhodanese (see Eq. 24-45), or from a related mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase679 into the desulfo form of xanthine oxidase to generate an active enzyme.680... 

The aldehyde ferredoxin oxidoreductase from the hyperthermophile Pyrococcus furiosus was the first molybdopterin-dependent enzyme for which a three-dimensional structure became available.683,684 The tungstoenzyme resembles that of the related molybdo-enzyme (Fig. 16-31). A similar ferredoxin-dependent enzyme reduces glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate.685 Another member of the tungstoenzyme aldehyde oxidoreductase family is carboxylic acid reductase, an enzyme found in certain acetogenic clostridia. It is able to use reduced ferredoxin to convert unactivated carboxylic acids into aldehydes, even though E° for the acetaldehyde/acetate couple is -0.58 V.686... 

The opposite sequence, reduction of nitrate and nitrite ions, provides a major route of acquisition of ammonia for incorporation into cells by bacteria, fungi, and green plants (Fig. 24-1). Assimilatory (biosynthetic) nitrate reductases catalyze the two-electron reduction of nitrate to nitrite (Eq. 16-61). This is thought to occur at the molybdenum atom of the large 900-residue highly regulated793 molybdopterin-dependent enzyme. In green plants the reductant is... 

Bacterial assimilatory nitrate reductases have similar properties.86/86a In addition, many bacteria, including E. coli, are able to use nitrate ions as an oxidant for nitrate respiration under anaerobic conditions (Chapter 18). Tire dissimilatory nitrate reductases involved also contain molybdenum as well as Fe-S centers.85 Tire E. coli enzyme receives electrons from reduced quinones in the plasma membrane, passing them through cytochrome b, Fe-S centers, and molybdopterin to nitrate. The three-subunit aPy enzyme contains cytochrome b in one subunit, an Fe3S4 center as well as three Fe4S4 clusters in another, and the molybdenum cofactor in the third.87 Nitrate reduction to nitrite is also on the pathway of denitrification, which can lead to release of nitrogen as NO, NzO, and N2 by the action of dissimi-latory nitrite reductases. These enzymes873 have been discussed in Chapters 16 and 18. 

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