Spectroscopy molybdenum enzymes

Molybdenum enzymes a survey of structural information from EXAFS and EPR spectroscopy. S. P. Cramer, Adv. Inorg. Bioinorg. Mech., 1983, 2, 260 (137). 

Photoelectron Spectroscopy of Models for Active Sites in Molybdenum Enzymes... 

As yet, no X-ray crystal structures are available for any of the molybdenum enzymes in Table I. Therefore, present descriptions of the coordination environment of the molybdenum centers of the enzymes rest primarily upon comparisons of the spectra of the enzymes with the spectra of well-characterized molybdenum complexes. The two most powerful techniques for directly probing the molybdenum centers of enzymes are electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), especially the extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) from experiments at the Mo K-absorption edge. Brief summaries of techniques are presented in this section, followed by specific results for sulfite oxidase (Section III.B), xanthine oxidase (Section III.C), and model compounds (Section IV). 

These techniques are applicable only to paramagnetic Mo(V) centers, but the EPR parameters are extremely sensitive to coordination changes at the molybdenum center 17, 64). The molybdenum and ligand hyperfine splittings can provide additional information about the coordination environment of the molybdenum(V) species and the chemical reactions at the molybdenum center. EPR spectra from xanthine oxidase were first reported in 1959 by Bray et al. (65), and Bray and co-workers have continued to develop the application of EPR spectroscopy to molybdenum enzymes 17, 64). In 1966 it was shown (66) that mixing [Mo04] with dithiols produced EPR signals with (g) and (A( Mo)) values similar to those of xanthine oxidase. Only recently, however, have the structures of such thiolate complexes been determined (see Section IV.B.2.b). 39) and P (67) ENDOR spec-... 

R Hille. The mononuclear molybdenum enzymes. Chem Rev 96 2757-2816 1996. NA Turner, RC Bray, GP Diakun. Information from E.X.A.F.S. spectroscopy on the structures of different forms of molybdenum in xanthine oxidase and the catalytic mechanism of the enzyme. Biochem J 260 563, 1989. 

A preparation of the third nitrogenase from A. vinelandii, isolated from a molybdenum-tolerant strain but lacking the structural genes for the molybdenum and vanadium nitrogenases, was discovered to contain FeMoco 194). The 8 subunit encoded by anfG was identified in this preparation, which contained 24 Fe atoms and 1 Mo atom per mol. EPR spectroscopy and extraction of the cofactor identified it as FeMoco. The hybrid enzyme could reduce N2 to ammonia and reduced acetylene to ethylene and ethane. The rate of formation of ethane was nonlinear and the ethane ethylene ratio was strongly dependent on the ratio of nitrogenase components. 

As has been mentioned above, integrated signal intensities for molybdenum have always been less than 1 g. atom of Mo(V) per mole of xanthine oxidase. However, there are indications from recently performed integrations (90) that observed intensities of the Inhibited signal, in which Mo(V) is known to be stabilized (81), can be accounted for quantitatively when due allowance is made for the other species present in the samples. If this is confirmed it should make possible final rejection of earlier suggestions (87) that the enzyme contains two interacting molybdenum atoms in a single active centre. It should also help to eliminate possibilities (cf. 78) that only one of the two molybdenum atoms of the molecule is ever detected by EPR spectroscopy. 

One type of the constituent metallocenters in the MoFe protein has the properties of a somewhat independent structural entity. This component, referred to as the FeMo cofactor (FeMo-co), was first identified by Shah and Brill (1977) as the stable metallocluster extracted from acid-denatured MoFe protein. The FeMo-co was able to fully activate a defective protein in the extracts of mutant strain UW45, a protein which subsequently was shown to contain the P clusters but not the EPR-active center. The isolated cofactor accounted for the total S = t system observed by EPR and Mdssbauer spectroscopies of the holo-MoFe protein (Rawlings et al., 1978). Elemental analysis indicated a composition of Mo Fee-8 Se-g for the cofactor, which, if there are two FeMo-co s per a2 2> accounts for all the molybdenum and approximately half the iron in active enzyme (Nelson etai, 1983). Although FeMo-co has been extensively studied [reviewed in Burgess (1990)] the structure remains enigmatic. To date, all attempts to crystallize the cofactor have failed. This is possibly due to the instability and resultant heterogeneity of the cofactor when removed from the protein. Also, there is a paucity of appropriate models for spectral comparison (see Coucouvanis, 1991, for a recent discussion). Final resolution of this elusive structure may require its determination as a component of the holoprotein. 

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. 

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