Subtilisins

Bode, W., Papamokos, E., Musil, D. The high-resolution X-ray crystal structure of the complex formed between subtilisin Carlsberg and eglin c, an elastase inhibitor from the leech Hirudo medicinalis. Eur. J. Biochem. 166 (1987) 673-692... 

McPhalen, C. A., James, M. N. G. Structural comparison of two serine proteinase-protein inhibitor complexes Eglin-C-Subtilisin Carlsberg and CI-2-subtilisin novo. Biochemistry 27 (1988) 6582-6598... 

Engineering the pH Proji/e of Subtilisin. The activity of subtilisin BPN increases between pH 6 and 8 as His64 7.2) is deprotonated (68). Changes in... 

Enzymatic acylation reactions offer considerable promise in the synthesis of specific ester derivatives of sucrose. For example, reaction of sucrose with an activated alkyl ester in /V, /V- dim ethyl form am i de in the presence of subtilisin gave 1 -0-butyrylsucrose, which on further treatment with an activated fatty acid ester in acetone in the presence of Hpase C. viscosum produced the 1, 6-diester derivative (71,72). 

Subtilisin (from Bacillus subtilis) [9014-01-1 ] [EC 3.4.21.62]. Purified by affinity chromatography using 4-(4-aminophenylazo)phenylarsonic acid complex to activated CH-Sepharose 4B. [Chandraskaren and Dhai Anal Biochem 150 141 7955]. 

Subtilisins are a group of serine proteinases that are produced by different species of bacilli. These enzymes are of considerable commercial interest because they are added to the detergents in washing powder to facilitate removal of proteinaceous stains. Numerous attempts have therefore recently been made to change by protein engineering such properties of the subtilisin molecule as its thermal stability, pH optimum, and specificity. In fact, in 1988 subtilisin mutants were the subject of the first US patent granted for an engineered protein. 

Figure 11.13 Schematic diagram of the three-dimensional structure of subtilisin viewed down the central parallel p sheet. The N-terminal region that contains the a/p stmcture is blue.

The active site of subtilisin is outside the carboxy ends of the central p strands analogous to the position of the binding sites in other a/p proteins as discussed in Chapter 4. Details of this active site are surprisingly similar to those of chymotrypsin, in spite of the completely different folds of the two enzymes (Figures 11.14 and 11.9). A catalytic triad is present that comprises residues Asp 32, His 64 and the reactive Ser 221. The negatively charged oxygen atom of the tetrahedral transition state binds in an oxyanion hole,... 

Figure 11.14 Schematic diagram of the active site of subtilisin. A region (residues 42-45) of a bound polypeptide inhibitor, eglin, is shown in red. The four essential features of the active site— the catalytic triad, the oxyanion hole, the specificity pocket, and the region for nonspecific binding of substrate—are highlighted in yellow. Important hydrogen bonds between enzyme and inhibitor are striped. This figure should be compared to Figure 11.9, which shows the same features for chymotrypsin. (Adapted from W. Bode et al., EMBO /.

All the four essential features of the active site of chymotrypsin are thus also present in subtilisin. Furthermore, these features are spatially arranged in the same way in the two enzymes, even though different framework structures bring different loop regions into position in the active site. This is a classical example of convergent evolution at the molecular level. 

Figure 11.15 Topology diagram of the a/p region of subtilisin illustrating that Pa-ae-Pa has a different hand than the other p-a-p units.

Transition-state stabilization in subtilisin is dissected by protein engineering... 

By changing Ser 221 in subtilisin to Ala the reaction rate (both kcat and kcat/Km) is reduced by a factor of about 10 compared with the wild-type enzyme. The Km value and, by inference, the initial binding of substrate are essentially unchanged. This mutation prevents formation of the covalent bond with the substrate and therefore abolishes the reaction mechanism outlined in Figure 11.5. When the Ser 221 to Ala mutant is further mutated by changes of His 64 to Ala or Asp 32 to Ala or both, as expected there is no effect on the catalytic reaction rate, since the reaction mechanism that involves the catalytic triad is no longer in operation. However, the enzyme still has an appreciable catalytic effect peptide hydrolysis is still about 10 -10 times the nonenzymatic rate. Whatever the reaction mechanism... 

The single mutation Asp 32-Ala reduces the catalytic reaction rate by a factor of about lO compared with wild type. This rate reduction reflects the role of Asp 32 in stabilizing the positive charge that His 64 acquires in the transition state. A similar reduction of kcat and kcat/ m (2.5 x 10 ) is obtained for the single mutant Asn 155-Thr. Asn 155 provides one of the two hydrogen bonds to the substrate transition state in the oxyanion hole of subtilisin. 

Figure 11.16 Substrate-assisted catalysis. Schematic diagram from model building of a substrate, NHa-Phe-Ala-His-Tyr-Gly-COOH (red), bound to the subtilisin mutant His 64-Ala. The diagram illustrates that the His residue of the substrate can occupy roughly the same position in this mutant as His 64 in wild-type subtilisin (see Figure 11.14) and thereby partly restore the catalytic triad.

The subtilisin mutants described here illustrate the power of protein engineering as a tool to allow us to identify the specific roles of side chains in the catalytic mechanisms of enzymes. In Chapter 17 we shall discuss the utility of protein engineering in other contexts, such as design of novel proteins and the elucidation of the energetics of ligand binding to proteins. 

Serine proteinases such as chymotrypsin and subtilisin catalyze the cleavage of peptide bonds. Four features essential for catalysis are present in the three-dimensional structures of all serine proteinases a catalytic triad, an oxyanion binding site, a substrate specificity pocket, and a nonspecific binding site for polypeptide substrates. These four features, in a very similar arrangement, are present in both chymotrypsin and subtilisin even though they are achieved in the two enzymes in completely different ways by quite different three-dimensional structures. Chymotrypsin is built up from two p-barrel domains, whereas the subtilisin structure is of the a/p type. These two enzymes provide an example of convergent evolution where completely different loop regions, attached to different framework structures, form similar active sites. 

The oxyanion binding site stabilizes the transition state by forming two hydrogen bonds to a negatively charged oxygen atom of the substrate. Mutations that prevent formation of one of these bonds in subtilisin decrease the rate by a factor of about 10. ... 

Wells, J.A., et al. On the evolution of specificity and catalysis in subtilisin. Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. 52 647-652, 1987. 

Bryan, P., et al. Site-directed mutagenesis and the role of the oxyanion hole in subtilisin. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 83 3743-3745, 1986. 

Cunningham, B.C., Wells, J.A. Improvement in the alkaline stability of subtilisin using an efficient random mutagenesis and screening procedure. Prot. Eng. 

Drenth, J., et al. Subtilisin novo. The three-dimensional structure and its comparison with subtilisin BPN. 

---