Molybdenum cofactor, xanthine oxidase

Figure 17.2 The structure of the pterin cofactor (1) which is common to most molybdenum- and tungsten-containing enzymes and schematic active site structures for members of the xanthine oxidase (2,3), sulfite oxidase (4) and DMSO reductase (5-7) enzyme families. (From Enemark et al., 2004. Copyright (2004) American Chemical Society.)...

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. 

This enzyme [EC 1.2.3.1] catalyzes the reaction of an aldehyde with water and dioxygen to produce a carboxylic acid and hydrogen peroxide. The enzyme uses both heme and molybdenum as cofactors. In addition, the enzyme can also catalyze the oxidation of quinoline and pyridine derivatives. In some systems this enzyme may be identical with xanthine oxidase. 

METHOD OF CONTINUOUS VARIATION MOLYBDENUM COFACTOR (MoCo) Molybdenum-dependent reactions, ALDEHYDE OXIDASE MOLYBDOPTERIN NITRATE REDUCTASE NITROGENASE SULFITE OXIDASE XANTHINE DEHYDROGENASE MOLYBDOPTERIN... 

A large number of studies devoted to metal-sulfur centers are motivated by the occurrence of such arrangements at the active site of various metalloenzymes [1-13]. Mononuclear complexes with Mo=0 func-tion(s) and possessing sulfur ligands in their coordination sphere have been extensively investigated since they can be seen as models of the active site of enzymes such as nitrate- and DM SO reductases or sulfite- and xanthine oxidases [1-4]. On the other hand, a large variety of mono-, di-, and polynuclear Mo—S centers have been synthesized in order to produce functional models of the Mo-nitrogenase since the exact nature (mono-, di- or polynuclear) of the metal center, where N2 interacts within the iron-molybdenum cofactor (FeMo—co) of the enzyme is still unknown [4-8]. 

Fe2S2] clusters are part of the molybdenum containing hydroxylases. Typically, apart from molybdenum and two EPR-distinct iron-sulfur centres there can be FAD as additional cofactor. In Chlostridium purinolyticum a selenium-dependent purine hydroxylase has been characterized as molybdenum hydroxylase. The EPR of the respective desulfo molybdenum (V) signal indicated that the Mo-ligands should differ from those of the well known mammalian corollary xanthine oxidase.197 For the bacterial molybdenum hydroxylase quinoline oxidoreductase from Pseudomonas putida an expression system was developed in order to be able to construct protein mutants for detailed analysis. EPR was used to control the correct insertion of the cofactors, specifically of the two [Fe2S2] clusters.198... 

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... 

Protein sequence homology suggests that sulfite oxidase and assimilatory nitrate reductase are members of the same molybdenum enzyme subfamily [31]. Consistent with this classification, the cofactors of sulfite oxidase and assimilatory nitrate reductase differ significantly from those in dmso reductase, aldehyde oxido-reductase, xanthine oxidase (see Section IV.E.), and even respiratory nitrate reductase (Section IV.D). The EXAFS of both sulfite oxidase [132-136] and assimilatory nitrate reductase [131,137,138] and x-ray studies of sulfite oxidase (chicken liver) [116] confirm that the molybdenum center is coordinated by two sulfur atoms from a single MPT ligand and by the sulfur atom of a cysteine side chain. The Movl state is bis(oxido) coordinated (Figure 14). 

Cyanolyzed xanthine oxidase and xanthine dehydrogenase are inactive for the oxidation of xanthine to uric acid [159]. Cyanide abstracts a sulfur atom from the cofactor generating MoIV Upon reoxidation a bis(oxido) molybdenum (VI) with an average Mo=0 bond distance of 1.67 A is generated (Eq. 5). Upon reduction of cyanolyzed xanthine oxidase with dithionite one oxido ligand is... 

Figure 6.11 Structure of the pterin cofactor, which binds molybdenum in aldehyde oxidase, xanthine oxidase, and sulfite oxidase. [Reproduced by permission from Rajago-palan, KV. Molybdenum, an essential trace element. Nutr. Rev., 45 321-328 (1987).]...

Ganelin et al. (11) provided evidence that the molybdenum cofactor is a molybdenum peptide with a molecular weight of about 1000. The same properties have been claimed for the cofactor from xanthine oxidase (12). 

Figure 16. Consensus oxidized active-site structures of the xanthine oxidase (XO), sulfite oxidase (SO), and DMSO reductase (DMSOR), and aldehyde oxidoreductase (AOR) families of mononuclear molybdenum and tungsten enzymes and the structure of the common ppd cofactor (41, 42). The question mark in the AOR structure indicates uncertainty in the presence of a coordinated water molecule.

Deistung and Bray (29) have described a procedure for anaerobic isolation of active intact molybdenum cofactor from xanthine oxidase. The molecular mass by gel filtration was about 610. Hawkes and Bray (30) have reported that Mo-co from xanthine oxidase and sulfite oxidase can be stabilized under anaerobic conditions in the presence of dithio-nite and that oxidation in the presence of thiophenol results in EPR signals characteristic of Mo(V) and little loss of cofactor activity (31). However, to date intact Mo-co has not been structurally characterized. The possible coordination about the molybdenum atom in Mo-co in enzymes is discussed in Section III. 

In summary, a 6-substituted pterin was first identified as a structural component of the molybdenum cofactor from sulfite oxidase, xanthine oxidase and nitrate reductase in 1980 (24). Subsequent studies provided good evidence that these enzymes possessed the same unstable molyb-dopterin (1), and it seemed likely that 1 was a constituent of all of the enzymes of Table I. It now appears that there is a family of closely related 6-substituted pterins that may differ in the oxidation state of the pterin ring, the stereochemistry of the dihydropterin ring, the tautomeric form of the side chain, and the presence and nature of a dinucleotide in the side chain. In some ways the variations that are being discovered for the pterin units of molybdenum enzymes are beginning to parallel the known complexity of naturally occurring porphyrins, which may have several possible side chains, various isomers of such side chains, and a partially reduced porphyrin skeleton (46). 

Molybdenum is required in the diet. It is required by three enzymes in mammals sulfite oxidase, xanthine dehydrogenase, and aldehyde oxidase. Molybdenum occurs in these enzymes as part of the molybdenum cofactor (Figure 10.52). This cofactOT is biosynthes z.ed in the body with GTP as the starling material. All known Mo mclalloenzymes, with the exception of nitrogenase (a plant enzyme), use Mo in the form of the molybdenum cofactor. 

Molybdenum-containing enzymes can be divided into three families, the xanthine oxidase (XO), sulfite oxidase (SO), and the DMSO reductase (DMR) families. They each have a characteristic active site structure (Figure 17.2(a)) and catalyse a particular type of reaction (see below). Whereas in eukaryotes, the pterin side chain has a terminal phosphate group, in prokaryotes, the cofactor (R in Figure 17.2(b)) it is often a dinucleotide. 

---