Terminally Truncated Isopenicillin N Synthase Generates a Dithioester Product: Evidence for a Thioaldehyde Intermediate during Catalysis and a New Mode of Reaction for Non‐Heme Iron Oxidases

• Published in: Chemistry : a European journal 2017-09, Vol.23 (52), p.12815-12824
• Main Authors: McNeill, Luke A., Brown, Toby J. N., Sami, Malkit, Clifton, Ian J., Burzlaff, Nicolai I., Claridge, Timothy D. W., Adlington, Robert M., Baldwin, Jack E., Rutledge, Peter J., Schofield, Christopher J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ablation; Aldehydes - chemistry; Aldehydes - metabolism; Amides; Amino acids; Binding; Binding Sites; Biocatalysis; Biosynthesis; Carbonyls; Catalysis; Catalytic Domain; Cephalosporins; Cephalosporins - biosynthesis; Cephalosporins - chemistry; Chains; Chemistry; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Conformation; Crystal structure; Crystallography, X-Ray; enzymes; Esters - chemistry; Esters - metabolism; Heme; Hydrophobicity; Iron; Iron - chemistry; Isopenicillin N synthase; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Mass Spectrometry; metalloenzymes; Metals; Molecular Conformation; Mutagenesis; NMR; non-heme oxygenase; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Oxidation; Oxidation-Reduction; oxidoreductases; Oxidoreductases - genetics; Oxidoreductases - metabolism; Oxygen; Oxygen - chemistry; Oxygen - metabolism; Penicillin; Penicillins - biosynthesis; Penicillins - chemistry; Residues; Substrate Specificity; Sulfhydryl Compounds - chemistry; Sulfur; Valine
• ISSN: 0947-6539; 1521-3765
• DOI: 10.1002/chem.201701592

Isopenicillin N synthase (IPNS) catalyses the four‐electron oxidation of a tripeptide, l‐δ‐(α‐aminoadipoyl)‐l‐cysteinyl‐d‐valine (ACV), to give isopenicillin N (IPN), the first‐formed β‐lactam in penicillin and cephalosporin biosynthesis. IPNS catalysis is dependent upon an iron(II) cofactor and oxygen as a co‐substrate. In the absence of substrate, the carbonyl oxygen of the side‐chain amide of the penultimate residue, Gln330, co‐ordinates to the active‐site metal iron. Substrate binding ablates the interaction between Gln330 and the metal, triggering rearrangement of seven C‐terminal residues, which move to take up a conformation that extends the final α‐helix and encloses ACV in the active site. Mutagenesis studies are reported, which probe the role of the C‐terminal and other aspects of the substrate binding pocket in IPNS. The hydrophobic nature of amino acid side‐chains around the ACV binding pocket is important in catalysis. Deletion of seven C‐terminal residues exposes the active site and leads to formation of a new type of thiol oxidation product. The isolated product is shown by LC‐MS and NMR analyses to be the ene‐thiol tautomer of a dithioester, made up from two molecules of ACV linked between the thiol sulfur of one tripeptide and the oxidised cysteinyl β‐carbon of the other. A mechanism for its formation is proposed, supported by an X‐ray crystal structure, which shows the substrate ACV bound at the active site, its cysteinyl β‐carbon exposed to attack by a second molecule of substrate, adjacent. Formation of this product constitutes a new mode of reaction for IPNS and non‐heme iron oxidases in general. Chasing its tail? The I325* mutant of isopenicillin N synthase (IPNS) is missing seven amino acids from its C‐terminus. Truncation exposes the active site to the external environment, and leads to interception of the key thioaldehyde intermediate by a second molecule of substrate. This affords a remarkable side‐product: the ene‐thiol tautomer of a dithioester, which evinces an entirely new mode of reaction for IPNS and non‐heme iron oxidases more generally.