Kinetic and equilibrium studies of acrylonitrile binding to cytochrome c peroxidase and oxidation of acrylonitrile by cytochrome c peroxidase compound I.

Ferric heme proteins bind weakly basic ligands and the binding affinity is often pH dependent due to protonation of the ligand as well as the protein. In an effort to find a small, neutral ligand without significant acid/base properties to probe ligand binding reactions in ferric heme proteins we were led to consider the organonitriles. Although organonitriles are known to bind to transition metals, we have been unable to find any prior studies of nitrile binding to heme proteins.

Peroxygenase activity of cytochrome c peroxidase and three apolar distal heme pocket mutants: hydroxylation of 1-methoxynaphthalene.

Background: The cytochrome P450s are monooxygenases that insert oxygen functionalities into a wide variety of organic substrates with high selectivity. There is interest in developing efficient catalysts based on the "peroxide shunt" pathway in the cytochrome P450s, which uses H2O2 in place of O2/NADPH as the oxygenation agent. We report on our initial studies using cytochrome c peroxidase (CcP) as a platform to develop specific "peroxygenation" catalysts.

Apolar distal pocket mutants of yeast cytochrome c peroxidase: hydrogen peroxide reactivity and cyanide binding of the TriAla, TriVal, and TriLeu variants.

Three yeast cytochrome c peroxidase (CcP) variants with apolar distal heme pockets have been constructed. The CcP variants have Arg48, Trp51, and His52 mutated to either all alanines, CcP(triAla), all valines, CcP(triVal), or all leucines, CcP(triLeu). The triple mutants have detectable enzymatic activity at pH 6 but the activity is less than 0.