"Bridging hydroxide effect" on mu-carboxylato coordination and electrochemical potentials of bimetallic centers: Mn2(II,II) and Mn2(III,III) complexes as functional models of dimanganese catalases.

Synthesis, solution structures, and electrochemistry of several dinuclear Mn2(II,II) complexes (1-4) and Mn2(III,III) complexes (6 and 8), derived from a functional catalase mimic [(L1,2)Mn2(II,II)(mu 13-O2CCH3)]2+ (1) are described that enable testing of the role of intramolecular hydroxide ligands on the redox properties. Addition of 1 equiv of hydroxide to 1 or 3 forms [(L1,2)Mn2(II,II)(mu 13-O2CCH3)(mu- OH)]+ (7A or 7B, respectively), possessing two six-coordinate Mn(II) ions bridged by hydroxide and acetato ligands. Two-electron oxidation of 7 with O2 occurs by forming [(L1,2)Mn2(III,III)(mu 1,3-O2CCH3)(mu-OH)]3+ (8) and H2O2 with no ligand rearrangements in methanol.

L-arginine binding to liver arginase requires proton transfer to gateway residue His141 and coordination of the guanidinium group to the dimanganese(II,II) center.

Rat liver arginase contains a dimanganese(II,II) center per subunit that is required for catalytic hydrolysis of l-arginine to form urea and l-ornithine. A recent crystallographic study has shown that the Mn2 center consists of two coordinatively inequivalent manganese(II) ions, MnA and MnB, bridged by a water (hydroxide) molecule and two aspartate residues [Kanyo et al. (1996) Nature 383, 554-557].

Selenium-containing formate dehydrogenase H from Escherichia coli: a molybdopterin enzyme that catalyzes formate oxidation without oxygen transfer.

Formate dehydrogenase H, FDH(Se), from Escherichia coli contains a molybdopterin guanine dinucleotide cofactor and a selenocysteine residue in the polypeptide. Oxidation of 13C-labeled formate in 18O-enriched water catalyzed by FDH(Se) produces 13CO2 gas that contains no 18O-label, establishing that the enzyme is not a member of the large class of Mo-pterin-containing oxotransferases which incorporate oxygen from water into product. An unusual Mo center of the active site is coordinated in the reduced Mo(IV) state in a square pyramidal geometry to the four equatorial dithiolene sulfur atoms from a pair of pterin cofactors and a Se atom of the selenocysteine-140 residue [Boyington, J.

Crystal structure of formate dehydrogenase H: catalysis involving Mo, molybdopterin, selenocysteine, and an Fe4S4 cluster.

Formate dehydrogenase H from Escherichia coli contains selenocysteine (SeCys), molybdenum, two molybdopterin guanine dinucleotide (MGD) cofactors, and an Fe4S4 cluster at the active site and catalyzes the two-electron oxidation of formate to carbon dioxide. The crystal structures of the oxidized [Mo(VI), Fe4S4(ox)] form of formate dehydrogenase H (with and without bound inhibitor) and the reduced [Mo(IV), Fe4S4(red)] form have been determined, revealing a four-domain alphabeta structure with the molybdenum directly coordinated to selenium and both MGD cofactors. These structures suggest a reaction mechanism that directly involves SeCys140 and His141 in proton abstraction and the molybdenum, molybdopterin, Lys44, and the Fe4S4 cluster in electron transfer.

Characterization of crystalline formate dehydrogenase H from Escherichia coli. Stabilization, EPR spectroscopy, and preliminary crystallographic analysis.

The selenocysteine-containing formate dehydrogenase H (FDH) is an 80-kDa component of the Escherichia coli formate-hydrogen lyase complex. The molybdenum-coordinated selenocysteine is essential for catalytic activity of the native enzyme. FDH in dilute solutions (30 microg/ml) was rapidly inactivated at basic pH or in the presence of formate under anaerobic conditions, but at higher enzyme concentrations (>/=3 mg/ml) the enzyme was relatively stable.