Publications by authors named "Susan S Pochapsky"

The human steroidogenic cytochrome P450 CYP17A1 catalyzes two types of reactions in the biosynthetic pathway leading from pregnenolone to testosterone and several other steroid hormones. The first is the hydroxylation of pregnenolone or progesterone to the corresponding 17α-hydroxy steroid, followed by a lyase reaction that converts these 17α-hydroxy intermediates to the androgens dehydroepiandrosterone and androstenedione, respectively. cytochrome (cyt) is known to act as both an effector and electron donor for the lyase oxidations, markedly stimulating the rate of the lyase reaction in its presence relative to the rate in its absence.

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Enzyme function requires that enzyme structures be dynamic. Substrate binding, product release, and transition state stabilization typically involve different enzyme conformers. Furthermore, in multistep enzyme-catalyzed reactions, more than one enzyme conformation may be important for stabilizing different transition states.

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While used extensively by nature to control the geometry of protein structures, and dynamics of proteins, such as self-organization, hydration forces and ionic interactions received less attention for controlling the behaviour of small molecules. Here we describe the synthesis and characterization of a novel zwitterionic metallopeptide consisting of a cationic core and three distal anionic groups linked by self-assembling peptide motifs. 2D NMR spectra, total correlated spectroscopy and nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy, show that the molecule exhibits a three-fold rotational symmetry and adopts a folded conformation in dimethyl sulfoxide due to Coulombic forces.

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Removal of substrate (+)-camphor from the active site of cytochrome P450(cam) (CYP101A1) results in nuclear magnetic resonance-detected perturbations in multiple regions of the enzyme. The (1)H-(15)N correlation map of substrate-free diamagnetic Fe(II) CO-bound CYP101A permits these perturbations to be mapped onto the solution structure of the enzyme. Residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) were measured for (15)N-(1)H amide pairs in two independent alignment media for the substrate-free enzyme and used as restraints in solvated molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to generate an ensemble of best-fit structures of the substrate-free enzyme in solution.

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An asymmetric synthesis of the bromophycolide D ring system has been achieved in seven steps from a known geranylgeranylated benzoate, via bromonium-promoted transannular cyclization of a macrocyclic intermediate.

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Residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) were used as restraints in fully solvated molecular dynamics simulations of reduced substrate- and carbonmonoxy-bound cytochrome P450(cam) (CYP101A1), a 414-residue soluble monomeric heme-containing camphor monooxygenase from the soil bacterium Pseudomonas putida. The (1)D(NH) residual dipolar couplings used as restraints were measured in two independent alignment media. A soft annealing protocol was used to heat the starting structures while incorporating the RDC restraints.

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A hydrogen bond network has been identified that adjusts protein-substrate contacts in cytochrome P450(cam) (CYP101A1). Replacing the native substrate camphor with adamantanone or norcamphor causes perturbations in NMR-detected NH correlations assigned to the network, which includes portions of a β sheet and an adjacent helix that is remote from the active site. A mutation in this helix reduces enzyme efficiency and perturbs the extent of substrate-induced spin state changes at the haem iron that accompany substrate binding.

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Helicobacter pylori , a pathogen that colonizes the human stomach, requires the nickel-containing metalloenzymes urease and NiFe-hydrogenase to survive this low pH environment. The maturation of both enzymes depends on the metallochaperone, HypA. HypA contains two metal sites, an intrinsic zinc site and a low-affinity nickel binding site.

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Esterification of the trienoic acid with o-xylylene dibromide gave the bis ester that underwent a templated Diels-Alder reaction to afford the macrodiolide stereospecifically in a single step. The synthesis of bistellettadine A was completed in four steps by hydrolysis and side chain elaboration.

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Local protein backbone dynamics of the camphor hydroxylase cytochrome P450(cam) (CYP101) depend upon the oxidation and ligation state of the heme iron. (1)H-(15)N correlation nuclear magnetic resonance experiments were used to compare backbone dynamics of oxidized and reduced forms of this 414-residue metalloenzyme via hydrogen-deuterium exchange kinetics (H-D exchange) and (15)N relaxation measurements, and these results are compared with previously published results obtained by H-D exchange mass spectrometry. In general, the reduced enzyme exhibits lower-amplitude motions of secondary structural features than the oxidized enzyme on all of the time scales accessible to these experiments, and these differences are more pronounced in regions of the enzyme involved in substrate access to the active site (B' helix and beta3 and beta5 sheets) and binding of putidaredoxin (C and L helices), the iron-sulfur protein that acts as the effector and reductant of CYP101 in vivo.

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Experimental evidence has been provided for a functionally relevant cis-trans isomerization of the Ile88-Pro89 peptide bond in cytochrome P450(cam) (CYP101). The isomerization is proposed to be a key element of the structural reorganization leading to the catalytically competent form of CYP101 upon binding of the effector protein putidaredoxin (Pdx). A detailed comparison of the results of molecular dynamics simulations on the cis and trans conformations of substrate- and carbonmonoxy-bound ferrous CYP101 with sequence-specific Pdx-induced structural perturbations identified by nuclear magnetic resonance is presented, providing insight into the structural and dynamic consequences of the isomerization.

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Addition of guanidine to a 6-methylhexahydroindenone in MeOH at 85 degrees C afforded 7-epineoptilocaulin. A similar reaction with a 6-propylhexahydroindenone afforded netamine E. MnO2 oxidation of 7-epineoptilocaulin and netamine E afforded mirabilin B and netamine G, respectively.

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The 58-kDa complex formed between the [2Fe-2S] ferredoxin, putidaredoxin (Pdx), and cytochrome P450cam (CYP101) from the bacterium Pseudomonas putida has been investigated by high-resolution solution NMR spectroscopy. Pdx serves as both the physiological reductant and effector for CYP101 in the enzymatic reaction involving conversion of substrate camphor to 5-exo-hydroxycamphor. In order to obtain an experimental structure for the oxidized Pdx-CYP101 complex, a combined approach using orientational data on the two proteins derived from residual dipolar couplings and distance restraints from site-specific spin labeling of Pdx has been applied.

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The two-protein complex between putidaredoxin (Pdx) and cytochrome P450(cam) (CYP101) is the catalytically competent species for camphor hydroxylation by CYP101. We detected a conformational change in CYP101 upon binding of Pdx that reorients bound camphor appropriately for hydroxylation. Experimental evidence shows that binding of Pdx converts a single X-proline amide bond in CYP101 from trans or distorted trans to cis.

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The camphor monoxygenase cytochrome P450cam (CYP101) requires potassium ion (K+) to drive formation of the characteristic high-spin state of the heme Fe+3 upon substrate binding. Amide 1H, 15N correlations in perdeuterated [U-15N] CYP101 were monitored as a function of K+ concentration by 2D-TROSY-HSQC in both camphor-bound oxidized (CYP-S) and camphor- and CO-bound reduced CYP101 (CYP-S-CO). In both forms, K+-induced spectral perturbations are detected in the vicinity of the K+ binding site proposed from crystallographic structures, but are larger and more widespread structurally in CYP-S than in CYP-S-CO.

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Acireductone dioxygenase (ARD) catalyzes different reactions between O2 and 1,2-dihydroxy-3-oxo-5-(methylthio)pent-1-ene (acireductone) depending upon the metal bound in the active site. Ni2+ -ARD cleaves acireductone to formate, CO and methylthiopropionate. If Fe2+ is bound (ARD'), the same substrates yield methylthioketobutyrate and formate.

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Structural perturbations in cytochrome P450cam (CYP101) induced by the soluble fragment of cytochrome b5, a nonphysiological effector of CYP101, were investigated by NMR spectroscopy and compared with the perturbations induced by the physiological reductant and effector putidaredoxin (Pdx). Chemical shifts of perdeuterated [U-15N]CYP101 backbone amide (NH) resonances were monitored as a function of cytochrome b5 concentration by 1H-15N TROSY-HSQC experiments. The association of cytochrome b5 with the reduced CYP101-camphor-carbon monoxide complex (CYP-S-CO) perturbs many of the same resonances that Pdx does, including regions of the CYP101 molecule implicated in substrate access and orientation.

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Acireductone dioxygenase (ARD) from Klebsiella ATCC 8724 is a metalloenzyme that is capable of catalyzing different reactions with the same substrates (acireductone and O2) depending upon the metal bound in the active site. A model for the solution structure of the paramagnetic Ni2+-containing ARD has been refined using residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) measured in two media. Additional dihedral restraints based on chemical shift (TALOS) were included in the refinement, and backbone structure in the vicinity of the active site was modeled from a crystallographic structure of the mouse homolog of ARD.

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The orientation of the substrate camphor in the active site of reduced CO-bound cytochrome P450cam (CYP101) as a function of reduced putidaredoxin (Pdxr) addition has been examined by NMR using perdeuterated CYP101 and perdeuterated Pdx as well as isotopically labeled d-camphor. This permits the 1H resonances of CYP101-bound camphor to be observed without interference from the signals of CYP101 or Pdx and confirms assignments of the methyl signals of camphor in the bound form. The Cys4Fe2S2 ferredoxin Pdx is the physiological redox partner and effector of CYP101.

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The camphor hydroxylase cytochrome P450(cam) (CYP101) catalyzes the 5-exo hydroxylation of camphor in the first step of camphor catabolism by Pseudomonas putida. CYP101 forms a specific electron transfer complex with its physiological reductant, the Cys(4)Fe(2)S(2) ferredoxin putidaredoxin (Pdx). Pdx, along with other proteins and small molecules, has also been shown to be an effector for turnover by CYP101.

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Here we report the structure of acireductone dioxygenase (ARD), the first determined for a new family of metalloenzymes. ARD represents a branch point in the methionine salvage pathway leading from methylthioadenosine to methionine and has been shown to catalyze different reactions depending on the type of metal ion bound in the active site. The solution structure of nickel-containing ARD (Ni-ARD) was determined using NMR methods.

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NMR resonance assignments in the vicinity of paramagnetic metals in proteins are often difficult or impossible to make using conventional 1H detected 2-D and 3-D methods due to paramagnetic line broadening. The applicability of 13Calpha{13C'} and 13C'{15N} multiple quantum coherence methods for residue-specific assignments of resonances near paramagnetic centers is described, using the Ni2+-containing enzyme acireductone dioxygenase as an example.

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The vertebrate-type Cys(4)Fe(2)S(2) ferredoxins are a class of small acidic proteins that typically act as electron shuttles between NAD(P)H-dependent reductases and monoxygenases, particularly cytochromes P450. Nuclear magnetic resonance assignments and detailed analysis of nuclear Overhauser effects permit the direct comparison of the functional C-terminal domains of three vertebrate-type ferredoxins, the mammalian adrenodoxin (Adx) and the bacterial ferredoxins putidaredoxin (Pdx) and terpredoxin (Tdx). In particular, homologous hydrogen-bonding networks involving a conserved basic residue (His 49 in Pdx, His 56 in Adx, Arg 49 in Tdx) are detailed.

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