Theoretical study of the catalytic mechanism of E1 subunit of pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex from Bacillus stearothermophilus.

Pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex (PDHc) is a member of a family of 2-oxo acid dehydrogenase (OADH) multienzyme complexes involved in several central points of oxidative metabolism, and the E1 subunit is the most important component in the entire PDHc catalytic system, which catalyzes the reversible transfer of an acetyl group from a pyruvate to the lipoyl group of E2 subunit lipoly domain. In this article, the catalytic mechanism of the E1 subunit has been systematically studied using density functional theory (DFT). Four possible pathways with different general acid/base catalysts in decarboxylation and reductive acylation processes were explored. Our calculation results indicate that the 4'-amino pyrimidine of ThDP and residue His128 are the most likely proton donors in the decarboxylation and reductive acylation processes, respectively. During the reaction, each C-C and C-S bond formation or cleavage process, except for the liberation of CO2, is always accompanied by a proton transfer between the substrates and proton donors. The liberation of CO2 is calculated to be the rate-limiting step for the overall reaction, with an energy barrier of 13.57 kcal/mol. The decarboxylation process is endothermic by 5.32 kcal/mol, whereas the reductive acylation process is exothermic with a value of 5.74 kcal/mol. The assignment of protonation states of the surrounding residues can greatly influence the reaction. Residues His128 and His271 play roles in positioning the first substrate pyruvate and second substrate lipoyl group, respectively.