The Mechanism of the Reaction Catalyzed by Uronate Isomerase Illustrates How an Isomerase May Have Evolved from a Hydrolase within the Amidohydrolase Superfamily

摘要

Uronate isomerase (URI) catalyzes the reversible isomerization of D-glucuronate to D-fructuronate and of D-galacturonate to D-tagaturonate. URI is a member of the amidohydrolase superfamily (AHS), a highly divergent group of enzymes that catalyzes primarily hydrolytic reactions. The chemical mechanism and active site structure of URI was investigated in an attempt to obtain a greater understanding of how an active site template that apparently evolved to catalyze hydrolytic reactions has been re-forged to catalyze an isomerization reaction. The pH-rate profiles for kcat and kcat/Km for URI from Escherichia coli are bell-shaped and indicate that one group must be unprotonated and another residue must be protonated for catalytic activity. Primary isotope effects on the kinetic constants with [2-²H]-D-glucuronate and the effects of changes in solvent viscosity are consistent with product release as the rate limiting step. The X-ray structure of Bh0493, a URI from Bacillus halodurans, was determined in the presence of the substrate D-glucuronate. The bound complex showed that the mononuclear metal center in the active site is ligated to the C-6 carboxylate and the C-5 hydroxyl group of the substrate. This hydroxyl group is also hydrogen bonded to Asp-355 in the same orientation as the hydroxide/water is bound in those members of the AHS that catalyze hydrolytic reactions. In addition, the C-2 and C-3 hydroxyl groups of the substrate are hydrogen bonded to Arg-357 and the carbonyl group at C-1 is hydrogen bonded to Tyr-50. A chemical mechanism is proposed that utilizes a proton transfer from C-2 of D-glucuronate to C-1 that is initiated by the combined actions of Asp-355 from the end of β-strand 8 and the C-5 hydroxyl of the substrate that is bound to the metal ion. The formation of the proposed cis-enediol intermediate is further facilitated by the shuttling of the proton between the C-2 and C-1 oxygens by the conserved Tyr-50 and/or Arg-355.