Mol. Cells 2018; 41(4): 331-341
Published online April 5, 2018
https://doi.org/10.14348/molcells.2018.2313
© The Korean Society for Molecular and Cellular Biology
Correspondence to : *Correspondence: Hyungholee@snu.ac.kr
L-pipecolic acid is a non-protein amino acid commonly found in plants, animals, and microorganisms. It is a well-known precursor to numerous microbial secondary metabolites and pharmaceuticals, including anticancer agents, immunosuppressants, and several antibiotics. Lysine cyclodeaminase (LCD) catalyzes β-deamination of L-lysine into L-pipecolic acid using β-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide as a cofactor. Expression of a human homolog of LCD, μ-crystallin, is elevated in prostate cancer patients. To understand the structural features and catalytic mechanisms of LCD, we determined the crystal structures of
Keywords crystal structure, L-lysine cyclodeaminase,
L-Pipecolic acid (L-Pip), also known as L-homoproline and piperidine-2-carboxylic acid, is a well-known precursor of various secondary metabolites in plants, animals, and micro-organisms (Durzan, 1983; Zacharius et al., 1954). Lysine cyclodeaminase (LCD) catalyzes β-deamination of L-lysine into L-Pip using β-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide as a cofactor. In humans, L-Pip is synthesized in the brain and accumulates in the physiological fluids of patients with peroxisomal disorders, such as hyperpipecolic academia, Zellweger syndrome, and infantile Refsum disease (Mihalik et al., 1989; Rao and Chang, 1992). In these diseases, peroxisomes, which are the sites of L-Pip oxidation, are reduced in size and number and many peroxisomal enzymes present with low activity (Mihalik et al., 1989; Rao and Chang, 1992). Expression of a human LCD homolog, μ-crystallin, is elevated in prostate cancer patients (Malinowska et al., 2009). In plants, L-Pip acts as an osmoprotectant, inducer of flowering, indicator of abnormal amino acid metabolism, and has a critical role in plant immunity (Fujioka and Sakurai, 1992; Moulin et al., 2006; Návarová et al., 2012; Pálfi and Dézsi, 1968). In bacteria, L-Pip is synthesized during L-lysine metabolism and acts as an osmoprotectant, thus enabling bacteria to grow in hyperosmotic environments (Gouesbet et al., 1994; Neshich et al., 2013).
L-Pip is a useful precursor of several pharmaceuticals, including the immunosuppressant FK506, rapamycin, the anti-cancer agent VX710, and the antibiotics demethoxyrapamycin, sandramycin, and meridamycin (Bis et al., 2015; Boger et al., 1996; Gatto et al., 2006; Germann et al., 1997; Kadouri-Puchot and Comesse, 2005; Watanabe et al., 2005). As the importance and utility of L-Pip derivatives have become increasingly well-known, chemists have been developing different methods by which to synthesize L-Pip (Couty, 1999; Eichhorn et al., 1997; Lemire and Charette, 2010; Wilkinson et al., 2000). In particular, enzymatic production of L-Pip using the L-lysine metabolic pathway has been extensively investigated (Broquist, 1991; Byun et al., 2015; Fujii et al., 2002; Garcia et al., 2016; Gupta and Spenser, 1969; Miller and Rodwell, 1971; Tani et al., 2015; Ying et al., 2015; 2017a), because the precursor L-lysine is abundant in nature and enzymatic synthesis of L-Pip yields a product with better chiral purity than chemical synthesis. Two metabolic pathways have previously been investigated for use in the enzymatic synthesis of L-Pip (Broquist, 1991; Gupta and Spenser, 1969; Miller and Rodwell, 1971). However, both of these metabolic routes require two or more enzymes and involve several steps to produce L-Pip from L-lysine, which results in problematic byproducts and high purification costs (He, 2006).
By contrast, it has been shown that LCD can directly convert L-lysine into L-Pip in one step using NAD+ as a cofactor (Gatto et al., 2006; Tsotsou and Barbirato, 2007), which is more efficient than other methods used for L-Pip biosynthesis. Recently, conditions for L-Pip biosynthesis using LCD from
The crystal structure and binding of ornithine cyclodeaminase (OCD) in complex with ornithine have been described (Goodman et al., 2004). Based on OCD X-ray crystallographic and mass spectroscopic data, a reaction mechanism has been proposed for OCD (Gatto et al., 2006; Goodman et al., 2004). The proposed mechanism is unusual in that NAD+ is initially converted into NADH and then reverted back into NAD+ at a late stage, where the pyridine nucleotide acts as a cosubstrate during most enzymatic reactions that utilize NAD(P)+ and NAD(P)H (Gatto et al., 2006). Similar use of NAD(P)+ as a catalytic cofactor has been proposed for other enzymes, including UDP-galactose 4-epimerase (Frey, 1996), S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase (Hu et al., 2001), and
Because of the unusual reaction mechanism suggested for LCD and the importance of the reaction product L-Pip, we undertook a crystallographic study of LCD derived from
L-lysine cyclodeaminase from
Crystals of SpLCD in complex with NAD+ were grown at 298 K using the sitting drop method Briefly, 1 μl of a 10 mg/ml solution of SpLCD in buffer A was mixed with 1 μl of reservoir solution (100 mM CAPSO buffer at pH 9.6, 0.2 M Li2SO4, 0.9 M Na-K tartrate, and 2% polyethylene glycol 3350) in the presence of 10 mM NAD+. For the SpLCD/NAD+/L-DABA, SpLCD/NAD+/L-Pro, and SpLCD/NAD+/L-Pip crystals, SpLCD was crystallized in the presence of 10 mM L-DABA, 10 mM L-ornithine, or 10 mM L-lysine, respectively. For cryoprotection, the crystals were transferred to reservoir solution containing 25% glycerol. Data was collected at 100 K in 1° oscillations at the 7A beamline of the Pohang Light Source and BL26B1 beamline of the SPring-8.
Crystals of SpLCD/NAD+, SpLCD/NAD+/L-Pip, SpLCD/ NAD+/L-Pro, and SpLCD/NAD+/L-DABA complexes were diffracted to a resolution of 1.92 Å, 1.92 Å, 1.79 Å, and 2.14 Å, respectively. The diffraction data were processed and scaled using the
Purified SpLCD was subjected to analytical gel filtration chromatography using a Superdex 200 (10/300 GL) column with buffer A flowing at a constant rate of 0.5 ml/min (Choi et al., 2016). The standard curve was created using molecular weight markers (Sigma). The Stokes radii of β-amylase, alcohol dehydrogenase, carbonic anhydrase, and cytochrome C were calculated from the crystal structures of each protein (PDB entries 1FA2, 2HCY, 1V9E, and 1HRC, respectively) using the
The sequence of
Crystal structures of SpLCD were determined using the molecular replacement method based on the
The overall structure of SpLCD resembled PpOCD, alanine dehydrogenase (AlaDH), and human μ-crystallin (CRYM). A search for structural similarity with SpLCD using the DALI server (Holm and Rosenstrom, 2010) identified crystal structures of OCD (PDB entry 1U7H) (Goodman et al., 2004), AlaDH (PDB entry 1OMO) (Gallagher et al., 2004), and CRYM (PDB entry 2I99) (Cheng et al., 2007). When the structure of SpLCD/NAD+ was overlaid with structures of OCD from
In general, the residues involved in NAD+ coordination at the active-site (Thr93, Arg121, Ala148, Gln149, Val233, and Ser301) were conserved between LCD and OCD (Figs. 2 and 3). However, there were some differences in the residues that interact with cofactors and substrates (Figs. 2 and 3). In the SpLCD/NAD+ complex, the main chain of Ala235 formed a hydrogen bond with the O3 atom of NAD+ (3.07 Å), while the side chain of Lys232 in PpOCD was involved in hydrogen bonding with the O3 atom of NAD+ (2.95 Å) (Fig. 3). The Lys232 side chain of PpOCD interacted with the O2 atom of NAD+ (2.75 Å) (Fig. 3). For hydrogen bonding with the O8 and O9 atoms of NAD+, PpOCD used the side chain of Lys331 (2.93 Å and 3.12 Å, respectively), while SpLCD used the side chain of His175 and two water molecules. The side chain of His175 formed a hydrogen bond with the O8 atom of NAD+ (2.85 Å), while two water molecules interacted with the O9 atom of NAD+. These two water molecules were sustained through hydrogen bonding with the Thr171 and Asp172 side chains (not shown) (Fig. 3). To create a hydrogen bond with O10 of NAD+, SpLCD used the main chain of Ser210 (2.32 Å), while PpOCD used Ala203 (3.34 Å) (Fig. 3). In the SpLCD/NAD+ complex, residues in SpLCD hydrogen bonds with water molecules indirectly coordinated with NAD+. The side chain of Glu307 indirectly interacted with the O1 atom of NAD+ through a water molecule (Fig. 2). In addition, the O4 atom of NAD+ interacted with Ile94 via a water molecule. The O5 atom of NAD+ interacted with a water molecule that then coordinated with three residues of SpLCD, Gly147, Ala150, and Ala208 (2.95 Å, 3.21 Å, and 2.95 Å, respectively) (Fig. 2). The main chain of Pro83 formed a hydrogen bond with a water molecule (3.08 Å) that interacted with the O7 atom of NAD+ (2.68 Å) and the side chain of Ser210 (2.77 Å). Finally, the main chain of Val218 interacted with the N4 atom of NAD+ (2.84 Å) through a water molecule (2.70 Å) (Fig. 2). These direct and indirect hydrogen bonds between NAD+ and SpLCD residues create a stable SpLCD/NAD+ complex for catalysis.
To obtain information on the binding between SpLCD and L-lysine, we attempted to co-crystallize SpLCD with L-lysine. However, we instead obtained the electron-density map of L-Pip, the catalytic product of SpLCD (Fig. 4A), suggesting the reaction occurred prior to crystallization. Similarly, the electron density map of L-Pro was obtained when SpLCD was co-crystallized with L-ornithine (Fig. 4B). When we attempted to co-crystallize SpLCD with L-DABA, L-DABA was unable to be transformed in ring form. Instead, the electron density associated with L-DABA was observed (Fig. 4C). These results suggest that SpLCD has catalytic activity for L-lysine and L-ornithine and L-DABA is too short for ring formation. This is consistent with previous studies demonstrating SpLCD is able to perform catalysis on a range of substrates of varying carbon lengths (Byun et al., 2015; Tsotsou and Barbirato, 2007). Structural comparisons of SpLCD in complex with L-Pip, L-Pro, and L-DABA revealed that binding of the carboxyl group attached to the C2 carbon was similar for each substrate (Fig. 4), suggesting this binding significantly contributes to substrate recognition.
Next, we analyzed the binding of L-Pip and L-Pro to the active site of SpLCD. The side chains of Glu63, Lys77, and Arg121, and the main chain of Thr302, interacted with enzymatic products L-Pip and L-Pro (Figs. 4A and 4B). Interestingly, the binding positions and orientations of L-Pip and L-Pro were similar (Figs. 4A and 4B). In the SpLCD/L-Pip structure, the side chains of Lys77 and Arg121 interacted with the O1 (2.70 Å) and O2 atoms (2.91 Å) of L-Pip, respectively (Fig. 4A). In addition, the N1 atom of L-Pip interacted with the side chain of Thr302 (2.87 Å) (Fig. 4A). The side chain of Glu63 indirectly interacted with the N1 atom of L-Pip via one water molecule (Fig. 4A). For the SpLCD/L-Pro structure, the three residues Lys77, Arg121, and Thr302 were directly involved in hydrogen bonding with L-Pro (2.67 Å, 2.74 Å, and 3.20 Å, respectively), while the side chain of Glu63 indirectly interacted with the N1 atom of L-Pro via one water molecule in a manner similar to the SpLCD/L-Pip structure (Fig. 4B).
To interact with L-DABA, additional side chains were required to stabilize L-DABA in the active site. The side chains of Glu63, Lys77, and Arg121, and the main chain of Thr302, formed hydrogen bonds with the N2 (3.25 Å), O2 (3.01 Å), O1 (2.81 Å), and N1 (2.93 Å) atoms of L-DABA, respectively (Fig. 4C). The carbonyl oxygen of Ala235 (3.20 Å) and O2 atom of NAD+ (3.25 Å) formed hydrogen bonds with the N2 atom of L-DABA (Fig. 4C). In addition, two water molecules formed hydrogen bonds, where one interacted with the Val79 (3.14 Å), Glu63 (2.79 Å), and N2 atoms of L-DABA (2.86 Å) and the other interacted with Arg49 (2.83 Å) and Glu63 (3.05 Å and 2.85 Å) and the N1 (2.71 Å) and N2 (3.02 Å) atoms of NAD+ (Fig. 4C).
To examine what makes L-Lys the optimal substrate for SpLCD, a composite model was created by incorporating the L-ornithine molecule from the PpOCD/L-ornithine structure into our SpLCD structure (Fig. 5A). The major difference between SpLCD and PpOCD recognition of L-lysine and L-ornithine, respectively, is the positioning of Asp236 in the substrate binding sites. In PpOCD, the Asp228 residue (residue corresponding to SpLCD Asp236) interacted with Lys232 (residue corresponding to SpLCD Lys240) with an additional hydrogen bond with O2 atom of NAD+, creating a space optimal for binding of L-ornithine. By contrast, the Asp236 residue of SpLCD was in a slightly different position in SpLCD and formed a hydrogen bond with the O3 atom of NAD+. In addition, the side chain of SpLCD Lys240 was involved in different hydrogen bonding than PpOCD Lys232 (Fig. 5A). The different hydrogen bonds of Asp236, Lys240, and NAD+ in SpLCD created a space that accommodated L-lysine, which has one carbon more than L-ornithine.
The reaction mechanism of LCD has previously been extensively studied using OCD and two distinct catalytic mechanisms have been proposed (Graupner and White, 2001). In one proposal, the reaction proceeds through direct attack, where a water molecule becomes an imino intermediate (Graupner and White, 2001). The other proposal suggested that the δ-amino group directly attacks the C2 position of L-ornithine without prior hydrolysis with the α-amino group subsequently leaving the intermediate molecule (Goodman et al., 2004).
Despite the presence of two amino groups, α and δ, in L-ornithine, an elegant study using 15N-radiolabled ornithine determined that the α-amino group at the C2 position is the amino group involved in cyclization (Graupner and White, 2001). Of the two proposals, the latter is plausible based on structural studies of PpOCD and SpLCD (Goodman et al., 2004; Ying et al., 2017b). In PpOCD, one water molecule resides near the C2 position of L-ornithine and binds the side chain of Glu56 and the α-amino group. However, the position of the water is not suitable for directly attacking the C2 carbon (Goodman et al., 2004). Despite extensive studies on the mechanism of catalysis of OCD, no structures of OCD in complex with its product, L-Pro, have been reported. In this study, we solved the crystal structure of SpLCD in complex with several reaction products, including L-Pro and L-Pip, enabling us to confirm the previously proposed mechanism of catalysis. The LCD substrate L-lysine contains one carbon more than the OCD substrate L-ornithine. Therefore, the reaction mechanism may be similar. By elucidating the structure of SpLCD and comparing it to the PpOCD structure, we developed the following mechanism. When L-lysine binds to the active site, the hydride ion is transferred to the NAD+ cofactor, resulting in an imino substitution (Fig. 5B). This process is facilitated by a neighboring general base. In OCD, Asp228 has been suggested to be this general base because it is directly coordinated with an α-amino group (Goodman et al., 2004). However, Asp236 of SpLCD, the residue corresponding with Asp236, is located far from the α-amino group (Fig. 5A). Rather, a water molecule forms a hydrogen bond with the α-amino group and the side chain of Glu63 (Fig. 5A), suggesting that the water molecule may serve as general base by donating a proton to Glu63. The next step is direct attack of the δ-amino group to the C2 position of the intermediate molecule in order to form the six-membered ring of L-Pip (Fig. 5B). The leaving group, ammonia, goes away and the electrophilic C2 center is susceptible to hydride ion transfer from NADH, yielding L-Pip and NAD+ as products.
This proposed mechanism is similar to that proposed for PpOCD and is based on an unusual NAD+/NADH cycle. In canonical NAD+ (or NADH) bound enzymes, NAD+ (or NADH) is unidirectionally converted into NADH (or NAD+) to mediate oxidation/reduction reactions. However, in SpLCD, NAD+ is converted into NADH at the intermediate step and then reverted back to NAD+. This mechanism could be beneficial for producing L-Pip, which is a useful precursor in pharmaceutical synthesis, because it does not require NADH molecules to be continually supplied during synthesis.
Statistics for data collection and refinement
Data set | SpLCD with NAD+ | SpLCD with NAD+ and L-Pip | SpLCD with NAD+ and L-Pro | SpLCD with NAD+ and DABA |
---|---|---|---|---|
X-ray source | PLS7A | PLS7A | SPring-8 BL26B1 | SPring-8 BL26B1 |
X-ray wavelength (Å) | 1.0000 | 1.0000 | 1.0000 | 1.0000 |
Space group | ||||
Unit cell length ( | 270.5, 64.4, 106.4 | 271.4, 64.5, 106.3 | 271.5, 64.8, 106.9 | 271.1, 64.8, 106.9 |
Unit cell angle (Å, β, γ, °) | 90, 104.1, 90 | 90, 104.2, 90 | 90, 104.2, 90 | 90, 104.1, 90 |
Resolution range (Å) | 50.0–1.92 (1.95–1.92)a | 50–1.92 (1.95–1.92)a | 50–1.79 (1.82–1.79)a | 50–2.14 (2.18–2.14)a |
Total / unique reflections | 955,775 / 136,288 | 905,894 / 134,717 | 1,267,763/ 169,178 | 689,619 / 97,978 |
Completeness (%) | 99.6 (98.8)a | 99.3 (98.6)a | 99.9 (98.7)a | 100.0 (100.0)a |
Average | 28.6 (4.1)a | 39.6 (12.0)a | 42.2 (4.7)a | 33.3 (4.5)a |
8.2 (50.1)a | 8.9 (42.6)a | 8.0 (50.9)a | 11.3 (75.1)a | |
Resolution range (Å) | 50.0–1.92 | 50.0–1.92 | 50.0–1.79 | 50.0–2.14 |
16.8 / 20.0 | 16.7 / 20.3 | 16.4 / 19.3 | 15.9 / 19.7 | |
Monomers per asymmetric unit | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Number of non-hydrogen atoms / average | ||||
Protein | 10,292 / 18.1 | 10,292 / 20.2 | 10,292 / 21.6 | 10,292 / 34.3 |
Water oxygen | 1,229 / 28.4 | 1,234 / 31.7 | 1,385 / 33.0 | 884 / 41.0 |
Na+ | 4 / 18.6 | 4 / 22.5 | 4 / 15.6 | 4 / 31.6 |
NAD+ | 4 / 13.4 | 4 / 14.4 | 4 / 16.3 | 4 / 28.6 |
L-Pip | - | 4 / 17.9 | - | - |
L-Pro | - | - | 4 / 25.5 | - |
DABA | - | - | - | 4 / 42.0 |
R.m.s. deviations from ideal geometry | ||||
Bond lengths (Å) / bond angles (°) | 0.008 / 1.39 | 0.008 / 1.41 | 0.008 / 1.48 | 0.008 / 1.39 |
Protein-geometry analysis | ||||
Ramachandran favored (%) | 96.8 | 97.5 | 96.8 | 96.8 |
Ramachandran allowed (%) | 2.9 | 2.2 | 2.9 | 3.1 |
Ramachandran outliers (%) | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
aValues in parentheses refer to the highest resolution shell.
b
c
Mol. Cells 2018; 41(4): 331-341
Published online April 30, 2018 https://doi.org/10.14348/molcells.2018.2313
Copyright © The Korean Society for Molecular and Cellular Biology.
Kyungjin Min1,4, Hye-Jin Yoon1,4, Atsushi Matsuura2, Yong Hwan Kim3, and Hyung Ho Lee1,*
1Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea, 2Department of Pharmacy, Dongguk University, Goyang 10326, Korea, 3School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Ulsan 44919, Korea
Correspondence to:*Correspondence: Hyungholee@snu.ac.kr
L-pipecolic acid is a non-protein amino acid commonly found in plants, animals, and microorganisms. It is a well-known precursor to numerous microbial secondary metabolites and pharmaceuticals, including anticancer agents, immunosuppressants, and several antibiotics. Lysine cyclodeaminase (LCD) catalyzes β-deamination of L-lysine into L-pipecolic acid using β-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide as a cofactor. Expression of a human homolog of LCD, μ-crystallin, is elevated in prostate cancer patients. To understand the structural features and catalytic mechanisms of LCD, we determined the crystal structures of
Keywords: crystal structure, L-lysine cyclodeaminase,
L-Pipecolic acid (L-Pip), also known as L-homoproline and piperidine-2-carboxylic acid, is a well-known precursor of various secondary metabolites in plants, animals, and micro-organisms (Durzan, 1983; Zacharius et al., 1954). Lysine cyclodeaminase (LCD) catalyzes β-deamination of L-lysine into L-Pip using β-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide as a cofactor. In humans, L-Pip is synthesized in the brain and accumulates in the physiological fluids of patients with peroxisomal disorders, such as hyperpipecolic academia, Zellweger syndrome, and infantile Refsum disease (Mihalik et al., 1989; Rao and Chang, 1992). In these diseases, peroxisomes, which are the sites of L-Pip oxidation, are reduced in size and number and many peroxisomal enzymes present with low activity (Mihalik et al., 1989; Rao and Chang, 1992). Expression of a human LCD homolog, μ-crystallin, is elevated in prostate cancer patients (Malinowska et al., 2009). In plants, L-Pip acts as an osmoprotectant, inducer of flowering, indicator of abnormal amino acid metabolism, and has a critical role in plant immunity (Fujioka and Sakurai, 1992; Moulin et al., 2006; Návarová et al., 2012; Pálfi and Dézsi, 1968). In bacteria, L-Pip is synthesized during L-lysine metabolism and acts as an osmoprotectant, thus enabling bacteria to grow in hyperosmotic environments (Gouesbet et al., 1994; Neshich et al., 2013).
L-Pip is a useful precursor of several pharmaceuticals, including the immunosuppressant FK506, rapamycin, the anti-cancer agent VX710, and the antibiotics demethoxyrapamycin, sandramycin, and meridamycin (Bis et al., 2015; Boger et al., 1996; Gatto et al., 2006; Germann et al., 1997; Kadouri-Puchot and Comesse, 2005; Watanabe et al., 2005). As the importance and utility of L-Pip derivatives have become increasingly well-known, chemists have been developing different methods by which to synthesize L-Pip (Couty, 1999; Eichhorn et al., 1997; Lemire and Charette, 2010; Wilkinson et al., 2000). In particular, enzymatic production of L-Pip using the L-lysine metabolic pathway has been extensively investigated (Broquist, 1991; Byun et al., 2015; Fujii et al., 2002; Garcia et al., 2016; Gupta and Spenser, 1969; Miller and Rodwell, 1971; Tani et al., 2015; Ying et al., 2015; 2017a), because the precursor L-lysine is abundant in nature and enzymatic synthesis of L-Pip yields a product with better chiral purity than chemical synthesis. Two metabolic pathways have previously been investigated for use in the enzymatic synthesis of L-Pip (Broquist, 1991; Gupta and Spenser, 1969; Miller and Rodwell, 1971). However, both of these metabolic routes require two or more enzymes and involve several steps to produce L-Pip from L-lysine, which results in problematic byproducts and high purification costs (He, 2006).
By contrast, it has been shown that LCD can directly convert L-lysine into L-Pip in one step using NAD+ as a cofactor (Gatto et al., 2006; Tsotsou and Barbirato, 2007), which is more efficient than other methods used for L-Pip biosynthesis. Recently, conditions for L-Pip biosynthesis using LCD from
The crystal structure and binding of ornithine cyclodeaminase (OCD) in complex with ornithine have been described (Goodman et al., 2004). Based on OCD X-ray crystallographic and mass spectroscopic data, a reaction mechanism has been proposed for OCD (Gatto et al., 2006; Goodman et al., 2004). The proposed mechanism is unusual in that NAD+ is initially converted into NADH and then reverted back into NAD+ at a late stage, where the pyridine nucleotide acts as a cosubstrate during most enzymatic reactions that utilize NAD(P)+ and NAD(P)H (Gatto et al., 2006). Similar use of NAD(P)+ as a catalytic cofactor has been proposed for other enzymes, including UDP-galactose 4-epimerase (Frey, 1996), S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase (Hu et al., 2001), and
Because of the unusual reaction mechanism suggested for LCD and the importance of the reaction product L-Pip, we undertook a crystallographic study of LCD derived from
L-lysine cyclodeaminase from
Crystals of SpLCD in complex with NAD+ were grown at 298 K using the sitting drop method Briefly, 1 μl of a 10 mg/ml solution of SpLCD in buffer A was mixed with 1 μl of reservoir solution (100 mM CAPSO buffer at pH 9.6, 0.2 M Li2SO4, 0.9 M Na-K tartrate, and 2% polyethylene glycol 3350) in the presence of 10 mM NAD+. For the SpLCD/NAD+/L-DABA, SpLCD/NAD+/L-Pro, and SpLCD/NAD+/L-Pip crystals, SpLCD was crystallized in the presence of 10 mM L-DABA, 10 mM L-ornithine, or 10 mM L-lysine, respectively. For cryoprotection, the crystals were transferred to reservoir solution containing 25% glycerol. Data was collected at 100 K in 1° oscillations at the 7A beamline of the Pohang Light Source and BL26B1 beamline of the SPring-8.
Crystals of SpLCD/NAD+, SpLCD/NAD+/L-Pip, SpLCD/ NAD+/L-Pro, and SpLCD/NAD+/L-DABA complexes were diffracted to a resolution of 1.92 Å, 1.92 Å, 1.79 Å, and 2.14 Å, respectively. The diffraction data were processed and scaled using the
Purified SpLCD was subjected to analytical gel filtration chromatography using a Superdex 200 (10/300 GL) column with buffer A flowing at a constant rate of 0.5 ml/min (Choi et al., 2016). The standard curve was created using molecular weight markers (Sigma). The Stokes radii of β-amylase, alcohol dehydrogenase, carbonic anhydrase, and cytochrome C were calculated from the crystal structures of each protein (PDB entries 1FA2, 2HCY, 1V9E, and 1HRC, respectively) using the
The sequence of
Crystal structures of SpLCD were determined using the molecular replacement method based on the
The overall structure of SpLCD resembled PpOCD, alanine dehydrogenase (AlaDH), and human μ-crystallin (CRYM). A search for structural similarity with SpLCD using the DALI server (Holm and Rosenstrom, 2010) identified crystal structures of OCD (PDB entry 1U7H) (Goodman et al., 2004), AlaDH (PDB entry 1OMO) (Gallagher et al., 2004), and CRYM (PDB entry 2I99) (Cheng et al., 2007). When the structure of SpLCD/NAD+ was overlaid with structures of OCD from
In general, the residues involved in NAD+ coordination at the active-site (Thr93, Arg121, Ala148, Gln149, Val233, and Ser301) were conserved between LCD and OCD (Figs. 2 and 3). However, there were some differences in the residues that interact with cofactors and substrates (Figs. 2 and 3). In the SpLCD/NAD+ complex, the main chain of Ala235 formed a hydrogen bond with the O3 atom of NAD+ (3.07 Å), while the side chain of Lys232 in PpOCD was involved in hydrogen bonding with the O3 atom of NAD+ (2.95 Å) (Fig. 3). The Lys232 side chain of PpOCD interacted with the O2 atom of NAD+ (2.75 Å) (Fig. 3). For hydrogen bonding with the O8 and O9 atoms of NAD+, PpOCD used the side chain of Lys331 (2.93 Å and 3.12 Å, respectively), while SpLCD used the side chain of His175 and two water molecules. The side chain of His175 formed a hydrogen bond with the O8 atom of NAD+ (2.85 Å), while two water molecules interacted with the O9 atom of NAD+. These two water molecules were sustained through hydrogen bonding with the Thr171 and Asp172 side chains (not shown) (Fig. 3). To create a hydrogen bond with O10 of NAD+, SpLCD used the main chain of Ser210 (2.32 Å), while PpOCD used Ala203 (3.34 Å) (Fig. 3). In the SpLCD/NAD+ complex, residues in SpLCD hydrogen bonds with water molecules indirectly coordinated with NAD+. The side chain of Glu307 indirectly interacted with the O1 atom of NAD+ through a water molecule (Fig. 2). In addition, the O4 atom of NAD+ interacted with Ile94 via a water molecule. The O5 atom of NAD+ interacted with a water molecule that then coordinated with three residues of SpLCD, Gly147, Ala150, and Ala208 (2.95 Å, 3.21 Å, and 2.95 Å, respectively) (Fig. 2). The main chain of Pro83 formed a hydrogen bond with a water molecule (3.08 Å) that interacted with the O7 atom of NAD+ (2.68 Å) and the side chain of Ser210 (2.77 Å). Finally, the main chain of Val218 interacted with the N4 atom of NAD+ (2.84 Å) through a water molecule (2.70 Å) (Fig. 2). These direct and indirect hydrogen bonds between NAD+ and SpLCD residues create a stable SpLCD/NAD+ complex for catalysis.
To obtain information on the binding between SpLCD and L-lysine, we attempted to co-crystallize SpLCD with L-lysine. However, we instead obtained the electron-density map of L-Pip, the catalytic product of SpLCD (Fig. 4A), suggesting the reaction occurred prior to crystallization. Similarly, the electron density map of L-Pro was obtained when SpLCD was co-crystallized with L-ornithine (Fig. 4B). When we attempted to co-crystallize SpLCD with L-DABA, L-DABA was unable to be transformed in ring form. Instead, the electron density associated with L-DABA was observed (Fig. 4C). These results suggest that SpLCD has catalytic activity for L-lysine and L-ornithine and L-DABA is too short for ring formation. This is consistent with previous studies demonstrating SpLCD is able to perform catalysis on a range of substrates of varying carbon lengths (Byun et al., 2015; Tsotsou and Barbirato, 2007). Structural comparisons of SpLCD in complex with L-Pip, L-Pro, and L-DABA revealed that binding of the carboxyl group attached to the C2 carbon was similar for each substrate (Fig. 4), suggesting this binding significantly contributes to substrate recognition.
Next, we analyzed the binding of L-Pip and L-Pro to the active site of SpLCD. The side chains of Glu63, Lys77, and Arg121, and the main chain of Thr302, interacted with enzymatic products L-Pip and L-Pro (Figs. 4A and 4B). Interestingly, the binding positions and orientations of L-Pip and L-Pro were similar (Figs. 4A and 4B). In the SpLCD/L-Pip structure, the side chains of Lys77 and Arg121 interacted with the O1 (2.70 Å) and O2 atoms (2.91 Å) of L-Pip, respectively (Fig. 4A). In addition, the N1 atom of L-Pip interacted with the side chain of Thr302 (2.87 Å) (Fig. 4A). The side chain of Glu63 indirectly interacted with the N1 atom of L-Pip via one water molecule (Fig. 4A). For the SpLCD/L-Pro structure, the three residues Lys77, Arg121, and Thr302 were directly involved in hydrogen bonding with L-Pro (2.67 Å, 2.74 Å, and 3.20 Å, respectively), while the side chain of Glu63 indirectly interacted with the N1 atom of L-Pro via one water molecule in a manner similar to the SpLCD/L-Pip structure (Fig. 4B).
To interact with L-DABA, additional side chains were required to stabilize L-DABA in the active site. The side chains of Glu63, Lys77, and Arg121, and the main chain of Thr302, formed hydrogen bonds with the N2 (3.25 Å), O2 (3.01 Å), O1 (2.81 Å), and N1 (2.93 Å) atoms of L-DABA, respectively (Fig. 4C). The carbonyl oxygen of Ala235 (3.20 Å) and O2 atom of NAD+ (3.25 Å) formed hydrogen bonds with the N2 atom of L-DABA (Fig. 4C). In addition, two water molecules formed hydrogen bonds, where one interacted with the Val79 (3.14 Å), Glu63 (2.79 Å), and N2 atoms of L-DABA (2.86 Å) and the other interacted with Arg49 (2.83 Å) and Glu63 (3.05 Å and 2.85 Å) and the N1 (2.71 Å) and N2 (3.02 Å) atoms of NAD+ (Fig. 4C).
To examine what makes L-Lys the optimal substrate for SpLCD, a composite model was created by incorporating the L-ornithine molecule from the PpOCD/L-ornithine structure into our SpLCD structure (Fig. 5A). The major difference between SpLCD and PpOCD recognition of L-lysine and L-ornithine, respectively, is the positioning of Asp236 in the substrate binding sites. In PpOCD, the Asp228 residue (residue corresponding to SpLCD Asp236) interacted with Lys232 (residue corresponding to SpLCD Lys240) with an additional hydrogen bond with O2 atom of NAD+, creating a space optimal for binding of L-ornithine. By contrast, the Asp236 residue of SpLCD was in a slightly different position in SpLCD and formed a hydrogen bond with the O3 atom of NAD+. In addition, the side chain of SpLCD Lys240 was involved in different hydrogen bonding than PpOCD Lys232 (Fig. 5A). The different hydrogen bonds of Asp236, Lys240, and NAD+ in SpLCD created a space that accommodated L-lysine, which has one carbon more than L-ornithine.
The reaction mechanism of LCD has previously been extensively studied using OCD and two distinct catalytic mechanisms have been proposed (Graupner and White, 2001). In one proposal, the reaction proceeds through direct attack, where a water molecule becomes an imino intermediate (Graupner and White, 2001). The other proposal suggested that the δ-amino group directly attacks the C2 position of L-ornithine without prior hydrolysis with the α-amino group subsequently leaving the intermediate molecule (Goodman et al., 2004).
Despite the presence of two amino groups, α and δ, in L-ornithine, an elegant study using 15N-radiolabled ornithine determined that the α-amino group at the C2 position is the amino group involved in cyclization (Graupner and White, 2001). Of the two proposals, the latter is plausible based on structural studies of PpOCD and SpLCD (Goodman et al., 2004; Ying et al., 2017b). In PpOCD, one water molecule resides near the C2 position of L-ornithine and binds the side chain of Glu56 and the α-amino group. However, the position of the water is not suitable for directly attacking the C2 carbon (Goodman et al., 2004). Despite extensive studies on the mechanism of catalysis of OCD, no structures of OCD in complex with its product, L-Pro, have been reported. In this study, we solved the crystal structure of SpLCD in complex with several reaction products, including L-Pro and L-Pip, enabling us to confirm the previously proposed mechanism of catalysis. The LCD substrate L-lysine contains one carbon more than the OCD substrate L-ornithine. Therefore, the reaction mechanism may be similar. By elucidating the structure of SpLCD and comparing it to the PpOCD structure, we developed the following mechanism. When L-lysine binds to the active site, the hydride ion is transferred to the NAD+ cofactor, resulting in an imino substitution (Fig. 5B). This process is facilitated by a neighboring general base. In OCD, Asp228 has been suggested to be this general base because it is directly coordinated with an α-amino group (Goodman et al., 2004). However, Asp236 of SpLCD, the residue corresponding with Asp236, is located far from the α-amino group (Fig. 5A). Rather, a water molecule forms a hydrogen bond with the α-amino group and the side chain of Glu63 (Fig. 5A), suggesting that the water molecule may serve as general base by donating a proton to Glu63. The next step is direct attack of the δ-amino group to the C2 position of the intermediate molecule in order to form the six-membered ring of L-Pip (Fig. 5B). The leaving group, ammonia, goes away and the electrophilic C2 center is susceptible to hydride ion transfer from NADH, yielding L-Pip and NAD+ as products.
This proposed mechanism is similar to that proposed for PpOCD and is based on an unusual NAD+/NADH cycle. In canonical NAD+ (or NADH) bound enzymes, NAD+ (or NADH) is unidirectionally converted into NADH (or NAD+) to mediate oxidation/reduction reactions. However, in SpLCD, NAD+ is converted into NADH at the intermediate step and then reverted back to NAD+. This mechanism could be beneficial for producing L-Pip, which is a useful precursor in pharmaceutical synthesis, because it does not require NADH molecules to be continually supplied during synthesis.
. Statistics for data collection and refinement.
Data set | SpLCD with NAD+ | SpLCD with NAD+ and L-Pip | SpLCD with NAD+ and L-Pro | SpLCD with NAD+ and DABA |
---|---|---|---|---|
X-ray source | PLS7A | PLS7A | SPring-8 BL26B1 | SPring-8 BL26B1 |
X-ray wavelength (Å) | 1.0000 | 1.0000 | 1.0000 | 1.0000 |
Space group | ||||
Unit cell length ( | 270.5, 64.4, 106.4 | 271.4, 64.5, 106.3 | 271.5, 64.8, 106.9 | 271.1, 64.8, 106.9 |
Unit cell angle (Å, β, γ, °) | 90, 104.1, 90 | 90, 104.2, 90 | 90, 104.2, 90 | 90, 104.1, 90 |
Resolution range (Å) | 50.0–1.92 (1.95–1.92)a | 50–1.92 (1.95–1.92)a | 50–1.79 (1.82–1.79)a | 50–2.14 (2.18–2.14)a |
Total / unique reflections | 955,775 / 136,288 | 905,894 / 134,717 | 1,267,763/ 169,178 | 689,619 / 97,978 |
Completeness (%) | 99.6 (98.8)a | 99.3 (98.6)a | 99.9 (98.7)a | 100.0 (100.0)a |
Average | 28.6 (4.1)a | 39.6 (12.0)a | 42.2 (4.7)a | 33.3 (4.5)a |
8.2 (50.1)a | 8.9 (42.6)a | 8.0 (50.9)a | 11.3 (75.1)a | |
Resolution range (Å) | 50.0–1.92 | 50.0–1.92 | 50.0–1.79 | 50.0–2.14 |
16.8 / 20.0 | 16.7 / 20.3 | 16.4 / 19.3 | 15.9 / 19.7 | |
Monomers per asymmetric unit | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Number of non-hydrogen atoms / average | ||||
Protein | 10,292 / 18.1 | 10,292 / 20.2 | 10,292 / 21.6 | 10,292 / 34.3 |
Water oxygen | 1,229 / 28.4 | 1,234 / 31.7 | 1,385 / 33.0 | 884 / 41.0 |
Na+ | 4 / 18.6 | 4 / 22.5 | 4 / 15.6 | 4 / 31.6 |
NAD+ | 4 / 13.4 | 4 / 14.4 | 4 / 16.3 | 4 / 28.6 |
L-Pip | - | 4 / 17.9 | - | - |
L-Pro | - | - | 4 / 25.5 | - |
DABA | - | - | - | 4 / 42.0 |
R.m.s. deviations from ideal geometry | ||||
Bond lengths (Å) / bond angles (°) | 0.008 / 1.39 | 0.008 / 1.41 | 0.008 / 1.48 | 0.008 / 1.39 |
Protein-geometry analysis | ||||
Ramachandran favored (%) | 96.8 | 97.5 | 96.8 | 96.8 |
Ramachandran allowed (%) | 2.9 | 2.2 | 2.9 | 3.1 |
Ramachandran outliers (%) | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
aValues in parentheses refer to the highest resolution shell.
b
c
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