Structure of the Molybdenum Site of Dimethyl Sulfoxide Reductase

Abstract

Molybdenum K-edge X-ray absorption and Mo(V) electron paramagentic resonance (EPR) spectroscopies have been used to probe the metal coordination in oxidized and reduced forms of both wild-type and a site-directed mutant of Rhodobacter sphaeroides dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) reductase. We confirm our earlier findings (George, G. N.; Hilton, J.; Rajagopalan, K. V. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1996, 118, 1113−1117) that the molybdenum site of the oxidized Mo(VI) enzyme possesses one terminal oxygen ligand (Mo O) at 1.68 Å, four thiolate ligands at 2.44 Å, and one oxygen at 1.92 Å and that the dithionite-reduced Mo(IV) enzyme possesses a desoxo species with three or four Mo−S at 2.33 Å and two different Mo−O ligands at 2.16 and 1.92 Å. Mo(V) EPR indicates the presence of one exchangeable oxygen ligand, most likely an Mo−OH, in the signal-giving species, probably originating from the Mo O of the oxidized enzyme ( E m8.5 (IV/V) = +37 mV, E m8.5 (V/VI) = +83 mV). The addition of dimethyl sulfide, in the reverse of the physiological reaction, reduces the enzyme. In this form, the enzyme contains a desoxo active site with four Mo−S at 2.36 Å and two different Mo−O ligands at 1.94 and 2.14 Å. Recombinant wild-type R. sphaeroides DMSO reductase expressed in Escherichia coli initially has a dioxo structure (two Mo O at 1.72 Å and four Mo−S at 2.48 Å) but assumes the wild-type Mo(VI) structure after a cycle of reduction and reoxidation. The site-directed Ser147→Cys mutant possesses a monooxo active site in the oxidized state (Mo O at 1.70 Å) with five sulfur ligands (at 2.40 Å), consistent with cysteine 147 coordination to Mo. The dithionite reduced form of the mutant possesses a desoxo site also with five Mo−S ligands (at 2.37 Å) and one Mo−O at 2.12 Å. The variant has substantially different Mo(V) EPR and electrochemistry ( E m8.5 (IV/V) = −43 mV, E m8.5 (V/VI) = +106 mV). The active-site structure and catalytic mechanism of DMSO reductase are discussed in the light of these results.