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Electron transfer through neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) is regulated by the reversible binding of calmodulin (CaM) to the reductase domain of the enzyme, the conformation of which has been shown to be dependent on the presence of substrate, NADPH. Here we report the preparation of the isolated flavin mononucleotide (FMN)-binding domain of nNOS with bound CaM and the electrochemical analysis of this and the isolated flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD)-binding domain in the presence and absence of NADP(+) and ADP (an inhibitor). The FMN-binding domain was found to be stable only in the presence of bound CaM/Ca(2+), removal of which resulted in precipitation of the protein. The FMN formed a kinetically stabilized blue semiquinone with an oxidized/semiquinone reduction potential of -179 mV. This is 80 mV more negative than the potential of the FMN in the isolated reductase domain, that is, in the presence of the FAD-binding domain. The FMN semiquinone/hydroquinone redox couple was found to be similar in both constructs. The isolated FAD-binding domain, generated by controlled proteolysis of the reductase domain, was found to have similar FAD reduction potentials to the isolated reductase domain. Both formed a FAD-hydroquinone/NADP(+) charge-transfer complex with a long-wavelength absorption band centered at 780 nm. Formation of this complex resulted in thermodynamic destabilization of the FAD semiquinone relative to the hydroquinone and a 30 mV increase in the FAD semiquinone/hydroquinone reduction potential. Binding of ADP, however, had little effect. The possible role of the nicotinamide/FADH(2) stacking interaction in controlling electron transfer and its likely dependence on protein conformation are discussed.

The diflavin reductases exemplified by mammalian cytochrome P450 reductase catalyze NADPH dehydrogenation and electron transfer to an associated monooxygenase. It has recently been proposed that double occupancy of the NADPH dehydrogenation site inhibits the NADPH to FAD hydride transfer step in this series of enzymes. This has important implications for the mechanism of enzyme turnover. However, the conclusions are drawn from a series of pre-steady-state stopped-flow experiments in which the data analysis and interpretation are flawed. Recent data published for P450-BM3 reductase show a decrease in the rate constant for pre-steady-state flavin oxidation with increasing NADP(+) concentration. This is interpreted as evidence of inhibition by multiple substrate binding. A detailed reanalysis shows that the data are in fact consistent with a simple single-binding-site model in which reversible hydride transfer causes the observed effect. Data for the related systems are also discussed.

In flavocytochrome P450 BM3, there is a conserved phenylalanine residue at position 393 (Phe393), close to Cys400, the thiolate ligand to the heme. Substitution of Phe393 by Ala, His, Tyr, and Trp has allowed us to modulate the reduction potential of the heme, while retaining the structural integrity of the enzyme's active site. Substrate binding triggers electron transfer in P450 BM3 by inducing a shift from a low- to high-spin ferric heme and a 140 mV increase in the heme reduction potential. Kinetic analysis of the mutants indicated that the spin-state shift alone accelerates the rate of heme reduction (the rate determining step for overall catalysis) by 200-fold and that the concomitant shift in reduction potential is only responsible for a modest 2-fold rate enhancement. The second step in the P450 catalytic cycle involves binding of dioxygen to the ferrous heme. The stabilities of the oxy-ferrous complexes in the mutant enzymes were also analyzed using stopped-flow kinetics. These were found to be surprisingly stable, decaying to superoxide and ferric heme at rates of 0.01-0.5 s(-)(1). The stability of the oxy-ferrous complexes was greater for mutants with higher reduction potentials, which had lower catalytic turnover rates but faster heme reduction rates. The catalytic rate-determining step of these enzymes can no longer be the initial heme reduction event but is likely to be either reduction of the stabilized oxy-ferrous complex, i.e., the second flavin to heme electron transfer or a subsequent protonation event. Modulating the reduction potential of P450 BM3 appears to tune the two steps in opposite directions; the potential of the wild-type enzyme appears to be optimized to maximize the overall rate of turnover. The dependence of the visible absorption spectrum of the oxy-ferrous complex on the heme reduction potential is also discussed.

UDP-galactopyranose mutase is a flavoprotein which catalyses the interconversion of UDP-galactopyranose and UDP-galactofuranose. The enzyme is of interest because it provides the activated biosynthetic precursor of galactofuranose, a key cell wall component of many bacterial pathogens. The reaction mechanism of this mutase is intriguing because the anomeric oxygen forms a glycosidic bond, which means that the reaction must proceed by a novel mechanism involving ring breakage and closure. The structure of the enzyme is known, but the mechanism, although speculated on, is not resolved. The overall reaction is electrically neutral but a crypto-redox reaction is suggested by the requirement that the flavin must adopt the reduced form for activity. Herein we report a thermodynamic analysis of the enzyme's flavin cofactor with the objective of defining the system and setting parameters for possible reaction schemes. The analysis shows that the neutral semiquinone (FADH(*)) is stabilized in the presence of substrate and the fully reduced flavin is the anionic FADH(-) rather than the neutral FADH(2). The anionic FADH(-) has the potential to act as a rapid 1-electron donor/acceptor without being slowed by a coupled proton transfer and is therefore an ideal crypto-redox cofactor.

Neuronal nitric-oxide synthase (nNOS) is activated by the Ca2+-dependent binding of calmodulin (CaM) to a characteristic polypeptide linker connecting the oxygenase and reductase domains. Calmodulin binding also activates the reductase domain of the enzyme, increasing the rate of reduction of external electron acceptors such as cytochrome c. Several unusual structural features appear to control this activation mechanism, including an autoinhibitory loop, a C-terminal extension, and kinase-dependent phosphorylation sites. Pre-steady state reduction and oxidation time courses for the nNOS reductase domain indicate that CaM binding triggers NADP+ release, which may exert control over steady-state turnover. In addition, the second order rate constant for cytochrome c reduction in the absence of CaM was found to be highly dependent on the presence of NADPH. It appears that NADPH induces a conformational change in the nNOS reductase domain, restricting access to the FMN by external electron acceptors. CaM binding reverses this effect, causing a 30-fold increase in the second order rate constant. The results show a startling interplay between the two ligands, which both exert control over the conformation of the domain to influence its electron transfer properties. In the full-length enzyme, NADPH binding will probably close the conformational lock in vivo, preventing electron transfer to the oxygenase domain and the resultant stimulation of nitric oxide synthesis.

Flavocytochrome P450 BM3 is a bacterial P450 system in which a fatty acid hydroxylase P450 is fused to a mammalian-like diflavin NADPH-P450 reductase in a single polypeptide. The enzyme is soluble (unlike mammalian P450 redox systems) and its fusion arrangement affords it the highest catalytic activity of any P450 mono-oxygenase. This article discusses the fundamental properties of P450 BM3 and how progress with this model P450 has affected our comprehension of P450 systems in general.

Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) is composed of an oxygenase domain and a reductase domain. The reductase domain has NADPH, FAD, and FMN binding sites. Wild-type nNOS reduced the azo bond of methyl red with a turnover number of approximately 130 min(-1) in the presence of Ca(2+)/calmodulin (CaM) and NADPH under anaerobic conditions. Diphenyleneiodonium chloride (DPI), a flavin/NADPH binding inhibitor, completely inhibited azo reduction. The omission of Ca(2+)/CaM from the reaction system decreased the activity to 5%. The rate of the azo reduction with an FMN-deficient mutant was also 5% that of the wild type. NADPH oxidation rates for the wild-type and mutant enzymes were well coupled with azo reduction. Thus, we suggest that electrons delivered from the FMN of the nNOS enzyme reduce the azo bond of methyl red and that this reductase activity is controlled by Ca(2+)/CaM.

Nitric-oxide synthase (NOS) requires the cofactor, (6R)-5,6,7, 8-tetrahydrobiopterin (H4B), for catalytic activity. The crystal structures of NOSs indicate that H4B is surrounded by aromatic residues. We have mutated the conserved aromatic acids, Trp(676), Trp(678), Phe(691), His(692), and Tyr(706), together with the neighboring Arg(414) residue within the H4B binding region of full-length neuronal NOS. The W676L, W678L, and F691L mutants had no NO formation activity and had very low heme reduction rates (0.02 min(-1)) with NADPH. Thus, it appears that Trp(676), Trp(678), and Phe(691) are important to retain the appropriate active site conformation for H4B/l-Arg binding and/or electron transfer to the heme from NADPH. The mutation of Tyr(706) to Leu and Phe decreased the activity down to 13 and 29%, respectively, of that of the wild type together with a dramatically increased EC(50) value for H4B (30-40-fold of wild type). The Tyr(706) phenol group interacts with the heme propionate and Arg(414) amine via hydrogen bonds. The mutation of Arg(414) to Leu and Glu resulted in the total loss of NO formation activity and of the heme reduction with NADPH. Thus, hydrogen bond networks consisting of the heme carboxylate, Tyr(706), and Arg(414) are crucial in stabilizing the appropriate conformation(s) of the heme active site for H4B/l-Arg binding and/or efficient electron transfer to occur.

The dissociation constant (Kd) for CO from neuronal nitric oxide synthase heme in the absence of the substrate and cofactor was less than 10−3 μM. In the presence of l -Arg, it dramatically increased up to 1 μM. In the presence of inhibitors such as NG-nitro- l -arginine methyl ester and 7-nitroindazole (NI), the Kd value further increased up to more than 100 μM. Addition of the cofactor, 5,6,7,8-tetrahydrobiopterin (H4B), increased the Kd value by 10-fold in the presence of l -Arg, whereas it decreased the value to less than one 250th in the presence of NI. Addition of H4B increased the recombination rate constant (kon) for CO by more than two-fold in the presence of l -Arg or N6-(1-iminoethyl)- l -lysine, whereas it decreased the kon value by three-fold in the presence of l -thiocitrulline. Thus, the binding fashion of some of inhibitors, such as NI, may be different from that of l -Arg with respect to the H4B effect.

Flavocytochrome b2 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae couples L-lactate dehydrogenation to cytochrome c reduction in the mitochondrial intermembrane space. The catalytic cycle for this process can be described in terms of five consecutive electron-transfer events. L-Lactate dehydrogenation results in the two-electron reduction of FMN. The two electrons are individually passed to b2-heme (intramolecular electron transfer) and then onto cytochrome c (intermolecular electron transfer). At 25 degrees C, I 0.10, in the presence of saturating concentrations of ferricytochrome c and L-lactate, the catalytic cycle progresses with rate constant 104 (+/- 5) s-1 [per L-lactate oxidized; Miles, C. S., Rouviere-Fourmy, N., Lederer, F., Mathews, F. S., Reid, G. A., & Chapman, S. K. (1992) Biochem. J. 285, 187-192]. Stopped-flow spectrophotometry has been used to show that the major rate-limiting step in the catalytic cycle is electron transfer from flavin semiquinone to b2-heme. This conclusion is based on the observation that pre-steady-state flavin oxidation by ferricytochrome c takes place at 120 s-1. Although flavin oxidation involves several other electron transfer steps, these are considered too fast to contribute significantly to the rate constant. It was also shown that the reaction product, pyruvate, is able to inhibit pre-steady-state flavin oxidation (Ki = 40 +/- 17 mM) consistent with reports that it acts as a noncompetitive inhibitor in the steady state at high concentrations [Ki = 30 mM; Lederer, F. (1978) Eur. J. Biochem, 88, 425-431]. This novel way of measuring the electron transfer rate constant is directly applicable to the catalytic cycle and has enabled us to derive a self-consistent model for it, based also on data collected for enzyme reduction [Miles, C. S., Rouviere-Fourmy, N., Lederer, F., Mathews, F. S., Reid, G. A., & Chapman, S. K. (1992) Biochem. J. 285, 187-192] and its interaction with cytochrome c [Daff, S., Sharp, R. E., Short, D. M., Bell, C., White, P., Manson, F. D. C., Reid, G. A., & Chapman, S. K. (1996) Biochemistry 35, 6351-6357]. Rapid-freezing quenched-flow EPR has been used to confirm the model by demonstrating that during steady-state turnover of the enzyme approximately 75% of the flavin is in the semiquinone oxidation state.

Flavocytochrome b2 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae couples L-lactate dehydrogenation to cytochrome c reduction. At 25 degrees C, 0.10 M ionic strength, and saturating L-lactate concentration, the turnover rate is 207 s-1 [per cytochrome c reduced; Miles, C. S., Rouviere, N., Lederer, F., Mathews, F. S., Reid, G. A., Black, M. T., & Chapman, S. K. (1992) Biochem. J. 285, 187-192]. The second-order rate constant for cytochrome c reduction in the pre-steady-state has been determined by stopped-flow spectrophotometry to be 34.8 (+/- 0.9) muM-1 s-1 in the presence of 10 mM L-lactate. This rate constant has been found to be dependent entirely on the rate of complex formation, the electron-transfer rate in the pre-formed complex being in excess of 1000 s-1. Inhibition of the pre-steady-state reduction of cytochrome c by either zinc-substituted cytochrome c or ferrocytochrome c has led to the estimation of a Kd for the catalytically competent complex of 8 microM, and from this the dissociation rate constant of 280 s-1, a value much less than the actual electron-transfer rate. The inhibition observed is only partial which indicates that electron transfer from the 1:1 complex to another cytochrome c can occur and that alternative electron transfer sites exist. The cytochrome c binding site proposed by Tegoni et al. [Tegoni, M., White, S. A., Roussel, A., Mathews, F. S. & Cambillau, C. (1993) Proteins 16, 408-422] has been tested using site-directed mutagenesis. Mutations designed to affect the complex stability and putative electron-transfer pathway had little effect, suggesting that the primary cytochrome c binding site on flavocytochrome b2 lies elsewhere. The combination of tight binding and multiple electron-transfer sites gives flavocytochrome b2 a low K(m) and a high kcat, maximizing its catalytic efficiency. In the steady-state, the turnover rate is therefore largely limited by other steps in the catalytic cycle, a conclusion which is discussed in the preceding paper in this issue [Daff, S., Ingledew, W. J., Reid, G. A., & Chapman, S. K. (1996) Biochemistry 35, 6345-6350].

The vital signalling molecule NO is produced by mammalian NOS (nitric oxide synthase) enzymes in two steps. L-arginine is converted into NOHA (Nω-hydroxy-L-arginine), which is converted into NO and citrulline. Both steps are thought to proceed via similar mechanisms in which the cofactor BH4 (tetrahydrobiopterin) activates dioxygen at the haem site by electron transfer. The subsequent events are poorly understood due to the lack of stable intermediates. By analogy with cytochrome P450, a haem-iron oxo species may be formed, or direct reaction between a haem-peroxy intermediate and substrate may occur. The two steps may also occur via different mechanisms. In the present paper we analyse the two reaction steps using the G586S mutant of nNOS (neuronal NOS), which introduces an additional hydrogen bond in the active site and provides an additional proton source. In the mutant enzyme, BH4 activates dioxygen as in the wild-type enzyme, but an interesting intermediate haem species is then observed. This may be a stabilized form of the active oxygenating species. The mutant is able to perform step 2 (reaction with NOHA), but not step 1 (with L-arginine) indicating that the extra hydrogen bond enables it to discriminate between the two mono-oxygenation steps. This implies that the two steps follow different chemical mechanisms.

Flavocytochrome b2 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae acts physiologically as an L-lactate dehydrogenase. Although L-lactate is its primary substrate, the enzyme is also able to utilize a variety of other (S)-2-hydroxy acids. Structural studies and sequence comparisons with several related flavoenzymes have identified the key active-site residues required for catalysis. However, the residues Ala-198 and Leu-230, found in the X-ray-crystal structure to be in contact with the substrate methyl group, are not well conserved. We propose that the interaction between these residues and a prospective substrate molecule has a significant effect on the substrate specificity of the enzyme. In an attempt to modify the specificity in favour of larger substrates, three mutant enzymes have been produced: A198G, L230A and the double mutant A198G/L230A. As a means of quantifying the overall kinetic effect of a mutation, substrate-specificity profiles were produced from steady-state experiments with (S)-2-hydroxy acids of increasing chain length, through which the catalytic efficiency of each mutant enzyme with each substrate could be compared with the corresponding wild-type efficiency. The Ala-198-->Gly mutation had little influence on substrate specificity and caused a general decrease in enzyme efficiency. However, the Leu-230-->Ala mutation caused the selectivity for 2-hydroxyoctanoate over lactate to increase by a factor of 80.

In flavocytochrome P450 BM3 there are several active site residues that are highly conserved throughout the P450 superfamily. Of these, a phenylalanine (Phe393) has been shown to modulate heme reduction potential through interactions with the implicitly conserved heme-ligand cysteine. In addition, a distal threonine (Thr268) has been implicated in a variety of roles including proton donation, oxygen activation and substrate recognition. Substrate binding in P450 BM3 causes a shift in the spin state from low- to high-spin. This change in spin-state is accompanied by a positive shift in the reduction potential (DeltaE(m) [WT+arachidonate (120 microM)]=+138 mV). Substitution of Thr268 by an alanine or asparagine residue causes a significant decrease in the ability of the enzyme to generate the high-spin complex via substrate binding and consequently leads to a decrease in the substrate-induced potential shift (DeltaE(m) [T268A+arachidonate (120 microM)]=+73 mV, DeltaE(m) [T268N+arachidonate (120 microM)]=+9 mV). Rate constants for the first electron transfer and for oxy-ferrous decay were measured by pre-steady-state stopped-flow kinetics and found to be almost entirely dependant on the heme reduction potential. More positive reduction potentials lead to enhanced rate constants for heme reduction and more stable oxy-ferrous species. In addition, substitutions of the threonine lead to an increase in the production of hydrogen peroxide in preference to hydroxylated product. These results suggest an important role for this active site threonine in substrate recognition and in maintaining an efficiently functioning enzyme. However, the dependence of the rate constants for oxy-ferrous decay on reduction potential raises some questions as to the importance of Thr268 in iron-oxo stabilisation.

Neuronal nitric-oxide synthase (nNOS) is composed of a heme oxygenase domain and a flavin-bound reductase domain. Ca2+/calmodulin (CaM) is essential for interdomain electron transfer during catalysis, whereas the role of the catalytically important cofactor, tetrahydrobiopterin (H4B) remains elusive. The product NO appears to bind to the heme and works as a feedback inhibitor. The present study shows that the Fe3+–NO complex is reduced to the Fe2+–NO complex by NADPH in the presence of both l -Arg and H4B even in the absence of Ca2+/CaM. The complex could not be fully reduced in the absence of H4B under any circumstances. However, dihydrobiopterin and NG-hydroxy- l -Arg could be substituted for H4B and l -Arg, respectively. No direct correlation could be found between redox potentials of the nNOS heme and the observed reduction of the Fe3+–NO complex. Thus, our data indicate the importance of the pterin binding to the active site structure during the reduction of the NO–heme complex by NADPH during catalytic turnover.

Autoxidation rates of the full-length neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) were analyzed and found to be composed of three phases, 60 s(-1) (28%), 5.5 s(-1) (11%) and 0.048 s(-1) (61%). Addition of L-Arg, N(G)-hydroxy-L-Arg (NHA), and N(G)-monomethyl-L-Arg markedly decreased the rate constants for the first and second phases down to 12-20 s(-1) and 0.32-2.6 s(-1), respectively. Addition of (6R)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-L-biopterin (H4B) increased the amplitude of the second phase up to 29% of the total. Addition of NHA decreased the rate of the first phase by 4.4-fold in the presence of H4B, whereas addition of L-Arg and other modulators did not significantly affect the rates under the same conditions. Thus, we deduce that (1) L-Arg stabilizes the O2-bound ferrous complex for efficient O-O bond cleavage to occur; (2) H4B influences the O2-bound ferrous complex in a fashion different from L-Arg; and (3) NHA induces a characteristic distal-site structure in the presence of H4B, reflecting a difference in the mechanism of activation of O2 in the first step (monooxygenation of L-Arg) and the second step (monooxygenation of NHA).

The genes encoding the Escherichia coli flavodoxin NADP+ oxidoreductase (FLDR) and flavodoxin (FLD) have been overexpressed in E. coli as the major cell proteins (at least 13.5% and 11.4% of total soluble protein, respectively) and the gene products purified to homogeneity. The FLDR reduces potassium ferricyanide with a kcat of 1610.3 min(-1) and a Km of 23.6 microM, and cytochrome c with a kcat of 141.3 min(-1) and a Km of 17.6 microM. The cytochrome c reductase rate is increased sixfold by addition of FLD and an apparent Km of 6.84 microM was measured for the affinity of the two flavoproteins. The molecular masses of FLDR and FLD apoproteins were determined as 27648 Da and 19606 Da and the isoelectric points as 4.8 and 3.5, respectively. The mass of the FLDR is precisely that predicted from the atomic structure and indicates that residue 126 is arginine, not glutamine as predicted from the gene sequence. FLDR and FLD were covalently crosslinked using 1-ethyl-3(dimethylamino-propyl) carbodiimide to generate a catalytically active heterodimer. The midpoint reduction potentials of the oxidised/semiquinone and semiquinone/hydroquinone couples of both FLDR (-308 mV and -268 mV, respectively) and FLD (-254 mV and -433 mV, respectively) were measured using redox potentiometry. This confirms the electron-transfer route as NADPH-->FLDR-->FLD. Binding of 2' adenosine monophosphate increases the midpoint reduction potentials for both FLDR couples. These data highlight the strong stabilisation of the flavodoxin semiquinone (absorption coefficient calculated as 4933 M(-1) cm(-1) at 583 nm) with respect to the hydroquinone state and indicate that FLD must act as a single electron shuttle from the semiquinone form in its support of cellular functions, and to facilitate catalytic activity of microsomal cytochromes P-450 heterologously expressed in E. coli. Kinetic studies of electron transfer from FLDR/FLD to the fatty acid oxidase P-450 BM3 support this conclusion, indicating a ping-pong mechanism. This is the first report of the potentiometric analysis of the full E. coli NAD(P)H/FLDR/FLD electron-transfer chain; a complex critical to the function of a large number of E. coli redox systems.

The effects of substrate, L-Arg and cofactors, (6R)-L-erythro-5,6,7,8-tetrahydrobiopterin (H4B) and calmodulin (CaM), on chiral discrimination by rat neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) for binding the enantiomers of 1-(1-naphthyl)ethylamine (ligand I), 1-cyclohexylethylamine (ligand II), and 1-(4-pyridyl)ethanol (ligand III) were studied under anaerobic conditions by optical absorption spectroscopy. The ratio of the dissociation constant (Kd) values for the S- and R-enantiomers of ligand I (S/R) was 30, while the S/R ratio for ligand II and the R/S ratio for ligand III were 1.8 and0.14, respectively, in the presence of 0.15 microM H4B. However, in the presence of 1 mM L-Arg, the S/R ratio of the Kd values for ligand I was decreased down to 5.9. In the presence of both 1 mM L-Arg and 0.1 mM H4B, the S/R ratios for ligands I and II and the R/S ratio for ligand III were enormously increased up to 29,80, and 60, respectively. These and other spectral observations strongly suggest that strict chiral recognition at the active site of nNOS during catalysis is exhibited only in the presence of the active effector.

Flavocytochrome P-450 BM3 from Bacillus megaterium is a 119 kDa polypeptide whose heme and diflavin domains are fused to produce a catalytically self-sufficient fatty acid monooxygenase. Redox potentiometry studies have been performed with intact flavocytochrome P-450 BM3 and with its component heme, diflavin, FAD, and FMN domains. Results indicate that electron flow occurs from the NADPH donor through FAD, then FMN and on to the heme center where fatty acid substrate is bound and monooxygenation occurs. Prevention of futile cycling of electrons is avoided through an increase in redox potential of more than 100 mV caused by binding of fatty acids to the active site of P-450. Redox potentials are little altered for the component domains with respect to their values in the larger constructs, providing further evidence for the discrete domain organization of this flavocytochrome. The reduction potentials of the 4-electron reduced diflavin domain and 2-electron reduced FAD domain are considerably lower than those for the blue FAD semiquinone species observed during reductive titrations of these enzymes and that of the physiological electron donor (NADPH), indicating that the FAD hydroquinone is thermodynamically unfavorable and does not accumulate under turnover conditions. In contrast, the FMN hydroquinone is thermodynamically more favorable than the semiquinone.

Rapid events in the processes of electron transfer and substrate binding to cytochrome P-450 BM3 from Bacillus megaterium and its constituent haem-containing and flavin-containing domains have been investigated using stopped-flow spectrophotometry. The formation of a blue semiquinone flavin form occurs during the NADPH-dependent reduction of the flavin domain and a species with a similar absorption maximum is also seen during reduction of the holoenzyme by NADPH. EPR spectroscopy confirms the formation of the flavin semiquinone. The formation of this semiquinone is transient during fatty acid monooxygenation by the holoenzyme, but in the presence of excess NADPH the species reforms once fatty acid is exhausted. Electron transfers through the reductase domain are too rapid to limit the fatty acid monooxygenation reaction. The substrate-binding-induced haem iron spin-state shift also occurs much faster than the Kcat at 25 degrees C. The rate of first electron transfer to the haem domain is also rapid; but it is of the order of 5-10-times larger than the Kcat for the enzyme (dependent on the fatty acid used). Given that two successive electron transfers to haem iron are required for the oxygenation reaction, these rates are likely to exert some control over the rate of fatty acid oxygenation reactions. The presence of large amounts of NADPH also results in decreased rates of electron transfer from flavin to haem iron. In the difference spectrum of the active fatty acid hydroxylase, features indicative of a high-spin iron haem accumulate. These are in accordance with the presence of large amounts of an Fe(3+)-product bound enzyme during turnover and indicate that product release may also contribute to rate limitation. Taken together, these data suggest that the catalytic rate is not determined by the accumulation of a single intermediate in the reaction scheme, but rather that it is controlled in a series of steps.

Mammalian NO synthase requires the cofactor tetrahydrobiopterin (H4B) to act as an electron donor during the activation of molecular oxygen at the heme site. After donating an electron, the resultant H4B radical is then required to abstract an electron from the ferrous NO complex, which is generated at the end of the catalytic reaction, in order to facilitate NO release. We have recently explored the structural requirements of NO synthase for the H4B cofactor by studying a range of novel cofactor analogues with highly modified structures. Substituents on the C6 and C7 positions of H4B are tolerated well, with surprisingly bulky pterins being able to bind and drive NO synthesis. The modified pterins have a wide range of activities and binding constants, but the main function of the cofactors in activating molecular oxygen appears to be independent of C6 and C7 modification as shown by rapid reaction studies. We have also assessed the possibility of direct electron transfer across the dimer interface between H4B molecules in the two NO synthase subunits. The H4B cofactors are within the range for facile electron transfer and present a possible mechanism for NO synthase to escape from the unreactive ferrous-NO complex, which is known to originate from product inhibition.

Calmodulin (CaM) activates NO synthase (NOS) by binding to a 20 amino acid interdomain hinge in the presence of Ca2+, inducing electrons to be transferred from the FAD to the heme of the enzyme via a mobile FMN domain. The activation process is influenced by a number of structural features, including an autoinhibitory loop, the C-terminal tail of the enzyme, and a number of phosphorylation sites. Crystallographic and other recent experimental data imply that the regulatory elements lie within the interface between the FAD- and FMN-binding domains, restricting the movement of the two cofactors with respect to each other. Arg1229 of rat neuronal NOS is a conserved residue in the FAD domain that forms one of only two electrostatic contacts between the domains. Mutation of this residue to Glu reverses its charge and is expected to induce an interdomain repulsion, allowing the importance of the interface and domain-domain motion to be probed. The charge-reversal mutation R1229E has three dramatic effects on catalysis: (i) hydride transfer from NADPH to FAD is activated in the CaM-free enzyme, (ii) FAD to FMN electron transfer is inhibited in both forms, and (iii) electron transfer from FMN to the surrogate acceptor cytochrome c is activated in the CaM-free enzyme. As a result, during steady-state turnover with cytochrome c, calmodulin now deactivates the enzyme and causes cytochrome c-dependent inhibition. Evidently, domain-domain separation is large enough in the mutant to accommodate another protein between the cofactors. The effects of this single charge reversal on three distinct catalytic events illustrate how each is differentially dependent on the enzyme conformation and support a model for catalytic motion in which steps i, ii, and iii occur in the hinged open, closed, and open states, respectively. This model is also likely to apply to related enzymes such as cytochrome P450 reductase.