scholarly journals Modification of cysteine residues in the ChlI and ChlH subunits of magnesium chelatase results in enzyme inactivation

2000 ◽  
Vol 352 (2) ◽  
pp. 435-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Poul E. JENSEN ◽  
James D. REID ◽  
C. Neil HUNTER

The enzyme magnesium protoporphyrin chelatase catalyses the insertion of magnesium into protoporphyrin, the first committed step in chlorophyll biosynthesis. Magnesium chelatase from the cyanobacterium Synechocystis PCC6803 has been reconstituted in a highly active state as a result of purifying the constituent proteins from strains of Escherichia coli that overproduce the ChlH, ChlI and ChlD subunits. These individual subunits were analysed for their sensitivity to N-ethylmaleimide (NEM), in order to assess the roles that cysteine residues play in the partial reactions that comprise the catalytic cycle of Mg2+ chelatase, such as the ATPase activity of ChlI, and the formation of ChlI–ChlD–MgATP and ChlH–protoporphyrin complexes. It was shown that NEM binds to ChlI and inhibits the ATPase activity of this subunit, and that prior incubation with MgATP affords protection against inhibition. Quantitative analysis of the effects of NEM binding on ChlI-catalysed ATPase activity showed that three out of four thiols per ChlI molecule are available to react with NEM, but only one cysteine residue per ChlI subunit is essential for ATPase activity. In contrast, the cysteines in ChlD are not essential for Mg2+ chelatase activity, and the formation of the ChlI–ChlD–ATP complex can proceed with NEM-treated ChlI. Neither the ATPase activity of ChlI nor NEM-modifiable cysteines are therefore required to form the ChlI–ChlD–MgATP complex. However, this complex cannot catalyse magnesium chelation in the presence of the ChlH subunit, protoporphyrin and Mg2+ ions. The simplest explanation for this is that in an intact Mg2+ chelatase complex the ATPase activity of ChlI drives the chelation process. NEM binds to ChlH and inhibits the chelation reaction, and this effect can be partially alleviated by pre-incubating ChlH with magnesium and ATP. We conclude that cysteine residues play an important role in the chelation reaction, in respect of the ChlI–MgATP association, ATP hydrolysis and in the interaction of ChlH with MgATP and protoporphyrin IX.

1999 ◽  
Vol 339 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Poul E. JENSEN ◽  
Lucien C. D. GIBSON ◽  
C. Neil HUNTER

Insertion of Mg2+ into protoporphyrin IX catalysed by the three-subunit enzyme magnesium-protoporphyrin IX chelatase (Mg chelatase) is thought to be a two-step reaction, consisting of activation followed by Mg2+ chelation. The activation step requires ATP and two of the subunits, ChlI and ChlD (I and D respectively), and it has been speculated that this step results in the formation of an I–D–ATP complex. The subsequent step, in which Mg2+ is inserted into protoporphyrin, also requires ATP and the third subunit, H, in addition to ATP-activated I–D complex. In the present study, we examine the interaction of the I and D subunits of the Mg chelatase from the cyanobacterium Synechocystis PCC 6803. We demonstrate the purification of an I–D complex, and show that ATP and Mg2+ are absolute requirements for the formation of this complex, probably as MgATP. However, ATP may be replaced by the slowly hydrolysable analogue, adenosine 5´-[γ-thio]triphosphate, and, to a minor extent, by ADP and the non-hydrolysable ATP analogue, adenosine 5´-[β,γ-imido]triphosphate, all of which suggests that ATP hydrolysis is not necessary for the formation of the ChlI–ChlD complex. A sensitive continuous assay was used to detect ATPase activity during Mg2+ chelation, and it was found that the maximum rate of ATP hydrolysis coincided with the maximum rate of Mg2+ insertion. The rate of ATP hydrolysis depended on factors that determined the rate of Mg2+ chelation, such as increasing the concentration of the H subunit and the concentration of protoporphyrin. Thus ATP hydrolysis has been identified as an absolute requirement for the chelation step. The I subunit possessed strong ATPase activity when assayed on its own, whereas the D subunit had no detectable activity, and when the I and D subunits were assayed in combination, the ATPase activity of the I subunit was repressed.


2006 ◽  
Vol 400 (3) ◽  
pp. 477-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Sirijovski ◽  
Ulf Olsson ◽  
Joakim Lundqvist ◽  
Salam Al-Karadaghi ◽  
Robert D. Willows ◽  
...  

Magnesium chelatase inserts Mg2+ into protoporphyrin IX and is the first unique enzyme of the chlorophyll biosynthetic pathway. It is a heterotrimeric enzyme, composed of I- (40 kDa), D- (70 kDa) and H- (140 kDa) subunits. The I- and D-proteins belong to the family of AAA+ (ATPases associated with various cellular activities), but only I-subunit hydrolyses ATP to ADP. The D-subunits provide a platform for the assembly of the I-subunits, which results in a two-tiered hexameric ring complex. However, the D-subunits are unstable in the chloroplast unless ATPase active I-subunits are present. The H-subunit binds protoporphyrin and is suggested to be the catalytic subunit. Previous studies have indicated that the H-subunit also has ATPase activity, which is in accordance with an earlier suggested two-stage mechanism of the reaction. In the present study, we demonstrate that gel filtration chromatography of affinity-purified Rhodobacter capsulatus H-subunit produced in Escherichia coli generates a high- and a low-molecular-mass fraction. Both fractions were dominated by the H-subunit, but the ATPase activity was only found in the high-molecular-mass fraction and magnesium chelatase activity was only associated with the low-molecular-mass fraction. We demonstrated that light converted monomeric low-molecular-mass H-subunit into high-molecular-mass aggregates. We conclude that ATP utilization by magnesium chelatase is solely connected to the I-subunit and suggest that a contaminating E. coli protein, which binds to aggregates of the H-subunit, caused the previously reported ATPase activity of the H-subunit.


2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (20) ◽  
pp. e2104443118
Author(s):  
Weiqing Zhang ◽  
Robert D. Willows ◽  
Rui Deng ◽  
Zheng Li ◽  
Mengqi Li ◽  
...  

Biosyntheses of chlorophyll and heme in oxygenic phototrophs share a common trunk pathway that diverges with insertion of magnesium or iron into the last common intermediate, protoporphyrin IX. Since both tetrapyrroles are pro-oxidants, it is essential that their metabolism is tightly regulated. Here, we establish that heme-derived linear tetrapyrroles (bilins) function to stimulate the enzymatic activity of magnesium chelatase (MgCh) via their interaction with GENOMES UNCOUPLED 4 (GUN4) in the model green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. A key tetrapyrrole-binding component of MgCh found in all oxygenic photosynthetic species, CrGUN4, also stabilizes the bilin-dependent accumulation of protoporphyrin IX-binding CrCHLH1 subunit of MgCh in light-grown C. reinhardtii cells by preventing its photooxidative inactivation. Exogenous application of biliverdin IXα reverses the loss of CrCHLH1 in the bilin-deficient heme oxygenase (hmox1) mutant, but not in the gun4 mutant. We propose that these dual regulatory roles of GUN4:bilin complexes are responsible for the retention of bilin biosynthesis in all photosynthetic eukaryotes, which sustains chlorophyll biosynthesis in an illuminated oxic environment.


1999 ◽  
Vol 337 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucien C. D. GIBSON ◽  
Poul Erik JENSEN ◽  
C. Neil HUNTER

The enzyme magnesium-protoporphyrin IX chelatase (Mg chelatase) catalyses the insertion of Mg into protoporphyrin IX, the first committed step in (bacterio)chlorophyll biosynthesis. In the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides, this reaction is catalysed by the products of the bchI, bchDand bchH genes. These genes have been expressed in Escherichia coli so that the BchI, BchD and BchH proteins are produced with N-terminal His6 affinity tags, which has led to the production of large amounts of highly purified, highly active Mg chelatase subunits from a single chromatography step. Furthermore, BchD has been purifed free of contamination with the chaperone GroEL, which had proven to be a problem in the past. BchD, present largely as an insoluble protein in E. coli, was purified in 6 M urea and refolded by addition of BchI, MgCl2 and ATP, yielding highly active protein. BchI/BchD mixtures prepared in this way were used in conjunction with BchH to determine the kinetic parameters of R. sphaeroides Mg chelatase for its natural substrates. We have been able to demonstrate for the first time that BchI and BchD form a complex, and that Mg2+ and ATP are required to establish and maintain this complex. Gel filtration data suggest that BchI and BchD form a complex of molecular mass 200 kDa in the presence of Mg2+ and ATP. Our data suggest that, in vivo, BchD is only folded correctly and maintained in its correct conformation in the presence of BchI, Mg2+ and ATP.


2019 ◽  
Vol 476 (13) ◽  
pp. 1875-1887 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Farmer ◽  
Amanda A. Brindley ◽  
Andrew Hitchcock ◽  
Philip J. Jackson ◽  
Bethany Johnson ◽  
...  

Abstract Magnesium chelatase initiates chlorophyll biosynthesis, catalysing the MgATP2−-dependent insertion of a Mg2+ ion into protoporphyrin IX. The catalytic core of this large enzyme complex consists of three subunits: Bch/ChlI, Bch/ChlD and Bch/ChlH (in bacteriochlorophyll and chlorophyll producing species, respectively). The D and I subunits are members of the AAA+ (ATPases associated with various cellular activities) superfamily of enzymes, and they form a complex that binds to H, the site of metal ion insertion. In order to investigate the physical coupling between ChlID and ChlH in vivo and in vitro, ChlD was FLAG-tagged in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 and co-immunoprecipitation experiments showed interactions with both ChlI and ChlH. Co-production of recombinant ChlD and ChlH in Escherichia coli yielded a ChlDH complex. Quantitative analysis using microscale thermophoresis showed magnesium-dependent binding (Kd 331 ± 58 nM) between ChlD and H. The physical basis for a ChlD–H interaction was investigated using chemical cross-linking coupled with mass spectrometry (XL–MS), together with modifications that either truncate ChlD or modify single residues. We found that the C-terminal integrin I domain of ChlD governs association with ChlH, the Mg2+ dependence of which also mediates the cooperative response of the Synechocystis chelatase to magnesium. The interaction site between the AAA+ motor and the chelatase domain of magnesium chelatase will be essential for understanding how free energy from the hydrolysis of ATP on the AAA+ ChlI subunit is transmitted via the bridging subunit ChlD to the active site on ChlH.


2007 ◽  
Vol 81 (10) ◽  
pp. 5212-5224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Mach ◽  
Karolina Osinski ◽  
Barbara Kropff ◽  
Ursula Schloetzer-Schrehardt ◽  
Magdalena Krzyzaniak ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Glycoproteins M and N (gM and gN, respectively) are among the few proteins that are conserved across the herpesvirus family. The function of the complex is largely unknown. Whereas deletion from most alphaherpesviruses has marginal effects on the replication of the respective viruses, both proteins are essential for replication of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV). We have constructed a series of mutants in gN to study the function of this protein. gN of HCMV is a type I glycoprotein containing a short carboxy-terminal domain of 14 amino acids, including two cysteine residues directly adjacent to the predicted transmembrane anchor at positions 125 and 126. Deletion of the entire carboxy-terminal domain as well as substitution with the corresponding region from alpha herpesviruses or mutations of both cysteine residues resulted in a replication-incompetent virus. Recombinant viruses containing point mutations of either cysteine residue could be generated. These viruses were profoundly defective for replication. Complex formation of the mutant gNs with gM and transport of the complex to the viral assembly compartment appeared unaltered compared to the wild type. However, in infected cells, large numbers of capsids accumulated in the cytoplasm that failed to acquire an envelope. Transiently expressed gN was shown to be modified by palmitic acid at both cysteine residues. In summary, our data suggest that the carboxy-terminal domain of gN plays a critical role in secondary envelopment of HCMV and that palmitoylation of gN appears to be essential for function in secondary envelopment of HCMV and virus replication.


1992 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Sánchez-Nieto ◽  
R. Rodríguez-Sotres ◽  
P. González-Romo ◽  
I. Bernal-Lugo ◽  
M. Gavilanes-Ruíz

AbstractThe effectiveness of ATPase in germinated seed may play an important role in the vigour of germination. The activities of tonoplast and plasma membrane ATPases in two maize (Zea mays L.) lines with different vigour of germination were determined. ATP hydrolysis was measured in microsomal fractions from coleoptiles along with the responses to specific inhibitors for the plasma membrane, tonoplast and mitochondrial ATPases as well as for acid phosphatase. Nitrate-sensitive ATPase activity was 1.5–3.0 times lower in the low-vigour line than in the high-vigour line. Kinetic analysis of ATP hydrolysis at different substrate concentrations revealed the existence of two enzymes in the microsomal fractions of the two lines. The Vmax of enzyme 1 in the low-vigour line was a third of that in the high-vigour line. This enzyme was identified as the nitrate-sensitive or tonoplast ATPase on the basis of measurements of ATP hydrolysis in the presence of specific inhibitors at high (8.12mm) and low (0.77mm) ATP concentrations.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document