Abstract:
2-Methyl-3-hydroxypyridine-5-carboxylic acid (MHPC) oxygenase (MHPCO;
EC 1.14.12.4) is a flavin-containing enzyme involved in the degradation of vitamin B6
(pyridoxine) by the soil bacterium, Pseudomonas sp. MA-1. MHPCO catalyzes the
conversion of its aromatic substrate, MHPC, yielding an aliphatic compound α-(Nacetylaminomethylene)-
succinic acid (AAMS). The reaction occurs via hydroxylation
reaction and subsequently ring-cleavage reaction. Previous studies have shown that
one atom of an atmospheric oxygen molecule is incorporated into the aromatic
substrate via electrophilic aromatic substitution mechanism. Another oxygen atom is
derived from water molecule. In addition, a metal ion cofactor usually needed for
dioxygenase enzymes, is not required in the ring cleavage reaction. Instead, only a
flavin adenine dinucleotide cofactor is employed in the aromatic ring cleavage,
making it a unique reaction among the group of aromatic flavoprotein hydroxylases.
Therefore, availability of atomic resolution structures of MHPCO would provide key
insights into the mechanism of this intriguing reaction. In this work, the microbatch
and hanging-drop vapor diffusion techniques were applied to obtain crystals of
MHPCO complexes: one is a binary complex with its substrate, MHPC, and the other
is a flavin complex. The enzyme-substrate complex crystals were crystallized in
monoclinic C2 and orthorhombic C222 space groups. The C2 crystal form contains
two molecules per asymmetric unit with corresponding VM of 2.6 Å3/Da and 52.7%
solvent content. The latter crystal form has four molecules per asymmetric unit with
corresponding VM of 2.7 Å3/Da and 53.4% solvent content. These two crystals
diffracted X-rays to resolution of 2.5 Å and 2.3 Å, respectively. In addition the flavin
complex diffracted X-rays to 2.25 Å resolution. The crystal belonged to the triclinic
P1 space group with four molecules per unit cell corresponding to VM of 3.2 Å3/Da
and 61.2% solvent content