Cancelled

Professor Audrey Lamb from the University of Texas at San Antonio will present a seminar.

Evidence for the chemical mechanism of dihydroxybutanone phosphate (DHBP) synthase from riboflavin biosynthesis

Abstract:

RibB (3,4-dihydroxy-2-butanone 4-phosphate synthase) is a magnesium-dependent enzyme that excises the C4 of D-ribulose-5-phosphate (D-Ru5P) as formate. This chemistry forms the four-carbon substrate for RibE (lumazine synthase) that is incorporated into the xylene moiety of lumazine and ultimately the riboflavin isoalloxazine. The reaction was first identified in studies by Bacher and coworkers in the early 1990s and a chemical mechanism hypothesis offered by these researchers has become the consensus mechanism despite minimal direct evidence. In addition, X-ray crystal structures of RibB typically show two metal ions when solved in the presence of non-native metals and/or liganding non-substrate analogues, and the consensus hypothetical mechanism has incorporated this cofactor set. We have used a variety of biochemical approaches to further characterize the chemistry catalyzed by RibB from Vibrio cholera (VcRibB). We show that full activity is achieved at metal ion concentrations equal to the enzyme concentration indicating that only one metal ion is required for catalysis. This was confirmed from EPR of the enzyme reconstituted with manganese and crystal structures liganded with Mn2+ and a variety of sugar-phosphates. These data definitively show the involvement of a single active site metal ion. The slow rate of turnover of VcRibB was used to identify two transient species prior to the formation of products using acid quench of single turnover reactions in combination with NMR for singly and fully 13C-labelled D-Ru5P. These data indicate that dehydration of C1 forms the first transient species that then undergoes rearrangement by a 1,2 migration that fuses C5 to C3 and renders C4 hydrated as a gem diol that is poised for elimination as formate. Time-dependent Mn2+ soaks of VcRibB-D-Ru5P co-crystals provided structures that show accumulation in crystallo of the same intermediate states as observed with acid-quench and NMR. Collectively these data reveal for the first time crucial transient chemical states in the mechanism of RibB.

Host: Dr. Patrick Frantom