The Electrochemistry of Diheme Cytochrome c Peroxidases

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This study uses the electrochemical tool of protein film voltammetry (PFV) to uniquely report upon the catalytic chemistry, redox properties, and activation and deactivation reactions of bacterial CCP enzymes. Bacterial organisms, like all organisms, destroy toxic hydrogen peroxide by the use of specific enzymes. In the case of bacteria, diheme peroxidases (CCPs) take electrons from cytochrome c and use them to reduce hydrogen peroxide to water. This reaction is crucial to survival for the microbes, as it defends the organism against oxidizing conditions, such as those engendered by a host's natural defense systems. In this proposal, we will study the mechanisms of electron transfer and peroxide reduction in CCPs from bacteria. Interestingly some CCPs become easily inactivated when they are fully oxidized; others do not have this trait. Bacterial CCPs seem to be homologous in sequence and structure, which makes the molecular cause for this difference amongst the peroxidases intriguing. The long-range goals of our study are to understand the molecular details that determine if a CCP reactivity, and how the redox state of a peroxidase relates to activation and inactivation. We hypothesize that there are a small number of determinants in the primary sequence of CCPs, indicating the requirements for activation. We will (1) measure the reduction potentials and electrochemical characteristics of the wild type Nitrosomonas europaea enzyme, which does not require redox-linked activation; (2) study the activation/deactivation reaction within the CCP from Paracoccus denitrificans, which is known to require activation; (3) generate an overexpression system of the Shewanella oneidensis enzyme, that will allow us to engage in site-directed mutagenesis studies; and (4) characterize a novel sub-class of triheme CCPs that have yet to be described in the literature. Biomedical impact: The proposed experiments will yield a detailed understanding of how Biology defends itself against reactive oxygen species such as hydrogen peroxide, by understanding the interplay between redox chemistry and enzyme mechanism. Further, our study of triheme CCPs will elucidate the CCP machinery which is unique to pathogens such as Salmonella enterica and Yersinia pestis, providing new insights into their biochemical pathways.