This family of proteins are members of the radical SAM superfamily and utilise S-adenosyl methionine, an iron-sulphur cluster and a reductant (dihydroflavodoxin) to produce a glycine-centred radical in the class III (anaerobic) ribonucleotide triphosphate reductase.
Padovani D, Thomas F, Trautwein AX, Mulliez E, Fontecave M
Activation of class III ribonucleotide reductase from E. coli. The electron transfer from the iron-sulfur center to S-adenosylmethionine
▸ Abstract
The anaerobic ribonucleotide reductase (ARR) from E. coli is the prototype for enzymes that use the combination of S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet) and an iron-sulfur center for generating catalytically essential free radicals. ARR is a homodimeric alpha2 protein which acquires a glycyl radical during anaerobic incubation with a [4Fe-4S]-containing activating enzyme (beta) and AdoMet under reducing conditions. Here we show that the EPR-active S = 1/2 reduced [4Fe-4S]+ cluster is competent for AdoMet reductive cleavage, yielding 1 equiv of methionine and almost 1 equiv of glycyl radical. These data support the proposal that the glycyl radical results from a one-electron oxidation of the reduced cluster by AdoMet. Reduced protein beta alone is also able to reduce AdoMet but only in the presence of DTT. However, in that case, 2 equiv of methionine per reduced cluster was formed. This unusual stoichiometry and combined EPR and Mössbauer spectroscopic analysis are used to tentatively propose that AdoMet reductive cleavage proceeds by an alternative mechanism involving catalytically active [3Fe-4S] intermediate clusters.
Mulliez E, Padovani D, Atta M, Alcouffe C, Fontecave M
Activation of class III ribonucleotide reductase by flavodoxin: a protein radical-driven electron transfer to the iron-sulfur center
▸ Abstract
In its active form, Escherichia coli class III ribonucleotide reductase homodimer alpha(2) relies on a protein free radical located on the Gly(681) residue of the alpha polypeptide. The formation of the glycyl radical, namely, the activation of the enzyme, involves the concerted action of four components: S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet), dithiothreitol (DTT), an Fe-S protein called beta or "activase", and a reducing system consisting of NADPH, NADPH:flavodoxin oxidoreductase, and flavodoxin (fldx). It has been proposed that a reductant serves to generate a reduced [4Fe-4S](+) cluster absolutely required for the reductive cleavage of AdoMet and the generation of the radical. Here, we suggest that the one-electron reduced form of flavodoxin (SQ), the only detectable product of the in vitro enzymatic reduction of flavodoxin, can support the formation of the glycyl radical. However, the redox potential of the Fe-S center of the enzyme is shown to be approximately 300 mV more negative than that of the SQ/fldx couple and not shifted to a more positive value by AdoMet binding. It is also more negative than that of the HQ/SQ couple, HQ being the fully reduced form of flavodoxin. Our interpretation is that activation of ribonucleotide reductase occurs through coupling of the reduction of the Fe-S center by flavodoxin to two thermodynamically favorable reactions, the oxidation of the cluster by AdoMet, yielding methionine and the 5'-deoxyadenosyl radical, and the oxidation of the glycine residue to the corresponding glycyl radical by the 5'-deoxyadenosyl radical. The second reaction plays the major role on the basis that a Gly-to-Ala mutation results in a greatly decreased production of methionine.
Torrents E, Eliasson R, Wolpher H, Gräslund A, Reichard P
The anaerobic ribonucleotide reductase from Lactococcus lactis. Interactions between the two proteins NrdD and NrdG
▸ Abstract
Deoxyribonucleotide synthesis by anaerobic class III ribonucleotide reductases requires two proteins, NrdD and NrdG. NrdD contains catalytic and allosteric sites and, in its active form, a stable glycyl radical. This radical is generated by NrdG with its [4Fe-4S](+) cluster and S-adenosylmethionine. We now find that NrdD and NrdG from Lactobacillus lactis anaerobically form a tight alpha(2)beta(2) complex, suggesting that radical generation by NrdG and radical transfer to the specific glycine residue of NrdD occurs within the complex. Activated NrdD was separated from NrdG by anaerobic affinity chromatography on dATP-Sepharose without loss of its glycyl radical. NrdD alone then catalyzed the reduction of CTP with formate as the electron donor and ATP as the allosteric effector. The reaction required Mg(2+) and was stimulated by K(+) but not by dithiothreitol. Thus NrdD is the actual reductase, and NrdG is an activase, making class III reductases highly similar to pyruvate formate lyase and its activase and suggesting a common root for the two anaerobic enzymes during early evolution. Our results further support the contention that ribonucleotide reduction during transition from an RNA world to a DNA world started with a class III-like enzyme from which other reductases evolved when oxygen appeared on earth.
