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The structure of histidine 94-->aspartate (H94D) carbonic anhydrase II (CAII) crystallized in an orthorhombic space group has been determined to 2.5 A resolution. This crystal form is not isomorphous with monoclinic wild-type enzyme crystals or with the monoclinic crystal form of H94D CAII reported earlier [Kiefer,L.L., Ippolito, J.A., Fierke, C.A. and Christianson, D.W. (1993) J. Am. Chem. Soc., 115, 12581-12582]. In monoclinic H94D CAII, a fully occupied zinc ion is tetrahedrally coordinated by D94, H96, H119 and a water molecule. In orthorhombic H94D CAII, a partially occupied zinc ion is coordinated by H96 and H119 and only weakly coordinated by a disordered D94 side chain. These differences are particularly surprising given that the two crystal forms co-precipitate in the same drop in the same experiment. Re-refinement of the orthorhombic crystal form of H94C CAII and comparison with its corresponding monoclinic crystal form yield similar results. It appears that partial-but not full-zinc dissociation accompanies the crystallization of CAII variants in the orthorhombic crystal form, and significant differences on the protein surface presumably affect the relative stability of each crystal lattice. These results underscore an unexpected ambiguity in this protein engineering experiment: which crystal structure of H94D CAII should be correlated with functional measurements made in solution?

We have inserted a fourth protein ligand into the zinc coordination polyhedron of carbonic anhydrase II (CAII) that increases metal affinity 200-fold (Kd = 20 fM). The three-dimensional structures of threonine-199-->aspartate (T199D) and threonine-199-->glutamate (T199E) CAIIs, determined by x-ray crystallographic methods to resolutions of 2.35 Angstrum and 2.2 Angstrum, respectively, reveal a tetrahedral metal-binding site consisting of H94, H96, H119, and the engineered carboxylate side chain, which displaces zinc-bound hydroxide. Although the stereochemistry of neither engineered carboxylate-zinc interaction is comparable to that found in naturally occurring protein zinc-binding sites, protein-zinc affinity is enhanced in T199E CAII demonstrating that ligand-metal separation is a significant determinant of carboxylate-zinc affinity. In contrast, the three-dimensional structure of threonine-199-->histidine (T199H) CAII, determined to 2.25-Angstrum resolution, indicates that the engineered imidazole side chain rotates away from the metal and does not coordinate to zinc; this results in a weaker zinc-binding site. All three of these substitutions nearly obliterate CO2 hydrase activity, consistent with the role of zinc-bound hydroxide as catalytic nucleophile. The engineering of an additional protein ligand represents a general approach for increasing protein-metal affinity if the side chain can adopt a reasonable conformation and achieve inner-sphere zinc coordination. Moreover, this structure-assisted design approach may be effective in the development of high-sensitivity metal ion biosensors.

In order to probe the structural importance of zinc ligands in the active site of human carbonic anhydrase II (CAII), we have determined the three-dimensional structures of H94C (in metal-bound form), H94C-BME (i.e., disulfide-linked with beta-mercaptoethanol), H94A, H96C, H119C, and H119D variants of CAII by X-ray crystallographic methods at resolutions of 2.2, 2.35, 2.25, 2.3, 2.2, and 2.25 A, respectively. Each variant crystallizes isomorphously with the wild-type enzyme, in which zinc is tetrahedrally coordinated by H94, H96, H119, and hydroxide ion. The structure of H94C CAII reveals the successful substitution of the naturally occurring histidine zinc ligand by a cysteine thiolate, and metal coordination by C94 is facilitated by the plastic structural response of the beta-sheet superstructure. Importantly, the resulting structure represents the catalytically active form of the enzyme reported previously [Alexander, R. S., Kiefer, L. L., Fierke, C. A., & Christianson, D. W. (1993) Biochemistry 32, 1510-1518]. Contrastingly, the structure of H96C CAII reveals that the engineered side chain does not coordinate to zinc; instead, zinc is tetrahedrally liganded by H94, H119, and two solvent molecules. Thus, the beta-sheet superstructure is not sufficiently plastic in this location to allow C96 to coordinate to the metal ion. Substitution of the thiolate or carboxylate group for wild-type histidine in H119C and H119D CAIIs reveals that tetrahedral metal coordination is maintained in each variant; however, since there is no plastic structural response of the corresponding beta-strand, a longer metal-ligand separation results.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Amino acid substitutions at Thr199 of human carbonic anhydrase II (CAII) (Thr199-->Ser, Ala, Val, and Pro) were characterized to investigate the importance of a conserved hydrogen bonding network. The three-dimensional structures of azide-bound and sulfate-bound T199V CAIIs were determined by x-ray crystallographic methods at 2.25 and 2.4 A, respectively (final crystallographic R factors are 0.173 and 0.174, respectively). The CO2 hydrase activities of T199S and T199P variants suggest that the side chain methyl and backbone amino functionalities stabilize the transition state by approximately 0.4 and 0.8 kcal/mol, respectively. The side chain hydroxyl group causes: stabilization of zinc-hydroxide relative to zinc-water (pKa increases approximately 2 units); stabilization of the transition state for bicarbonate dehydration relative to the CAII.HCO3- complex (approximately 5 kcal/mol); and destabilization of the CAII.HCO3- complex (approximately 0.8 kcal/mol). An inverse correlation between log(kcatCO2/KM) and the pKa of zinc-water (r = 0.95, slope = -1) indicates that the hydrogen bonding network stabilizes the chemical transition state and zinc-hydroxide similarly. These data are consistent with the hydroxyl group of Thr199 forming a hydrogen bond with the transition state and a non-hydrogen-bonded van der Waals contact with CAII.HCO3-.

X-ray crystallographic analysis of the Thr-199-->Cys (T199C) variant of human carbonic anhydrase II reveals the first high-resolution structure of an engineered zinc coordination polyhedron in a metalloenzyme. In the wild-type enzyme, Thr-199 accepts a hydrogen bond from zinc-bound hydroxide; in the variant, the polypeptide backbone is sufficiently plastic to permit Cys-199 to displace hydroxide ion and coordinate to zinc with nearly perfect coordination stereochemistry. Importantly, the resulting His3-Cys-Zn2+ motif binds zinc more tightly than the wild-type enzyme [Kiefer, L. L., Krebs, J. F., Paterno, S. A., & Fierke C. A. (1993) Biochemistry (preceding paper in this issue)]. This novel zinc coordination polyhedron is analogous to that postulated for matrix metalloproteinase zymogens such as prostromelysin, where a cysteine-zinc interaction is responsible for the inactivity of the zymogen. Intriguingly, Cys-199 of T199C CAII is displaced from zinc coordination by soaking crystals in high concentrations of acetazolamide. Hence, residual catalytic activity measured for this variant probably arises from an alternate conformer of Cys-199 which allows the catalytic nucleophile, hydroxide ion, to be activated by zinc coordination.