Enzymatic H-Transfer Requires Vibration-Driven Extreme Tunneling

Enzymatic breakage of the substrate C-H bond by Methylophilus methyltrophus (sp. W3A1) methylamine dehydrogenase (MADH) has been studied by stopped-flow spectroscopy. The rate of reduction of the tryptophan tryptophylquinone (TTQ) cofactor has a large kinetic isotope effect (KIE = 16.8 +/- 0.5), and the KIE is independent of temperature. Analysis of the temperature dependence of C-H bond breakage revealed that extreme (ground state) quantum tunneling is responsible for the transfer of the hydrogen nucleus. Reaction rates are strongly dependent on temperature, indicating thermally induced, vibrational motion drives the H-transfer reaction. The data provide direct experimental evidence for enzymatic bond breakage by extreme tunneling driven by vibrational motion of the protein scaffold. The results demonstrate that classical transition state theory and its tunneling derivatives do not adequately describe this enzymatic reaction.