Anne K. Samland

Transaldolase B (TalB) and D-fructose-6-phosphate aldolase A (FSAA) fromEscherichia coliare C—C bond-forming enzymes. Using kinetic inhibition studies and mass spectrometry, it is shown that enzyme variants of FSAA and TalB that exhibit D-fructose-6-phosphate aldolase activity are inhibited covalently and irreversibly by D-tagatose 6-phosphate (D-T6P), whereas no inhibition was observed for wild-type transaldolase B fromE. coli. The crystal structure of the variant TalB^F178Ywith bound sugar phosphate was solved to a resolution of 1.46 Å and revealed a novel mode of covalent inhibition. The sugar is bound covalentlyviaits C2 atom to the ∊-NH₂group of the active-site residue Lys132. It is neither bound in the open-chain form nor as the closed-ring form of D-T6P, but has been converted to β-D-galactofuranose 6-phosphate (D-G6P), a five-membered ring structure. The furanose ring of the covalent adduct is formedviaa Heyns rearrangement and subsequent hemiacetal formation. This reaction is facilitated by Tyr178, which is proposed to act as acid–base catalyst. The crystal structure of the inhibitor complex is compared with the structure of the Schiff-base intermediate of TalB^E96Qformed with the substrate D-fructose 6-phosphate determined to a resolution of 2.20 Å. This comparison highlights the differences in stereochemistry at the C4 atom of the ligand as an essential determinant for the formation of the inhibitor adduct in the active site of the enzyme.

The residues responsible for binding the catalytic water molecule were interchanged between the closely related enzymes fructose 6‐phosphate aldolase A (FSAA) and transaldolase B (TalB) from Escherichia coli. In FSAA, this water molecule is bound by hydrogen bonds to the side chains of three residues (Gln59, Thr109 and Tyr131), whereas in TalB only two residues (Glu96 and Thr156) participate. Single and double variants were characterised with respect to fructose 6‐phosphate aldolase and transaldolase activity, stability, pH dependence of activity, pK_a value of the essential lysine residue and their three dimensional structure. The double variant TalB^E96Q F178Y showed improved aldolase activity with an apparent k_cat of 4.3 s⁻¹. The experimentally determined pK_a values of the catalytic lysine residue revealed considerable differences: In FSAA, this lysine residue is deprotonated at assay conditions (pK_a 5.5) whereas it is protonated in TalB (pK_a 9.3). Hence, a deprotonation of the catalytic lysine residue, which is a prerequisite for an efficient nucleophilic attack in TalB, is not necessary in FSAA. Based upon these results, we propose a new mechanism for FSAA with Tyr131 as general acid.

Computational tools for rational protein engineering of aldolases

Transaldolase (Tal) is involved in the central carbon metabolism, i.e. the non-oxidative pentose phosphate pathway, and is therefore a ubiquitous enzyme. However, Tals show a low degree in sequence identity and vary in length within the enzyme family which previously led to the definition of five subfamilies. We wondered how this variation is conserved in structure and function. To answer this question we characterised and compared the Tals from Bacillus subtilis, Corynebacterium glutamicum and Escherichia coli, each belonging to a different subfamily, with respect to their biochemical properties and structures. The overall structure of the Tal domain, a (beta/a)8-barrel fold, is well conserved between the different subfamilies but the enzymes show different degrees of oligomerisation (monomer, dimer and decamer). The substrate specificity of the three enzymes investigated is quite similar which is reflected in the conservation of the active site, the phosphate binding site as well as the position of a catalytically important water molecule. All decameric enzymes characterised so far appear to be heat stable no matter whether they originate from a mesophilic or thermophilic organism. Hence, the thermostability might be due to the structural properties, i.e. tight packing, of these enzymes.

Recently, we reported on a transaldolase B variant (TalB F178Y) that is able to use dihydroxyacetone (DHA) as donor in aldol reactions. In a second round of protein engineering, we aimed at improving the affinity of this variant towards nonphosphorylated acceptor aldehydes, that is, glyceraldehyde (GA). The anion binding site was identified in the X‐ray structure of TalB F178Y where a sulfate ion from the buffer was bound in the active site. Therefore, we performed site‐directed saturation mutagenesis at three residues forming the putative phosphate binding site, Arg181, Ser226 and Arg228. The focused libraries were screened for the formation of D‐fructose from DHA and d,l‐GA by using an adjusted colour assay. The best results with respect to the synthesis of D‐fructose were achieved with the TalB F178Y/R181E variant, which exhibited an at least fivefold increase in affinity towards d,l‐GA (K_M=24 mM). We demonstrated that this double mutant can use D‐GA, glycolaldehyde and the L‐isomer, L‐GA, as acceptor substrates. This resulted in preparative synthesis of D‐fructose, D‐xylulose and L‐sorbose when DHA was used as donor. Hence, we engineered a DHA‐dependent aldolase that can synthesise the formation of polyhydroxylated compounds from simple and cheap substrates at preparative scale.