Abstract
The dynamic interactions of enzymes and substrates underpins catalysis, yet few techniques can interrogate the dynamics of protein-bound ligands. Here we describe the use of field cycling NMR relaxometry to measure the dynamics of enzyme-bound substrates and cofactors in catalytically competent complexes of GMP reductase. These studies reveal new binding modes unanticipated by x-ray crystal structures and reaction-specific dynamic networks. Importantly, this work demonstrates that distal interactions not usually considered part of the reaction coordinate can play an active role in catalysis. The commercialization of shuttling apparatus will make field cycling relaxometry more accessible and expand its use to additional nuclei, promising more intriguing findings to come.
Introduction
The extraordinary power of enzyme catalysis relies on the dynamic alignment of substrates and active site residues. While X-ray crystal structures provide invaluable insights into enzyme-substrate interactions, such structures are typically static views of chemically inert complexes. Tremendous progress has been made using NMR methods to measure protein dynamics, but such studies have largely focused on changes in protein conformation and identification of ligand binding sites, again with typically chemically inert complexes (; ; ; ). These experiments have limited utility for large multimeric proteins. Paramagnetic relaxation can be used to measure ligand binding and infer conformation if the enzyme contains a suitable spin center (; ). Substrate dynamics can also be addressed computationally, but proper benchmarking is difficult given the few experimental methods available to validate or corroborate such studies (). Here we describe the use of high resolution 31P field cycling NMR relaxometry to investigate the dynamics of enzyme-bound substrates and cofactors. These experiments provide a unique ligand-centric view of protein-ligand interactions. We describe work in the model system of GMP reductase (GMPR) (; ; ), where these experiments reveal a novel binding mode unanticipated by crystal structures as well as reaction-specific dynamic networks. Importantly, this work demonstrates that substrate/cofactor phosphates and other interactions not usually considered part of the reaction coordinate can be active participants in catalysis rather than passive bystanders as often assumed.
The Method
The power of subtesla high-resolution field-cycling NMR relaxometry to interrogate the dynamics of enzyme-bound substrates is only beginning to be appreciated (; ; ; ; ; ; ; ). Dipolar relaxation results from the interaction of a nucleus of interest, e.g., 31P, with nearby dipoles, usually 1H. An example of potential 31P—1 H dipolar interactions for an enzyme-bound substrate is shown in Figure 1A. Thus dipolar relaxation reflects the structure of the binding site and the mobility of substrate. However, chemical shift anisotropy (CSA) is the mechanism that dominates the spin-lattice/longitudinal rate (R1) of 31P in the high magnetic fields of current spectrometers. Dipolar relaxation can be observed at lower magnetic fields where CSA relaxation is minimal, but differences in the chemical shifts of multiple 31P in a sample are lost. In a high resolution field cycling relaxometry experiment, samples are excited at high magnetic field, shuttled up the bore of the magnet to low field for relaxation, then shuttled back to high field to detect the residual magnetization (Figure 1B) (; ). This type of field cycling preserves chemical shift information, allowing the magnetic field dependence of R1 to be measured simultaneously for different 31P nuclei. Importantly, the enzyme-bound substrate must be in fast exchange with free substrate, making the observed R1 the weighted average of the very small R1 of the free substrate and the much larger R1 of the enzyme-bound substrate (which is a function of the correlation time of the enzyme•substrate complex) (). Under these conditions, the experiments characterize the ground state Michaelis complex.
FIGURE 1
In a typical high resolution relaxometry experiment (e.g., Figure 1C), R1 is measured at varying magnetic fields ranging from 0.003 to 11.7 T, yielding two dipolar parameters: 1) RD(0), the maximum dipolar relaxation rate at zero field; and 2) τD, the molecular dipolar correlation time (
For the purposes of this review, discussion will be limited to τD and τD/RD0. If the bound substrate is relatively rigid, then the value of τD will be comparable to the overall rotation of the enzyme complex, but if the substrate is mobile, the values of RD(0) and τD can be reduced. As noted above, the sixth root of τD/RD0 is related to the averaged effective distance (reff) between the 31P nucleus and the 1H relaxers, so that smaller values of τD/RD0 indicate that the relaxers are closer and/or more relaxers are present. The 1H relaxers can be intramolecular (e.g., the 5′-1H nuclei of IMP in Figure 1A), in which case their contribution to relaxation is determined by the conformation of the substrate, or intermolecular (e.g., αC1H2 nuclei of Gly183 and Gly220 in Figure 1A), where their contribution is determined by the structure of the binding site. The 1H relaxers can also be exchangeable protons or even water. Thus, high resolution relaxometry experiments probe critical structural and dynamic features of substrate binding sites.
The System
Given the widespread prevalence of phosphorylated metabolites in critical biochemical pathways, there are surprisingly few studies that utilize 31P NMR relaxation, and specifically spin-lattice/longitudinal relaxation, to investigate enzyme-substrate dynamics. GMPR is a particularly attractive system for such studies because the reaction involves four 31P nuclei, one on the GMP/IMP substrate and three on the NADP+ cofactor. Moreover, the cofactor undergoes a conformational change during the catalytic cycle (
GMPR catalyzes the reduction of GMP to IMP and ammonia with concomitant oxidation of NADPH. The reaction proceeds via two steps (Figure 2A): 1) Deamination of GMP via attack of the catalytic Cys to produce the thioimidate intermediate E-XMP* and ammonia followed by 2) hydride transfer from NADPH to E-XMP* producing IMP. Two catalytically active, yet dead end, complexes provide windows into each step (Figure 2B): 1) The E•GMP•NADP+ complex can undergo deamination to form E-XMP*•NH3•NADP+ but cannot proceed to products in the absence of NADPH; 2) hydride transfer can occur in the E•IMP•NADP+ complex to form E-XMP*•NADPH, but the reaction cannot proceed to GMP in the absence of ammonia. The cofactor is present throughout the catalytic cycle (
FIGURE 2

The dynamics of enzyme-bound substrate and cofactors in GMPR. (A) The GMPR reaction. (B) Partial reactions catalyzed by GMPR. (C) Cofactor conformations observed in E•IMP•NADP+ crystal structure (pdb 2c6q). IMP carbon atoms are shown in dark magenta, NADP+ in dark cyan, hydrogen bonds are depicted with dashed lines. This figure was produced with UCSF Chimera (
Field Cycling Reveals a Novel Binding Site and Reaction-specific Dynamics
The values of τD reveal surprising differences in the mobilities of enzyme bound substrates and cofactors (
The values of τD for the 31P nuclei of GMP and IMP in their respective binary enzyme complexes were both 43 ns (±4 and ±6 ns, respectively), indicating that the monophosphates are mobile on the enzyme. The values of τD/RD(0) for enzyme bound GMP and IMP are also very similar (1.9–2.0 × 10−8 s2 for τD/RD0), indicating that the binding sites are essentially the same, as found in the crystal structures.
In contrast to the binary substrate complexes, the ternary enzyme-substrate-cofactor complexes display distinct dynamic profiles (Figures 1C, 2D) (
The cofactor displays different dynamic properties in the deamination and hydride transfer complexes (Figure 2D). All three cofactor 31P nuclei are more mobile than the substrate monophosphate in the deamination complex, with values of τD ranging from 44 to 47 ns versus 72 ns for GMP. In contrast, the cofactor is more rigid than the substrate in the hydride transfer complex, with values of τD ranging from 82 to 103 ns versus 55 ns for IMP. While the differences in the dynamic behavior of the diphosphate 31P nuclei were anticipated from the crystal structures, the cofactor monophosphate was expected to exhibit similar dynamic features in both complexes. Thus, like the substrate monophosphate, the cofactor monophosphate is also intimately coupled to the catalytic cycle.
Although the crystal structure suggested that the cofactor should occupy different sites in the deamination and hydride transfer complexes, the values of τD/RD(0) for the diphosphate 31P nuclei were similar, with overlapping errors (e.g., (9.2 ± 2.4) × 10−8 s2 and (6.6 ± 1.2) × 10−8 s2 for the deamination and hydride transfer complex, respectively). Close inspection of the crystal structures revealed similar numbers of 1H relaxers in the vicinity of the cofactor diphosphate 31P nuclei in the OUT and IN conformations (14 and 15, respectively, within 4 Å), which can explain the similar values of τD/RD(0). However, fewer exchangeable 1H relaxers are observed in the OUT conformation (8) than in the IN conformation (13), suggesting that D2O should have a larger effect on the dynamic properties of the hydride transfer complex than the deamination complex. Indeed, the presence of D2O increased the values of τD/RD(0) for the diphosphate 31P nuclei by a factor of 2 in the hydride transfer complex versus 1.5 in the GMP complex, as expected if the cofactor has different binding modes as suggested by the crystal structures.
Distinct Enzyme•Substrate•Cofactor Interactions Modulate Reaction-Specific Dynamics
The field cycling experiments indicate that distinct dynamic behavior is associated with each step in the catalytic cycle. Mutagenesis and substrate analogs revealed that this behavior derives from specific enzyme•substrate•cofactor interactions. For example, the substrate 2′-OH forms a hydrogen bond with Asp219 in the crystal structures (Figure 2C). The removal of this interaction by creating an enzyme-cofactor complex with dIMP reduced the rate of hydride transfer by a factor of 6.7 (
Further exploration of the roles of active site residues revealed complex networks of dynamic interactions. Asp129 forms a hydrogen bond to the cofactor in the IN conformation in the crystal structure (Figure 2C), suggesting that it holds the cofactor in place for hydride transfer. This interaction is absent in the OUT conformation. Substitution of Asp129 with Ala reduces the rates of both deamination and hydride transfer by factors of 100 (
Lys77 makes hydrogen bonds to the cofactor, either direct or indirect via water, in both the OUT and IN conformations in the crystal structure. Substitution of Lys77 with Ala reduced the rate of deamination and hydride transfer by factors of 100 and 30, respectively (
Future Perspectives
While the field cycling experiments described above only begin to map the reaction-specific dynamic networks of GMPR, some themes have already emerged. First, critical dynamic interactions extend far beyond the sites of chemical transformation to seemingly inert moieties like the substrate monophosphate. Second, field cycling can reveal catalytically competent binding modes that elude crystal structures. Lastly, seemingly small structural perturbations of the substrate or enzyme such as the substitution of H for OH, can cause widespread and unpredictable changes in the dynamic behavior of substrates and cofactors. We have only just scratched the surface of the potential of high resolution 31P relaxometry given the prevalence of phosphorylated substrates and cofactors.
Until recently, shuttler systems for high resolution solution field cycling have been home-built (
Statements
Author contributions
The authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the work and approved it for publication.
Funding
This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (GM054403 to LH). Molecular graphics images were produced using the UCSF Chimera package from the Computer Graphics Laboratory, University of California, San Francisco (supported by NIGMS P41-GM103311).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Publisher’s note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
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Summary
Keywords
GMP reductase, field cycling, enzyme dynamics, 31P NMR, relaxometry, ligand dynamics, dipolar relaxation
Citation
Roberts MF and Hedstrom L (2022) High Resolution 31P Field Cycling NMR Reveals Unsuspected Features of Enzyme-Substrate-Cofactor Dynamics. Front. Mol. Biosci. 9:865519. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2022.865519
Received
30 January 2022
Accepted
16 March 2022
Published
31 March 2022
Volume
9 - 2022
Edited by
Qi Zhang, Fudan University, China
Reviewed by
Karen N. Allen, Boston University, United States
Xinjian Ji, Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland
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© 2022 Roberts and Hedstrom.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Lizbeth Hedstrom, hedstrom@brandeis.edu
This article was submitted to Protein Biochemistry for Basic and Applied Sciences, a section of the journal Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences
Disclaimer
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.