Abstract
Methane monooxygenase (MMO), found in aerobic methanotrophic bacteria,
catalyzes the O2-dependent conversion of methane to methanol. The
soluble form of the enzyme (sMMO) consists of three components:
a reductase, a regulatory "B" component (MMOB), and a hydroxylase
component (MMOH), which contains a hydroxo-bridged dinuclear iron
cluster. Two genera of methanotrophs, termed Type X and Type II,
which differ markedly in cellular and metabolic characteristics,
are known to produce the sMMO. The structure of MMOH from the Type
X methanotroph Methylococcus capsulatus Bath (MMO Bath) has been
reported recently. Two different structures were found for the essential
diiron cluster, depending upon the temperature at which the diffraction
data were collected. In order to extend the structural studies to
the Type II methanotrophs and to determine whether one of the two
known MMOH structures is generally applicable to the MMOH family,
we have determined the crystal structure of the MMOH from Type II
Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b (MMO OB3b) in two crystal forms
to 2.0 A resolution, respectively, both determined at 18 degrees
C. The crystal forms differ in that MMOB was present during crystallization
of the second form. Both crystal forms, however, yielded very similar
results for the structure of the MMOH. Most of the major structural
features of the MMOH Bath were also maintained with high fidelity.
The two irons of the active site cluster of MMOH OB3b are bridged
by two OH (or one OH and one H2O), as well as both carboxylate oxygens
of Glu alpha 144. This bis-mu-hydroxo-bridged "diamond core" structure,
with a short Fe-Fe distance of 2.99 A, is unique for the resting
state of proteins containing analogous diiron clusters, and is very
similar to the structure reported for the cluster from flash frozen
(-160 degrees C) crystals of MMOH Bath, suggesting a common active
site structure for the soluble MMOHs. The high-resolution structure
of MMOH OB3b indicates 26 consecutive amino acid sequence differences
in the beta chain when compared to the previously reported sequence
inferred from the cloned gene. Fifteen additional sequence differences
distributed randomly over the three chains were also observed, including
D alpha 209E, a ligand of one of the irons.
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