Spectroscopic characterization and O2 reactivity of the trinuclear Cu cluster of mutants of the multicopper oxidase Fet3p.

Fet3p is a multicopper oxidase that uses four copper ions (one type 1, one type 2, and one type 3 binuclear site) to couple substrate oxidation to the reduction of O(2) to H(2)O. The type 1 Cu site shuttles electrons between the substrate and the type 2/type 3 Cu sites which form a trinuclear Cu cluster that is the active site for O(2) reduction. This study extends the spectroscopic and reactivity studies that have been conducted with type 1-substituted Hg (T1Hg) laccase to Fet3p and a mutant of Fet3p in which the trinuclear Cu cluster is perturbed. To examine the reaction between the trinuclear Cu cluster and O(2), the type 1 Cu Cys(484) was mutated to Ser, resulting in a type 1-depleted (T1D) form of the enzyme. Additional His to Gln mutations were made at the trinuclear cluster to further probe specific contributions to reactivity. One of these mutants (His(126)Gln) produces the first stable but perturbed trinuclear Cu cluster (T1DT3' Fet3p). Spectroscopic characterization (absorption, circular dichroism, magnetic circular dichroism, and electron paramagnetic resonance) of the resting trinuclear sites in T1D and T1DT3' Fet3p reveal that the His(126)Gln mutation changes the electronic structure of both the type 3 and type 2 Cu sites. The trinuclear clusters in T1D and T1DT3' Fet3p react with O(2) to produce peroxide intermediates analogous to that observed in T1Hg laccase. Spectroscopic data on the peroxide intermediates in the three forms provide further insight into the structure of this intermediate. In T1D Fet3p, the decay of this peroxide intermediate is pH-dependent, and the rate of decay is 10-fold higher at low pH. In T1DT3' Fet3p, the decay of the peroxide intermediate is pH-independent and is slow at all pH's. This change in the pH dependence provides new insight into the mechanism of intermediate decay involving reductive cleavage of the O-O bond.