Reaction mechanism of sterol hydroxylation by steroid C25 dehydrogenase - Homology model, reactivity and isoenzymatic diversity.

Steroid C25 dehydrogenase (S25DH) is a molybdenum-containing oxidoreductase isolated from the anaerobic Sterolibacterium denitrificans Chol-1S. S25DH is classified as 'EBDH-like' enzyme (EBDH, ethylbenzene dehydrogenase) and catalyzes the introduction of an OH group to the C25 atom of a sterol aliphatic side-chain. Due to its regioselectivity, S25DH is proposed as a catalyst in production of pharmaceuticals: calcifediol or 25-hydroxycholesterol. The aim of presented research was to obtain structural model of catalytic subunit α and investigate the reaction mechanism of the O-independent tertiary carbon atom activation. Based on homology modeling and theoretical calculations, a S25DH α subunit model was for the first time characterized and compared to other S25DH-like isoforms. The molecular dynamics simulations of the enzyme-substrate complexes revealed two stable binding modes of a substrate, which are stabilized predominantly by van der Waals forces in the hydrophobic substrate channel. However, H-bond interactions involving polar residues with C3=O/C3-OH in the steroid ring appear to be responsible for positioning the substrate. These results may explain the experimental kinetic results which showed that 3-ketosterols are hydroxylated 5-10-fold faster than 3-hydroxysterols. The reaction mechanism was studied using QM:MM and QM-only cluster models. The postulated mechanism involves homolytic CH cleavage by the MoO ligand, giving rise to a radical intermediate with product obtained in an OH rebound process. The hypothesis was supported by kinetic isotopic effect (KIE) experiments involving 25,26,26,26-[H]-cholesterol (4.5) and the theoretically predicted intrinsic KIE (7.0-7.2). Finally, we have demonstrated that the recombinant S25DH-like isoform catalyzes the same reaction as S25DH.