Modified reactivity toward O2 in first shell variants of Fet3p: geometric and electronic structure requirements for a functioning trinuclear copper cluster.

ABSTRACT: Multicopper oxidases (MCOs) carry out the most energy efficient reduction of O2 to H2O known, i.e., with the lowest overpotential. This four-electron process requires an electron mediating type 1 (T1) Cu site and an oxygen reducing trinuclear Cu cluster (TNC), consisting of a binuclear type 3 (T3)- and a mononuclear type 2 (T2) Cu center. The rate-determining step in O2 reduction is the first two-electron transfer from one of the T3 Cu's (T3β) and the T2 Cu, forming a bridged peroxide intermediate (PI). This reaction has been investigated in T3β Cu variants of the Fet3p, where a first shell His ligand is mutated to Glu or Gln. This converts the fast two-electron reaction of the wild-type (WT) enzyme to a slow one-electron oxidation of the TNC. Both variants initially react to form a common

SUBMITTER: Kjaergaard CH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3809158 | biostudies-literature | 2013 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature