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The catalytic pathway of horseradish peroxidase at high resolution

Nature volume 417, pages 463–468 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

A molecular description of oxygen and peroxide activation in biological systems is difficult, because electrons liberated during X-ray data collection reduce the active centres of redox enzymes catalysing these reactions1,2,3,4,5. Here we describe an effective strategy to obtain crystal structures for high-valency redox intermediates and present a three-dimensional movie of the X-ray-driven catalytic reduction of a bound dioxygen species in horseradish peroxidase (HRP). We also describe separate experiments in which high-resolution structures could be obtained for all five oxidation states of HRP, showing such structures with preserved redox states for the first time.

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Figure 1
Figure 2: X-ray-induced reduction of horseradish peroxidase (wavelength range, 0.93–0.98 Å).
Figure 3: X-ray-driven catalytic conversion of a dioxygen species in horseradish peroxidase.
Figure 4: Spectra and refined high-resolution structures for the five oxidation states of horseradish peroxidase.

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Acknowledgements

We thank M. Gajhede, K. G. Welinder, N. Veitch, B. Ziaja, D. Choudhury, M. Iwata, R. Subramanian and G. Katona for discussions and help. We thank MaxLab and ESRF/EMBO for beam time and services. This work was supported by the EU-Biotech Programme and by the Swedish Research Councils.

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Author notes

  1. Hanna Szöke

    Present address: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, PO Box 808, L-41, Livermore, California, 94551, USA

  2. Anette Henriksen

    Present address: Carlsberg Laboratory, Gamle Carlsberg Vej 10, DK-2100, Valby, Denmark

  3. Gunnar I. Berglund, Gunilla H. Carlsson and Anette Henriksen: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, Uppsala University, Biomedical Center, Box 576, S-751 23, Uppsala, Sweden

    Gunnar I. Berglund, Gunilla H. Carlsson, Hanna Szöke & Janos Hajdu

  2. School of Biological Sciences, University of Sussex, BN1 9QG, Brighton, UK

    Andrew T. Smith

  3. Protein Structure Group, Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 5, DK-2100, København, Denmark

    Anette Henriksen

Authors
  1. Gunnar I. Berglund
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Correspondence to Janos Hajdu.

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Berglund, G., Carlsson, G., Smith, A. et al. The catalytic pathway of horseradish peroxidase at high resolution. Nature 417, 463–468 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/417463a

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