title: Effects of selenium on the structure and function of recombinant human S-adenosyl-L-methionine dependent arsenic (+3 oxidation state) methyltransferase in E. coli.
abstract: The effects of Se(IV) on the structure and function of recombinant human arsenic (+3 oxidation state) methyltransferase (AS3MT) purified from the cytoplasm of Escherichia coli were studied. The coding region of human AS3MT complementary DNA was amplified from total RNA extracted from HepG2 cell by reverse transcription PCR. Soluble and active human AS3MT was expressed in the E. coli with a Trx fusion tag under a lower induction temperature of 25 degrees C. Spectra (UV-vis, circular dichroism, and fluorescence) were first used to probe the interaction of Se(IV) and recombinant human AS3MT and the structure-function relationship of the enzyme. The recombinant human AS3MT had a secondary structure of 29.0% alpha-helix, 23.9% beta-pleated sheet, 17.9% beta-turn, and 29.2% random coil. When Se(IV) was added, the content of the alpha-helix did not change, but that of the beta-pleated sheet increased remarkably in the conformation of recombinant human AS3MT. Se(IV) inhibited the enzymatic methylation of inorganic As(III) in a concentration-dependent manner. The IC(50) value for Se(IV) was 2.38 muM. Double-reciprocal (1/V vs. 1/[inorganic As(III)]) plots showed Se(IV) to be a noncompetitive inhibitor of the methylation of inorganic As(III) by recombinant human AS3MT with a K (i) value of 2.61 muM. We hypothesized that Se(IV) interacts with the sulfhydryl group of cysteine(s) in the structural residues rather than the cysteines of the active site (Cys156 and Cys206). When Se(IV) was combined with cysteine(s) in the structural residues, the conformation of recombinant human AS3MT changed and the enzymatic activity decreased. Considering the quenching of tryptophan fluorescence, Cys72 and/or Cys226 are deduced to be primary targets for Se(IV).
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Coordination Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China. njugeng@gmail.com
authors.forename: Zhirong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Geng
authors.forename: Xiaoli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Zhi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.forename: Jinlong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Geng
authors.forename: Sichun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xinrong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zhilin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001151:Arsenic / Q000737:chemistry; D001483:Base Sequence; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008780:Methyltransferases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D012436:S-Adenosylmethionine / Q000378:metabolism*; D012643:Selenium / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012436:S-Adenosylmethionine; D008780:Methyltransferases; C505756:AS3MT protein, human; D012643:Selenium; D001151:Arsenic