title: Increased dynamic effects in a catalytically compromised variant of Escherichia coli dihydrofolate reductase.
abstract: Isotopic substitution ((15)N, (13)C, (2)H) of a catalytically compromised variant of Escherichia coli dihydrofolate reductase, EcDHFR-N23PP/S148A, has been used to investigate the effect of these mutations on catalysis. The reduction of the rate constant of the chemical step in the EcDHFR-N23PP/S148A catalyzed reaction is essentially a consequence of an increase of the quasi-classical free energy barrier and to a minor extent of an increased number of recrossing trajectories on the transition state dividing surface. Since the variant enzyme is less well set up to catalyze the reaction, a higher degree of active site reorganization is needed to reach the TS. Although millisecond active site motions are lost in the variant, there is greater flexibility on the femtosecond time scale. The "dynamic knockout" EcDHFR-N23PP/S148A is therefore a "dynamic knock-in" at the level of the chemical step, and the increased dynamic coupling to the chemical coordinate is in fact detrimental to catalysis. This finding is most likely applicable not just to hydrogen transfer in EcDHFR but also to other enzymatic systems.
authors.affiliation: Departament de Química Física i Analítica, Universitat Jaume I , 12071 Castello, Spain.
authors.forename: J Javier
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Pernia
authors.forename: Louis Y P
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Luk
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: García-Meseguer
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Martí
authors.forename: E Joel
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Loveridge
authors.forename: Iñaki
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tuñón
authors.forename: Vicent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Moliner
authors.forename: Rudolf K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Allemann
mesh_terms: D055162:Biocatalysis; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000201:enzymology*; D013762:Tetrahydrofolate Dehydrogenase / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D013762:Tetrahydrofolate Dehydrogenase