The Birth of the Hydrogenase
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Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology 1856 The birth of the hydrogenase Studying the mechanism of [FeFe] hydrogenase maturation BRIGITTA NÉMETH ACTA UNIVERSITATIS UPSALIENSIS ISSN 1651-6214 ISBN 978-91-513-0754-1 UPPSALA urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-393261 2019 Dissertation presented at Uppsala University to be publicly examined in Å4101, Ångströmlaboratoriet, Lägerhyddsvägen 1, Uppsala, Wednesday, 6 November 2019 at 09:15 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The examination will be conducted in English. Faculty examiner: Doctor Mohamed Atta (Laboratory of Chemistry and Biology of Metals, iRTSV CEA Grenoble). Abstract Németh, B. 2019. The birth of the hydrogenase. Studying the mechanism of [FeFe] hydrogenase maturation. Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology 1856. 78 pp. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 978-91-513-0754-1. The [FeFe] hydrogenases are ancient metalloenzymes that catalyse the reversible interconversion between protons, electrons and molecular hydrogen. Despite the large structural variability within the [FeFe] hydrogenase family, the active site, the so called “H-cluster” is present in every representative. The H-cluster is composed by a four cysteine coordinated [4Fe4S] cluster, ligated via a shared cysteine to a biologically unique [2Fe] subsite decorated with CO and CN ligands and an azadithiolate bridging ligand. The biosynthesis of the [2Fe] subsite requires a maturation machinery, composed of at least three maturase enzymes, denoted HydG, HydE, and HydF. HydE and HydG are members of the radical SAM enzyme family, and are responsible for the construction of a pre-catalyst on HydF. This pre-catalyst is finally transferred from HydF to HydA, where it becomes part of the H-cluster. Recently, a pioneer study combined synthetic chemistry and biochemistry in order to create semi-synthetic HydF proteins. Synthetic mimics of the [2Fe] subsite were introduced to HydF, and this resulting semi-synthetic HydF was used to activate the unmatured hydrogenase (apo- HydA). This technique ushered in a new era in [FeFe] hydrogenase research. This thesis work is devoted to a deeper understanding of H-cluster formation and [FeFe] hydrogenase maturation, and this process is studied using standard molecular biological and biochemical techniques, and EPR, FTIR, XAS and GEMMA spectroscopic techniques combined with this new type of chemistry mentioned above. EPR spectroscopy was employed to verify the construction of a semi-synthetic [FeFe] hydrogenase inside living cells. The addition of a synthetic complex to cell cultures expressing apo-HydA resulted in a rhombic EPR signal, attributable to an Hox-like species. Moreover, the assembly mechanism of the H-cluster was probed in vitro using XAS, EPR, and FTIR spectroscopy. We verified with all three techniques that the Hox-CO state is formed on a time-scale of seconds, and this state slowly turns into the catalytically active Hox via release of a CO ligand. Furthermore, a semi-synthetic form of the HydF protein from Clostridium acetobutylicum was prepared and characterized in order to prove that such semi-synthetic forms of HydF are biologically relevant. Finally,GEMMA measurements were performed to elucidate the quaternary structure of the HydF-HydA interaction, revealing that dimeric HydF is interacting with a monomeric HydA. However, mutant HydF proteins were prepared, lacking the dimerization (as well as its GTPase) domain, and these severely truncated forms of HydF was found to still retain the capacity to both harbor the pre-catalyst as well as transferring it to apo-HydA. These observations highlight the multi-functionality of HydF, where different domains are critical in different steps of the maturation, that is the dimerization and GTPase domain are rather involved in pre-catalyst assembly rather than its transfer to apo-HydA. Keywords: HydF, HydA, [FeFe] hydrogenase maturation, semi-synthetic enzymes Brigitta Németh, Department of Chemistry - Ångström, Box 523, Uppsala University, SE-75120 Uppsala, Sweden. © Brigitta Németh 2019 ISSN 1651-6214 ISBN 978-91-513-0754-1 urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-393261 (http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-393261) Man muss sich entscheiden was man tut oder lässt Welche Maske man trägt und wohin man gehört Man kann fliehn oder leiden nur eines steht fest: Der einfache weg ist immer verkehrt. Ki nagyvízre indul, annak dönteni kell: melyik hullám a jó, melyik sodorja el. Legyen bármilyen vonzó egy új állomás. Az egyszerű út, az naivitás. Michael Kunze and Müller Péter Sziámi List of Papers This thesis is based on the following papers, which are referred to in the text by their Roman numerals. I. Mészáros L.S., Németh B., Esmieu C., Ceccaldi P., Berggren G. In Vivo EPR Characterization of Semi-Synthetic [FeFe] Hydrogenases. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2018. 57(10): p. 2596- 2599. II. Németh, B., Senger, M., Redman, H.J., Stripp, S. T., Haumann, M., Berggren G. H-cluster assembly in [FeFe]-hydrogenase tracked by electron paramagnetic, infrared, and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (Manuscript) III. Németh, B., Esmieu C., Redman H.J., Berggren G. Monitoring H- cluster assembly using a semi-synthetic HydF protein. Dalton Trans, 2019. 48(18): p. 5978-5986. IV. Németh, B., Land, H., Magnuson, A., Hofer A., Berggren G. Study- ing [FeFe] hydrogenase maturation and the nature of the HydF- HydA interaction (Manuscript) Reprints were made with permission from the respective publishers. Author contributions Paper I – Performed the preparation of the purified protein samples (large scale heterologous expression, purification, reconstitution, maturation, sample characterization, biochemical assays) and low temperature CW-EPR measure- ment of the [2Fe]adt loaded form. Active participation in the data evaluation. Contributed to the writing. Paper II - Performed the preparation of the protein samples (large scale heter- ologous expression, purification, reconstitution, maturation, sample character- ization, biochemical assays, XAS sample preparation and EPR sample prepa- ration) and low temperature CW-EPR measurement of the [2Fe]adt loaded form. Data evaluation, wrote the first draft of the manuscript, contributed to the further writing. Paper III – Performed the preparation of the protein samples (large scale het- erologous expression, purification, reconstitution, maturation, sample charac- terization, biochemical assays, FTIR sample preparation, EPR sample prepa- ration) low temperature CW-EPR measurements, FTIR measurements, UV- Vis measurements, hemoglobin assays, hydrogen evolution assays, data eval- uation, wrote the first draft of the manuscript, contributed to the later versions. Paper IV - Performed the molecular biology (mutagenesis, cloning, test ex- pression) and the protein sample preparation (large scale heterologous expres- sion, purification, reconstitution, maturation, sample characterization, bio- chemical assays, FTIR sample preparation, EPR sample preparation, GEMMA sample preparation) low temperature CW-EPR measurements, FTIR measurements, UV-Vis measurements, GEMMA measurements, hydro- gen evolution assays, data evaluation, wrote the first draft of the manuscript, contributed to the later versions. Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................... 11 1.1 [FeFe] hydrogenases .......................................................................... 11 1.2. The catalytic cycle of the [FeFe] hydrogenases ................................ 13 1.3. The [FeFe] hydrogenase maturation .................................................. 15 1.3.1. HydG ......................................................................................... 16 1.3.2. HydE .......................................................................................... 17 1.3.3. HydF .......................................................................................... 18 1.4. The artificial maturation .................................................................... 20 1.4.1. Artificially matured HydA proteins ........................................... 20 1.4.2. Artificially matured HydF proteins ............................................ 21 2. Aims .......................................................................................................... 22 3. In vivo activation of the [FeFe] hydrogenase with biomimetic complexes (Paper I) ...................................................................................... 23 3.1. Motivation and strategy ..................................................................... 23 3.2. Sample preparation ............................................................................ 24 3.3. In vivo activation of the HydA1 ........................................................ 24 3.3.1. The identification of the EPR signal .......................................... 24 3.3.2. The time dependence of the activation ...................................... 25 3.3.2. The power saturation behavior in vivo ....................................... 27 3.5 Summary and Discussion ................................................................... 29 4. Monitoring the H-cluster formation using a synthetic binuclear iron complex (Paper II) ........................................................................................ 30 4.1. Motivation and strategy ....................................................................