Effects of multiple ligand binding on kinetic isotope effects in PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase

The reaction of PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase (MDH) from Methylophilus methylotrophus has been studied by steady-state and stopped-flow kinetic methods, with particular reference to multiple ligand binding and the kinetic isotope effect (KIE) for PQQ reduction. Phenazine ethosulfate (PES; an artificial electron acceptor) and cyanide (a suppressant of endogenous activity), but not ammonium (an activator of MDH), compete for binding at the catalytic methanol-binding site. Cyanide does not activate turnover in M. methylotrophus MDH, as reported previously for the Paracoccus denitrificans enzyme. Activity is dependent on activation by ammonium but is inhibited at high ammonium concentrations. PES and methanol also influence the stimulatory and inhibitory effects of ammonium through competitive binding. Reaction profiles as a function of ammonium and PES concentration differ between methanol and deuterated methanol, owing to force constant effects on the binding of methanol to the stimulatory and inhibitory ammonium binding sites. Differential binding gives rise to unusual KIEs for PQQ reduction as a function of ammonium and PES concentration. The observed KIEs at different ligand concentrations are independent of temperature, consistent with their origin in differential binding affinities of protiated and deuterated substrate at the ammonium binding sites. Stopped-flow studies indicate that enzyme oxidation is not rate-limiting at low ammonium concentrations (< 4 mM) during steady-state turnover. At higher ammonium concentrations (> 20 mM), the low effective concentration of PES in the active site owing to the competitive binding of ammonium lowers the second-order rate constant for enzyme oxidation, and the oxidative half-reaction becomes more rate limiting. A sequential stopped-flow method is reported that has enabled, for the first time, a detailed study of the reductive half-reaction of MDH and comparison with steady-state data. The limiting rate of PQQ reduction (0.48 s(-1)) is less than the steady-state turnover number, and the observed KIE in stopped-flow studies is unity. Although catalytically active, we propose reduction of the oxidized enzyme generated in stopped-flow analyses is gated by conformational change or ligand exchange. Slow recovery from this trapped state on mixing with methanol accounts for the slow reduction of PQQ and a KIE of 1. This study emphasizes the need for caution in using inflated KIEs, and the temperature dependence of KIES, as a probe for hydrogen tunneling.