Factor Xa

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Enzyme Mechanism

General Serine Protease Mechanism

During the acylation half of the reaction His57 acts as a general base to remove a proton from Ser195, allowing it to attack the carbonyl of the peptide bond to be broken within the substrate, to yield the first tetrahedral intermediate. The negative oxygen ion of the tetrahedral intermediate is stabilized through hydrogen bonding with the oxyanion hole (Gly192 and Ser195). Asp102 stabilizes the protonated His57 through hydrogen bonding. His57 protonates the amine of the scissile bond, promoting formation of the acylenzyme and release of the N-terminal portion of the substrate.

The deacylation portion repeats the same sequence. A water molecule is deprotonated by His57 and attacks the acyl enzyme, to yielding a second tetrahedral intermediate. Again, the tetrahedral intermediate is stabilized by the oxyanion hole. Upon collapse of the tetrahedral intermediate, the C-terminal portion of the protein is released.[1]

Serine protease reaction mechanism [2] />
Serine protease reaction mechanism [2] />

Controversial Mechanisms

His Flip Mechanisms

His flip mechanism proposed by Bachovchin in 2001. [3]

As stated previously, His57 removes a proton from Ser195 and transfers it to the leaving group. It can be argued that the protonated His57 could reprotonate Ser195 and regenerate the substrate. One hypothesis is that protonated His57 flips such that N1 proton could easily protonate the leaving group. [4] This flipped conformation has been observed in another group of serine proteases, subtilisin, in a 50% dimethylformamide solution. [3]

However, there are several arguments against the His flip mechanism. Flipping of His57 would require breaking and reforming many hydrogen bonds while the short lived tetrahedral intermediate is present. Also, His57 is sterically hindered by the P2 and P1’ residues of the peptide substrates. [5]These observations disfavor the His flip mechanism.

Low Barrier Hydrogen Bonds

Possible LBHB between His57 and Asp102

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The mechanism by which the transition state is stabilized has been the topic of recent debate. Some groups suggest that His57 and Asp102 form and especially strong hydrogen bond, called a low barrier hydrogen bond (LBHB). They hypothesize that this hydrogen bond could promote formation of the transition state by stabilizing the Asp –His association and enhancing the bascisity of His57. [6] [7] This would enhance catalysis in the first step of the reaction. Formation of a LBHB requires a ΔpKa of approximately zero and a donor-to-acceptor distance of less then 2.65 Å for a nitrogen-oxygen pair like His57 and Asp102. Unlike a standard hydrogen bond, in which the hydrogen is located on the donor atom, a hydrogen in a LBHB is located equidistant between the 2 atoms. [8] In 1998 Kuhn and colleagues published a crystal structure of Bacillus lentus subtilisn, another serine proetase, with 0.78 Å resolution at pH 5.9. The structure showed a distance of approximately 2.62 Å between the His57 nitrogen and the Asp102 oxygen, suggesting a LBHB. [9]

A more recent crystal structure of α-Lytic protease, published in 2006 with 0.82 Å resolution argues against both the his flip mechanism and the presence of a LBHB between His57 and Asp102 (2.755 Å in this structure). Fuhrmann et al suggests that a LBHB may have been present in the subtilisin strucutre, it is not required for the serine protease mechanism. Instead they state that the chymotrypsin-like proteases may use a network of optimized hydrogen bonds to position the stabilize the tetrahedral intermediate and position the catalytic triad. Ser195 undergoes a shift of ~1Å upon protonation of His57 that destabilizes the His57-Ser195 H-bond. This conformation change would prevent His57 from reprotonating Ser195 leading to regeneration of the substrate.[8]

3D structures of factor Xa

Updated on 24-November-2014

  1. Hedstrom L. Serine protease mechanism and specificity. Chem Rev. 2002 Dec;102(12):4501-24. PMID:12475199
  2. www.bmolchem.wisc.edu/
  3. 3.0 3.1 Bachovchin, W. Contributions of NMR spectroscopy to the study of hydrogen bonds in serine protease active sites. Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry; (2001); 39(Spec. Issue); 199-213.
  4. Bachovchin WW. 15N NMR spectroscopy of hydrogen-bonding interactions in the active site of serine proteases: evidence for a moving histidine mechanism. Biochemistry. 1986 Nov 18;25(23):7751-9. PMID:3542033
  5. Brady K, Wei AZ, Ringe D, Abeles RH. Structure of chymotrypsin-trifluoromethyl ketone inhibitor complexes: comparison of slowly and rapidly equilibrating inhibitors. Biochemistry. 1990 Aug 21;29(33):7600-7. PMID:2271520
  6. Frey PA, Whitt SA, Tobin JB. A low-barrier hydrogen bond in the catalytic triad of serine proteases. Science. 1994 Jun 24;264(5167):1927-30. PMID:7661899
  7. Frey, Perry A. Strong hydrogen bonding in chymotrypsin and other serine proteases. Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry (2004), 17(6-7), 511-520.
  8. 8.0 8.1 Fuhrmann CN, Daugherty MD, Agard DA. Subangstrom crystallography reveals that short ionic hydrogen bonds, and not a His-Asp low-barrier hydrogen bond, stabilize the transition state in serine protease catalysis. J Am Chem Soc. 2006 Jul 19;128(28):9086-102. PMID:16834383 doi:https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ja057721o
  9. Kuhn P, Knapp M, Soltis SM, Ganshaw G, Thoene M, Bott R. The 0.78 A structure of a serine protease: Bacillus lentus subtilisin. Biochemistry. 1998 Sep 29;37(39):13446-52. PMID:9753430 doi:10.1021/bi9813983

Additional Resources

For additional information, see: Hemophilia

References