Protonic Equilibria in the Reductive Half-Reaction of the Medium-Chain Acyl-CoA Dehydrogenase

Oxidation of thioester substrates in the medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase involves alpha-proton abstraction by the catalytic base, Glu376, with transfer of a beta-hydride equivalent to the flavin prosthetic group. Polarization of bound acyl-CoA derivatives by the recombinant human liver enzyme has been studied with 4-thia-trans-2-enoyl-CoA analogues. Polarization is maximal at low pH, with an apparent pK of 9.2 for complexes with the C8 analogue, and progressively lower pK values as the length of the chain increases. This pH effect reflects ionization of the catalytic base, since polarization of a variety of enoyl-CoA analogues by the Glu376Gln mutant is pH independent. Binding of these ligands is accompanied by uptake of about 1 proton with the wild-type enzyme, but only about 0.1 proton with the Glu376Gln mutant. Rapid reaction studies show that proton uptake with the wild-type enzyme occurs at the same rate as polarization of the enoyl-CoA thioester, but is much slower than the initial ligand binding step. Studies with 6-OH-FAD-substituted enzyme show that this isomerization reaction also influences the flavin prosthetic group inducing deprotonation to the green anionic form. The failure of the bound thioether analogue, octyl-SCoA, to elicit pK shifts to flavin and Glu376 shows the importance of the thioester carbonyl oxygen in modulating key properties of the medium-chain enzyme. The role of thioester-mediated desolvation within the active site of the acyl-CoA dehydrogenases is discussed.