Open AccessRational Design of Dual Active Sites in a Single Protein Scaffold: A Case Study of Heme Protein in Myoglobin
Author(s) -
Shu XiaoGang,
Su JiHu,
Du KeJie,
You Yong,
Gao ShuQin,
Wen GeBo,
Tan Xiangshi,
Lin YingWu
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
chemistryopen
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.644
H-Index - 29
ISSN - 2191-1363
DOI - 10.1002/open.201500224
Subject(s) - myoglobin , heme , active site , isothermal titration calorimetry , copper protein , chemistry , protein design , rational design , electron paramagnetic resonance , hemeprotein , metalloprotein , docking (animal) , biophysics , ligand (biochemistry) , drug design , biochemistry , protein structure , copper , nuclear magnetic resonance , enzyme , nanotechnology , materials science , organic chemistry , biology , medicine , physics , nursing , receptor
Rational protein design has been proven to be a powerful tool for creating functional artificial proteins. Although many artificial metalloproteins with a single active site have been successfully created, those with dual active sites in a single protein scaffold are still relatively rare. In this study, we rationally designed dual active sites in a single heme protein scaffold, myoglobin (Mb), by retaining the native heme site and creating a copper‐binding site remotely through a single mutation of Arg118 to His or Met. Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) studies confirmed that a copper‐binding site of [3‐His] or [2‐His‐1‐Met] motif was successfully created in the single mutant of R118H Mb and R118M Mb, respectively. UV/Vis kinetic spectroscopy and EPR studies further revealed that both the heme site and the designed copper site exhibited nitrite reductase activity. This study presents a new example for rational protein design with multiple active sites in a single protein scaffold, which also lays the groundwork for further investigation of the structure and function relationship of heme/non‐heme proteins.