Aurone synthase is a catechol oxidase with hydroxylase activity and provides insights into the mechanism of plant polyphenol oxidases
Christian Molitora, Stephan Gerhard Maurachera, and Annette Rompela,1
aInstitut für Biophysikalische Chemie, Fakultät für Chemie, Universität Wien, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Edited by Richard A. Dixon, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, and approved February 19, 2016 (received for review December 3, 2015)
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1523575113http://www.pnas.org/content/113/13/E1806.long
aInstitut für Biophysikalische Chemie, Fakultät für Chemie, Universität Wien, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Edited by Richard A. Dixon, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, and approved February 19, 2016 (received for review December 3, 2015)
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1523575113http://www.pnas.org/content/113/13/E1806.long
Tyrosinases and catechol oxidases belong to the family of polyphenol oxidases (PPOs). Tyrosinases catalyze the o-hydroxylation
and oxidation of phenolic compounds, whereas catechol oxidases
were so far defined to lack the hydroxylation activity and catalyze
solely the oxidation of o-diphenolic compounds. Aurone synthase
from Coreopsis grandiflora (AUS1) is a specialized plant PPO involved in the anabolic pathway of aurones. We present, to our
knowledge, the first crystal structures of a latent plant PPO, its
mature active and inactive form, caused by a sulfation of a copper
binding histidine. Analysis of the latent proenzyme’s interface between the shielding C-terminal domain and the main core provides
insights into its activation mechanisms. As AUS1 did not accept
common tyrosinase substrates (tyrosine and tyramine), the enzyme is classified as a catechol oxidase. However, AUS1 showed
hydroxylase activity toward its natural substrate (isoliquiritigenin),
revealing that the hydroxylase activity is not correlated with the
acceptance of common tyrosinase substrates. Therefore, we pro-
pose that the hydroxylase reaction is a general functionality of
PPOs. Molecular dynamics simulations of docked substrate–enzyme
complexes were performed, and a key residue was identified that
influences the plant PPO’s acceptance or rejection of tyramine.
Based on the evidenced hydroxylase activity and the interactions
of specific residues with the substrates during the molecular dynam-
ics simulations, a novel catalytic reaction mechanism for plant PPOs
is proposed. The presented results strongly suggest that the physiological role of plant catechol oxidases were previously underesti-
mated, as they might hydroxylate their—so far unknown—natural
substrates in vivo.
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