ROLES FOR THE 2 CYSTEINE RESIDUES OF AHPC IN CATALYSIS OF PEROXIDE REDUCTION BY ALKYL HYDROPEROXIDE REDUCTASE FROM SALMONELLA-TYPHIMURIUM

The catalytic properties of cysteine residues Cys46 and Cys165, which form intersubunit disulfide bonds in the peroxidatic AhpC protein of t he alkyl hydroperoxide reductase (AhpR) system from Salmonella typhimu rium, have been investigated. The AhpR system, composed of AhpC and a flavoprotein reductase, AhpF, catalyzes the pyridine nucleotide-depend ent reduction of organic hydroperoxides and hydrogen peroxide. Amino a cid sequence analysis of the disulfide-containing tryptic peptide demo nstrated the presence of two identical disulfide bonds per dimer of ox idized AhpC located between Cys46 on one subunit and Cys165 on the oth er. Mutant AhpC proteins containing only one (C46S and C165S) or no (C 46,165S) cysteine residues were purified and shown by circular dichroi sm studies to exhibit no major disruptions in secondary structure. In NADH-dependent peroxidase assays in the presence of AhpF, the C165S mu tant was fully active in comparison with wild-type AhpC, while C46S an d C46,165S displayed no peroxidatic activity. In addition, only C165S was oxidized by 1 equiv of hydrogen peroxide, giving a species that wa s stoichiometrically reducible by NADH in the presence of a catalytic amount of AhpF. Oxidized C165S also reacted rapidly with a stoichiomet ric amount of the thiol-containing reagent 2-nitro-5-thiobenzoic acid to generate a mixed disulfide, and was susceptible to inactivation by hydrogen peroxide, strongly supporting its identification as a cystein e sulfenic acid (Cys46-SOH). The lack of reactivity of the C46S mutant toward peroxides was not a result of inaccessibility of the remaining thiol as demonstrated by its modification with 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitro benzoic acid), but could be due to the lack of a proximal active-site base which would support catalysis through proton donation to the poor RO- leaving group. Our results clearly identify Cys46 as the peroxida tic center of AhpC and Cys165 as an important residue for preserving t he activity of wild-type AhpC by reacting with the nascent sulfenic ac id of the oxidized protein (Cys46-SOH) to generate a stable disulfide bond, thus preventing further oxidation of Cys46-SOH by substrate.