The role of the distal cavity in carbon monoxide stabilization in the coproheme decarboxylase enzyme from C. diphtheriae

: This work focuses on the carbon monoxide adducts of the wild-type and selected variants of the coproheme decarboxylase from actinobacterial Corynebacterium diphtheriae complexed with coproheme, monovinyl monopropionyl deuteroheme (MMD), and heme b. The UV - vis and resonance Raman spectroscopies together with the molecular dynamics simulations clearly show that the wild-type coproheme-CO adduct is characterized by two CO conformers, one hydrogen-bonded to the distal H118 residue and the other showing a weak polar interaction with the distal cavity. Instead, upon conversion to heme b, i.e. after decarboxylation of propionates 2 and 4 and rotation by 90o of the porphyrin ring inside the cavity, CO probes a less polar environment. In the absence of the H118 residue, both coproheme and heme b complexes form only the non-H-bonded CO species. The unrotated MMD-CO adduct as observed in the H118F variant, confirms that decarboxylation of propionate 2 only, does not affect the heme cavity. The rupture of both the H-bonds involving propionates 2 and 4 destabilizes the porphyrin inside the cavity with the subsequent formation of a CO adduct in an open conformation. In addition, in this work we present data on CO binding to reversed heme b, obtained by hemin reconstitution of the H118A variant, and to heme d, obtained by addition of an excess of hydrogen peroxide. The results will be discussed and compared with those reported for the representatives of the firmicute clade.