Reductive activation of phenylalanine hydroxylase and its effect on the redox state of the non-heme iron

Phenylalanine hydroxylase undergoes an obligatory prereduction step in order to become catalytically active as shown by stopped-flow kinetics and by measuring tyrosine formation at limiting 6-methyltetrahydropterin levels. This initial step requires oxygen and involves conversion of 6- methyltetrahydropterin directly to the quinonoid form with or without phenylalanine. The EPR spectrum of the resting enzyme (geff = 9.4-8.7, 4.3 and geff = 6.7, 5.4) is consistent with two species possessing distinctively different ligand en- vironments for the non-heme, high-spin Fe3+. The intensity of the geff N 4.3 feature is inversely proportional to the specific activity of the enzyme, whereas the intensity of the geff E 6.7-5.4 region correlates with the activity of the enzyme. The In our attempts to understand the mechanism of action of phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) from rat liver, we (Gottschall et al., 1982) recently confirmed and extended an earlier observation by Fisher et al. (1972) that a tightly bound non-heme iron was necessary for the activity of the enzyme. We demonstrated that (1) the correct stoichiometry is one atom per subunit, (2) the enzymatic activity is proportional to the iron content, and (3) the iron can be removed from the enzyme and restored with nearly complete recovery of initial activity. In this paper we corroborate and expand the inde- pendent discovery (Marota & Shiman, 1984) that PAH is initially reduced to the catalytically active enzyme by the concomitant oxidation of 6-methyltetrahydropterin (6MPH4) directly to the quinonoid form in a stoichiometric reaction requiring oxygen but without the formation of reduced forms of oxygen such as superoxide and hydrogen peroxide, or of tyrosine. In this paper we (1) propose a two-step kinetic sequence for PAH activation and its catalytic turnover based on stopped-flow kinetic and complimentary product data, (2) define by EPR that the resting state of the activatable enzyme is associated with signals observed at geff = 6.7 and 5.4 con- sistent with high-spin Fe3+ (S = (3) show that the ad- ditional EPR signal observed at geff = 4.3 is associated with a form of the enzyme that is incapable of turnover, and (4) link the prereduction step to the conversion of PAH from an Fe3+ to an Fez+ state. Finally, we demonstrate that dithionite can substitute for 6MPH4 in the prereduction step and that the addition of one electron/subunit is sufficient to impart tightly coupled turnover. latter features are lost upon addition of phenylalanine under anaerobic or aerobic conditions. In the presence of o- phenanthroline, the operation of the prereduction step results in nearly quantitative trapping of the iron in an Fez+ redox state. Dithionite can substitute for 6-methyltetrahydropterin in an anaerobic prereduction step, generating a catalytically active phenylalanine hydroxylase containing Fez+ that func- tions aerobically to produce tyrosine from added 6-methyl- tetrahydropterin in a 1 / 1 stoichiometry. Reductive titration of the hydroxylase by dithionite is consistent with the addition of one electron/subunit for coupled turnover. The implications of these findings for the mechanism of action of this enzyme are briefly discussed.