Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Structural Biology / Biochemistry

Activation of dioxygen at a side-on O2-nickel complex

Jae Hun Quercetin TOC ver1

In their paper published in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., Jae-Hun Jeoung and Holger Dobbek together with colleagues from the group of Susanne Fetzner (Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany) describe the catalytic role of nickel in quercetinase (QueD).

QueD belongs to the cupin superfamily, which uses a conserved 3-His-1-Glu motif to bind a metal ion. Previous work from S. Fetzner's group pointed that QueD shows highest activity with nickel(2+), an unusual cofactor for oxygenases.

By using a crystalographic cryotrapping approach, Jae-Hun and Co. were able to show how binding of quercetin primes Ni(2+) to bind dioxygen on a side-on modus, ready to react with quercetin.

 

Citation:

J.H. Jeoung. D. Nianios, S. Fetzner, H. Dobbek (2016) Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 55, 3281-3284. DOI: 10.1002/anie.201510741