Substrate and stereochemical specificity of the organophosphorus acid anhydrolase from Alteromonas sp. JD6.5 toward p-nitrophenyl phosphotriesters

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/S0960-894X(00)00213-4

The enzyme OPAA hydrolyzes p-nitrophenyl phosphotriesters bearing substituents at the phosphorus center ranging in size from methyl to phenyl. The enzyme exhibits stereoselectivity toward the hydrolysis of chiral substrates with a preference for the S(P)

Full text of DOI:10.1016/S0960-894X(00)00213-4

Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters 10 (2000) 1285±1288
Substrate and Stereochemical Speci®city of the Organophosphorus
Acid Anhydrolase from Alteromonas sp. JD6.5 toward
p-Nitrophenyl Phosphotriesters
Craig M. Hill, a Feiyue Wu, a Tu-Chen Cheng, b Joseph J. DeFrank b
and Frank M. Raushel a,*
aDepartment of Chemistry, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, TX 77843, USA
bEnvironmental Technology Team, US Army Edgewood Research, Development and Engineering Center, Aberdeen, MD 21010, USA
Received 2 March 2000; accepted 31 March 2000
AbstractÐThe enzyme OPAA hydrolyzes p-nitrophenyl phosphotriesters bearing substituents at the phosphorus center ranging in
size from methyl to phenyl. The enzyme exhibits stereoselectivity toward the hydrolysis of chiral substrates with a preference for the
SP enantiomer. # 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Introduction
nucleotide sequence of the gene encoding OPAA from
Alteromonas sp. JD6.5.4 DNA sequence and biochem-
ical evidence for the cloned enzyme have established this
OPAA to be a proline dipeptidase (EC 3.4.13.9). This
type of enzyme cleaves a dipeptide bond with a prolyl
residue at the carboxy terminus (Xaa-Pro).4,5 The activ-
ity of the proline dipeptidase with organophosphorus
compounds has been proposed to be due to the similar-
ity of the physical and chemical properties shared by
these compounds and the dipeptide substrates.
The enzymatic detoxi®cation of chemical warfare (CW)
agents has received considerable experimental attention for
over 50 years. Although the currently ®elded decontami-
nation solutions are e€ective in the hydrolysis of CW
agents, they are corrosive in nature and result in enormous
amounts of hazardous waste. In contrast, the enzymatic
detoxi®cation of this class of compounds can be conducted
at neutral pH under very mild reaction conditions while
the associated logistical burden is signi®cantly reduced.
Numerous other enzymes hydrolyze organophosphorus
compounds and among them the phosphotriesterase
(PTE) from Pseudomonas diminuta is the best char-
acterized.6,7 This enzyme also has a rather broad sub-
strate speci®city and exhibits a stereoselectivity that is
highly dependent on the absolute con®guration at the
Orgonophosphorus acid anhydrolase (OPAA; E.C.
3.1.8.2) is one member of a growing class of enzymes
that is capable of catalytically hydrolyzing a wide variety
of organophosphorus compounds including the phospho-
triester paraoxon (O, O-diethyl p-nitrophenyl phosphate)
and the phosphono¯uoridates soman (O-pinacolyl methyl
phosphono¯uoridate), sarin (O-isopropyl methyl phospho-
no¯uoridate) and GF (O-cyclohexyl methyl phosphono-
¯uoridate).1,2 The reaction products for the hydrolysis
of the insecticide paraoxon are shown in Scheme 1.
Scheme 1. Paraoxon hydrolysis.
Many of the OPAA substrates have a stereogenic phos-
phorus center while soman has an additional stereogenic
carbon center as illustrated in Scheme 2. High levels of
OPAA activity have been found in a number of Alter-
omonas species.1 3 Recently Cheng et al. reported the
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-979±845-3373; fax: +1-979±845-
9452; e-mail: raushel@tamu.edu
Scheme 2. The phosphono¯uoridates (A) sarin, (B) soman and (C)
GF.
0960-894X/00/$ - see front matter # 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S0960-894X(00)00213-4

1286
C. M. Hill et al. / Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 10 (2000) 1285±1288
phosphorus center.8,9 It has recently been demonstrated
using a library of chiral and racemic paraoxon ana-
logues that the wild type PTE favors the hydrolysis of
the SP enantiomer over the RP enantiomer by nearly
two orders of magnitude.9 This report describes the uti-
lization of a series of 16 paraoxon analogues (Table 1)
to investigate the substrate and stereochemical speci®-
city of the OPAA from Alteromonas sp. JD6.5 toward
p-nitrophenyl phosphotriesters.
Table 1. OPAA substrates
Compound
Structure
1
2
Results and Discussion
OPAA hydrolyzes p-nitrophenyl phosphotriesters bear-
ing substituents at the phosphorus center ranging in size
from methyl to phenyl.10 12 The Km values for sub-
strates containing a phenyl group are all below 2.0 mM
except for (SP)-methyl phenyl p-nitrophenyl phosphate
(7) where a value of 4 mM was observed. The remaining
substrates all have higher Km values. The RP-isomer of
methyl isopropyl p-nitrophenyl phosphate (6) displays
the highest Km of 19 mM (Table 2). The Km values for
the diethyl (2), and ethyl isopropyl (8) substrates could
not be determined precisely, due to their relatively high
values and limited solubility in the assay solution.
3
4
5
The kcat values for the substrates containing a phenyl
1
group are less than 1 s and are lower than the values
obtained for the other substrates. The single exception is
(SP)-methyl phenyl p-nitrophenyl phosphate (7) where a
1
kcat of 40 s was observed. (SP)-Methyl ethyl p-nitro-
phenyl phosphate (5) has a kcat of 47 s 1 while the (SP)-
methyl isopropyl p-nitrophenyl phosphate (6) has the
highest kcat of 54 s 1. These results clearly indicate that
a relatively small substituent, such as a methyl group, is
required to be present in a substrate with the SP con®g-
uration in order for appreciable substrate turnover to be
obtained (Table 2). OPAA displays the highest value of
kcat=Km with (SP)-methyl phenyl p-nitrophenyl phosphate
(7) with a value of kcat=Km of 1Â104 M 1 s 1. All other
substrates except (SP)-methyl ethyl p-nitrophenyl phos-
phate (5), (SP)-methyl isopropyl p-nitrophenyl phosphate
(6) and (RP)-methyl phenyl p-nitrophenyl phosphate (7)
6
7
8
1
1
have values of kcat=Km< 1Â103 M
s .
OPAA exhibits stereoselectivity toward phosphotriester
substrates with a clear preference for the SP enantiomer
over the RP enantiomer. The selectivity is most apparent
for the methyl ethyl (5) and methyl isopropyl (6) sub-
strates where chiral preferences of 112-fold and 100-fold
were observed, respectively. Figure 1 graphically illus-
trates that upon the addition of OPAA ꢀ50% of the
racemic methyl isopropyl p-nitrophenyl phosphate (6) in
the reaction mixture is rapidly hydrolyzed. When KOH
is added to the reaction mixture the (RP)-isomer is sub-
sequently hydrolyzed. The chiral selectivity is con-
siderably diminished for the methyl phenyl substrate (7)
(14-fold preference) and the stereoselectivity is essen-
tially eliminated when the methyl substituent is replaced
with other substituents. The loss in stereoselectivity dis-
played with these other pairs of racemic mixtures is also
accompanied by poorer overall kinetic parameters by
these same substrates. This latter result may indicate
9
10
that neither enantiomer is optimally positioned within
the active site with these compounds.
The demonstrated stereoselectivity toward this series of
phosphotriesters suggests that OPAA will also display a
similar discrimination against the various stereoisomers

C. M. Hill et al. / Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 10 (2000) 1285±1288
Table 2. Kinetic constants determined from initial velocity assays
1287
1
a
Substrate kcat=Km
kcat (s
)
Km
(mM)
ꢂkcat=Km† = k1/k2
SP
1
(M 1 s
)
ꢂkcat=Km†
RP
1
2
3
4
140 Æ 10 1.4 Æ 0.2
9.5 Æ 2.0
>7.6
280 Æ 10b
1.8c
480 Æ 20 5.7 Æ 1.3
12 Æ 3
530 Æ 80 0.1 Æ 0.02
90 Æ 10 0.8 Æ 0.1
3250 Æ 120 47 Æ 10
190 Æ 10 3.6 Æ 0.2
4510 Æ 70 54 Æ 3
2340 Æ 60 1.8 Æ 0.2
9990 Æ 250 40 Æ 15
0.2 Æ 0.1
8.3 Æ 1.6
14 Æ 4
5-(RP)
5-(SP)
6-(RP)
6-(SP)
7-(RP)
7-(SP)
8-(RP)
8-(SP)
9-(RP)
9-(SP)
10-(RP)
10-(SP)
36
23
4
112
100
Scheme 3. The relative stereochemistry of the phosphotriester 6-(SP)
and the phosphono¯uoridate, sarin-(RP).
19 Æ 1
12 Æ 1
0.8 Æ 0.1
4.0 Æ 1.6
>2.3
14.5
Acknowledgements
560 Æ 10b
440 Æ 10b
1.2d
1.4e
ꢃ3
ꢃ3
ꢃ3
2.5
2.8
3.5
>2.4
0.6 Æ 0.1
300 Æ 20 0.2 Æ 0.03
360 Æ 10 0.7 Æ 0.1
This work was supported in part by the NIH (GM
33894) and Oce of Naval Research.
2.0 Æ 0.4
240 Æ 10 0.1 Æ 0.001 0.30 Æ 0.04
150 Æ 10 0.2 Æ 0.05
1.3 Æ 0.4
aDetermined from progress curves.
bDetermined by a linear ®t to data.
cDetermined at a substrate concentration of 7.6 mM.
dDetermined at a substrate concentration of 2.3 mM.
eDetermined at a substrate concentration of 2.4 mM.
References and Notes
1. DeFrank, J. J.; Cheng, T-c. J. Bacteriol. 1991, 173, 1938.
2. Cheng, J. J.; Beaudry, W. T.; Cheng, T.-c.; Harvey, S. P.;
Stroup, A. N.; Szafraniec, L. L. Chem. Biol. Interact. 1993, 87,
141.
3. Cheng, T.-c.; Harvey, S. P.; Stroup, A. N. Appl. Environ.
Microbiol. 1993, 59, 3138.
4. Cheng, T.-c.; Harvey, S. P.; Chen, G. L. Appl. Environ.
Microbiol. 1996, 62, 1636.
5. Cheng, T.-c.; Liu, L.; Wang, B.; Wu, J.; DeFrank, J. J.;
Anderson, D. M.; Rastogi, V. K.; Hamilton, A. B. J. Ind.
Microbiol. 1997, 18, 49.
6. Caldwell, S. R.; Newcomb, J. R.; Schlecht, K. A.; Raushel,
F. M. Biochemistry 1991, 30, 7483.
7. Vanhooke, J. L.; Benning, M. M.; Raushel, F. M.; Holden,
H. M. Biochemistry 1996, 35, 6020.
8. Lewis, V. E.; Donarski, W. J.; Wild, J. R.; Raushel, F. M.
Biochemistry 1988, 27, 1591.
9. Hong, S.-B.; Raushel, F. M. Biochemistry 1999, 38, 1159.
10. An Escherichia coli XL1 culture containing the plasmid
pTCJS4 was grown at 37 ꢁC in 5 L of LB containing 0.1 mM
MnCl2. Protein expression was induced by the addition of 0.6
mM IPTG to the culture at A600=0.5. Incubation was con-
tinued at 37 ꢁC for another 5 h. The cells were harvested by
centrifugation and disrupted by two passages through a
French pressure cell. Cell debris was removed by centrifugation
and the supernatant fractionated with (NH4)2SO4 at 40±65%
saturation. The pellet was dissolved in 10 mM Bis-Tris propane
(pH 7.2) containing 0.1 mM MnCl2 (bu€er A) and dialysed
against the same bu€er. The protein solution was applied to a
Q-Sepharose column (3Â14.5 cm) and loosely bound material
was removed by washing the column with bu€er A containing
0.2 M NaCl. The enzyme was eluted from the column with a
linear gradient of bu€er A containing 0.2±0.6 M NaCl. The
enzyme eluted at ꢀ350 mM NaCl. Fractions containing the
enzyme were pooled and concentrated with (NH4)2SO4 at 65%
saturation and then dialyzed against bu€er A.
11. Continuous assays were conducted at 25 ꢁC and carried
out on a SPECTRAmax-340 microplate spectrophotometer
(Molecular Devices Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, USA). Enzyme (50
mL, 1 mg) was dispensed into the wells of a multiwell plate. The
assay was started by the addition of 200 mL of assay bu€er to
the enzyme using an edp plus Motorized Microliter Pippette
(Rainin, Woburn, MA, USA) ®tted with a multi-channel
adapter. Hydrolysis of substrate was monitored at 400 nm (p-
nitrophenol E=17,000 M 1 cm 1). The assay bu€er contained
50 mM bis-Tris propane (pH 8.5), 100 mM NaCl, 0.1 mM
Figure 1. Time course for OPAA hydrolysis of racemic methyl iso-
propyl p-nitrophenyl phosphate.
of the toxic nerve agents, sarin and soman. We predict
that the time courses for the OPAA catalyzed hydrolysis
of sarin should proceed in two phases that re¯ect the
con®guration at the phosphorus center and that the RP
enantiomer of sarin will be the preferred substrate. This
prediction is based on the relative structural similarities
for the preferred isomers as illustrated in Scheme 3.
Soman has four stereoisomers, each of which may be
hydrolyzed at a di€erent rate by the enzyme. The time
course for the OPAA catalyzed hydrolysis of soman is
expected to display at least two phases that are depen-
dent upon the stereochemistry at the phosphorus center.
An additional two phases may be observed that re¯ect
the preference of the enzyme for the stereochemical
con®guration of the O-pinacolyl substituent. It has been
reported that the SP-isomer is more toxic than is the RP-
isomer.13

1288
C. M. Hill et al. / Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 10 (2000) 1285±1288
respective ®rst order rate constants. The values of Km, kcat and
kcat=Km were determined by ®tting eq 3 to the initial velocity
data.
MnCl2. Diisopropyl-p-nitrophenyl phosphate (3) and sub-
strates containing a single phenyl substituent were assayed in
the presence of 5% methanol. Diphenyl-p-nitrophenyl phos-
phate (4) was assayed in the presence of 20% methanol. Time
course assays were conducted at 25 ꢁC on a Gilford 260 spec-
trophotometer. The assay was started by the addition of
enzyme to 3.0 mL of assay bu€er. The composition of the
assay bu€er was as above except that methanol was omitted.
Single exponential and double exponential time courses were
®tted to eqs 1 and 2, respectively.
v ˆ kcatEA=ꢀKm ‡ A†
ꢀ3†
where E is the concentration of active sites and A is the sub-
strate concentration. The di€erences in enantiomeric speci®-
city ratios obtained by progress curves or by substrate
saturation experiments are likely to arise from a small amount
of the SP enantiomer contaminating the RP enantiomer so that
the RP enantiomer kcat and hence the kcat=Km is over-esti-
mated. In addition the high Km values makes their precise
measurement dicult. The more reliable estimate of the spe-
ci®city ratio is obtained from the progress curves.
12. The substrates were synthesized as described in 9. The
enantiomeric purity for each isomer was greater than 95%. The
toxic properties of these compounds have not been determined.
13. Benschop, H. P.; Konings, C. A. G.; Van Genderen, J.; De
Jong, L. P. A. Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol. 1984, 72, 61.
-k0t
y ˆ A0ꢀ1
e
†
ꢀ1†
In eq 1 A0 is the initial substrate concentration and k0 is the
®rst order rate constant.
-k1t
-k2t
y ˆ A1ꢀ1
e
† ‡ A2ꢀ1
e
†
ꢀ2†
In eq 2 A1 and A2 are the initial concentrations of the two
enantiomers of the racemic mixture and k1 and k2 are the