A Novel Catalytic Heme Cofactor in SfmD with a Single Thioether Bond and a -His Ligand Set Revealed by a Crystal Structural and Spectroscopic Study

SfmD is a heme-dependent enzyme in the biosynthetic pathway of saframycin A. Here, we present a 1.78 Å resolution crystal structure of SfmD, which unveils a novel heme cofactor attached to the protein with an unusual x xxx motif ( ∼ 38). This heme cofactor is unique in two respects. It contains a single thioether bond in a cysteine-vinyl link with Cys317, and the ferric heme has two axial protein ligands, , His274 and His313. We demonstrated that SfmD heme is catalytically active and can utilize dioxygen and ascorbate for a single-oxygen insertion into 3-methyl-l-tyrosine. Catalytic assays using ascorbate derivatives revealed the functional groups of ascorbate essential to its function as a cosubstrate. Abolishing the thioether linkage through mutation of Cys317 resulted in catalytically inactive SfmD variants. EPR and optical data revealed that the heme center undergoes a substantial conformational change with one axial histidine ligand dissociating from the iron ion in response to substrate 3-methyl-l-tyrosine binding or chemical reduction by a reducing agent, such as the cosubstrate ascorbate. The labile axial ligand was identified as His274 through redox-linked structural determinations. Together, identifying an unusual heme cofactor with a previously unknown heme-binding motif for a monooxygenase activity and the structural similarity of SfmD to the members of the heme-based tryptophan dioxygenase superfamily will broaden understanding of heme chemistry.