Substrate Promotes Productive Gas Binding in the α-Ketoglutarate-Dependent Oxygenase FIH
The Fe 2+ /α-ketoglutarate (αKG)-dependent oxygenases use molecular oxygen to conduct a wide variety of reactions with important biological implications, such as DNA base excision repair, histone demethylation, and the cellular hypoxia response. These enzymes follow a sequential mechanism in which O 2 binds and reacts after the primary substrate binds, making those structural factors that promote productive O 2 binding central to their chemistry. A large challenge in this field is to identify strategies that engender productive turnover. Factor inhibiting HIF (FIH) is a Fe 2+ /αKG-dependent oxygenase that forms part of the O 2 sensing machinery in human cells by hydroxylating the C-terminal transactivation domain (CTAD) found within the HIF-1α protein. In this work, the structure of FIH was determined with the O 2 analogue NO bound to Fe, offering the first direct insight into the gas binding geometry in this enzyme. Through a combination of density functional theory calculations, {FeNO} 7 electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, and ultraviolet–visible absorption spectroscopy, we demonstrate that CTAD binding stimulates O 2 reactivity by altering the orientation of the bound gas molecule. Although unliganded FIH binds NO with moderate affinity, the bound gas can adopt either of two orientations with similar stability; upon CTAD binding, NO adopts a single preferred orientation that is appropriate for supporting oxidative decarboxylation. Combined with other studies of related enzymes, our data suggest that substrate-induced reorientation of bound O 2 is the mechanism utilized by the αKG oxygenases to tightly couple O 2 activation to substrate hydroxylation.