Simulation of the cavity-binding site of three bacterial multicopper oxidases upon complex stabilization: interactional profile and electron transference pathways

Previous studies have shown that multicopper oxidases (MCOs) oxidize organic and inorganic compounds through oxidation–reduction reactions in which three structurally and functionally arranged copper centers coordinate the uptake of an electron from a reduced substrate. Structural comparisons among three bacterial MCOs, with high structural homology and available three-dimensional information, reveal that the primary structural differences between these MCOs are located near the mononuclear copper center (T1Cu), where substrate oxidation occurs, as opposed to where the reduction of oxygen to water occurs at the trinuclear center. Nevertheless, this substrate oxidation is achieved through an outer-sphere electron transfer mechanism that does not generate a stable substrate–enzyme complex. In this study, MCOs from <i>Thermus thermophilus</i> (<i>Tth</i>-MCO), <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> (CotA), and <i>Escherichia coli</i> (CueO), which have been previously determined through X-ray crystallography, were used as models to analyze the binding modes of these MCOs to three organic molecules, with specific interest in the substrate-binding site. The binding mode of the electron-donor molecule to the electron transfer binding site was primarily attributed to hydrophobic contacts, which likely play an important role in the determination of substrate specificity. Some complexes generated in this study showed an electron donor molecule conformation in which an electron could be directly transferred to the histidines coordinating T1Cu, while for others additional electron transference pathways were also possible through the participation of charged residues during electron transfer.