Sulfite oxidase () is an

enzyme Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. A ...

in the

mitochondria A mitochondrion (; ) is an organelle found in the Cell (biology), cells of most Eukaryotes, such as animals, plants and Fungus, fungi. Mitochondria have a double lipid bilayer, membrane structure and use aerobic respiration to generate adenosi ...

of all

eukaryote Eukaryotes () are organisms whose cells have a nucleus. All animals, plants, fungi, and many unicellular organisms, are Eukaryotes. They belong to the group of organisms Eukaryota or Eukarya, which is one of the three domains of life. Bacte ...

s, with exception of the yeasts. It

oxidizes Redox (reduction–oxidation, , ) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of substrate change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is the gain of electrons or a d ...

sulfite Sulfites or sulphites are compounds that contain the sulfite ion (or the sulfate(IV) ion, from its correct systematic name), . The sulfite ion is the conjugate base of bisulfite. Although its acid ( sulfurous acid) is elusive, its salts are wide ...

sulfate The sulfate or sulphate ion is a polyatomic anion with the empirical formula . Salts, acid derivatives, and peroxides of sulfate are widely used in industry. Sulfates occur widely in everyday life. Sulfates are salts of sulfuric acid and many ar ...

and, via

cytochrome c The cytochrome complex, or cyt ''c'', is a small hemeprotein found loosely associated with the inner membrane of the mitochondrion. It belongs to the cytochrome c family of proteins and plays a major role in cell apoptosis. Cytochrome c is hig ...

, transfers the electrons produced to the

electron transport chain An electron transport chain (ETC) is a series of protein complexes and other molecules that transfer electrons from electron donors to electron acceptors via redox reactions (both reduction and oxidation occurring simultaneously) and couples th ...

, allowing generation of ATP in

oxidative phosphorylation Oxidative phosphorylation (UK , US ) or electron transport-linked phosphorylation or terminal oxidation is the metabolic pathway in which cells use enzymes to oxidize nutrients, thereby releasing chemical energy in order to produce adenosine tri ...

. This is the last step in the metabolism of

sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

-containing compounds and the sulfate is excreted. Sulfite oxidase is a metallo-enzyme that utilizes a

molybdopterin Molybdopterins are a class of cofactors found in most molybdenum-containing and all tungsten-containing enzymes. Synonyms for molybdopterin are: MPT and pyranopterin-dithiolate. The nomenclature for this biomolecule can be confusing: Molybdopter ...

cofactor and a

heme Heme, or haem (pronounced / hi:m/ ), is a precursor to hemoglobin, which is necessary to bind oxygen in the bloodstream. Heme is biosynthesized in both the bone marrow and the liver. In biochemical terms, heme is a coordination complex "consisti ...

group (in a case of animals). It is one of the cytochromes ''b''₅ and belongs to the enzyme super-family of molybdenum oxotransferases that also includes

DMSO reductase DMSO reductase is a molybdenum-containing enzyme that catalyzes reduction of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) to dimethyl sulfide (DMS). This enzyme serves as the terminal reductase under anaerobic conditions in some bacteria, with DMSO being the ter ...

xanthine oxidase Xanthine oxidase (XO, sometimes XAO) is a form of xanthine oxidoreductase, a type of enzyme that generates reactive oxygen species. These enzymes catalyze the oxidation of hypoxanthine to xanthine and can further catalyze the oxidation of xanthin ...

, and

nitrite reductase Nitrite reductase refers to any of several classes of enzymes that catalyze the reduction of nitrite. There are two classes of NIR's. A multi haem enzyme reduces NO2− to a variety of products. Copper containing enzymes carry out a single elect ...

. In mammals, the expression levels of sulfite oxidase is high in the liver, kidney, and heart, and very low in spleen, brain, skeletal muscle, and blood.

Structure

As a

homodimer In biochemistry, a protein dimer is a macromolecular complex formed by two protein monomers, or single proteins, which are usually non-covalently bound. Many macromolecules, such as proteins or nucleic acids, form dimers. The word ''dimer'' ha ...

, sulfite oxidase contains two identical subunits with an

N-terminal The N-terminus (also known as the amino-terminus, NH2-terminus, N-terminal end or amine-terminus) is the start of a protein or polypeptide, referring to the free amine group (-NH2) located at the end of a polypeptide. Within a peptide, the ami ...

domain and a

C-terminal The C-terminus (also known as the carboxyl-terminus, carboxy-terminus, C-terminal tail, C-terminal end, or COOH-terminus) is the end of an amino acid chain (protein or polypeptide), terminated by a free carboxyl group (-COOH). When the protein is ...

domain. These two domains are connected by ten

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha am ...

s forming a loop. The N-terminal domain has a

cofactor with three adjacent antiparallel

beta sheet The beta sheet, (β-sheet) (also β-pleated sheet) is a common motif of the regular protein secondary structure. Beta sheets consist of beta strands (β-strands) connected laterally by at least two or three backbone hydrogen bonds, forming a g ...

s and five

alpha helices The alpha helix (α-helix) is a common motif in the secondary structure of proteins and is a right hand-helix conformation in which every backbone N−H group hydrogen bonds to the backbone C=O group of the amino acid located four residues ear ...

. The C-terminal domain hosts a molybdopterin cofactor that is surrounded by thirteen beta sheets and three alpha helices. The

cofactor has a Mo(VI) center, which is bonded to a sulfur from

cysteine Cysteine (symbol Cys or C; ) is a semiessential proteinogenic amino acid with the formula . The thiol side chain in cysteine often participates in enzymatic reactions as a nucleophile. When present as a deprotonated catalytic residue, sometime ...

, an ene-dithiolate from pyranopterin, and two terminal oxygens. It is at this molybdenum center that the catalytic oxidation of sulfite takes place. The pyranopterin ligand which coordinates the molybdenum centre via the enedithiolate. The molybdenum centre has a square pyramidal geometry and is distinguished from the xanthine oxidase family by the orientation of the oxo group facing downwards rather than up.

Active site and mechanism

The active site of sulfite oxidase contains the

cofactor and supports molybdenum in its highest oxidation state, +6 (Mo^VI). In the enzyme's oxidized state, molybdenum is coordinated by a cysteine thiolate, the

dithiolene Dithiolene metal complexes are complexes containing 1,2-dithiolene ligands. 1,2-Dithiolene ligands, a particular case of 1,2-dichalcogenolene species, are unsaturated bidentate ligand wherein the two donor atoms are sulfur. 1,2-Dithiolene metal ...

group of molybdopterin, and two terminal oxygen atoms ( oxos). Upon reacting with sulfite, one oxygen atom is transferred to sulfite to produce sulfate, and the molybdenum center is reduced by two electrons to Mo^IV. Water then displaces sulfate, and the removal of two protons (H⁺) and two electrons (e⁻) returns the active site to its original state. A key feature of this oxygen atom transfer enzyme is that the oxygen atom being transferred arises from water, not from

dioxygen There are several known allotropes of oxygen. The most familiar is molecular oxygen (O2), present at significant levels in Earth's atmosphere and also known as dioxygen or triplet oxygen. Another is the highly reactive ozone (O3). Others are: *A ...

(O₂). Electrons are passed one at a time from the molybdenum to the heme group which reacts with cytochrome c to reoxidize the enzyme. The electrons from this reaction enter the

(ETC). This reaction is generally the rate limiting reaction. Upon reaction of the enzyme with sulfite, it is reduced by 2 electrons. The negative potential seen with re-reduction of the enzyme shows the oxidized state is favoured. Among the Mo enzyme classes, sulfite oxidase is the most easily oxidized. Although under low pH conditions the oxidative reaction become partially rate limiting.

Deficiency

Sulfite oxidase is required to metabolize the sulfur-containing amino acids cysteine and

methionine Methionine (symbol Met or M) () is an essential amino acid in humans. As the precursor of other amino acids such as cysteine and taurine, versatile compounds such as SAM-e, and the important antioxidant glutathione, methionine plays a critical ro ...

in foods. Lack of functional sulfite oxidase causes a disease known as sulfite oxidase deficiency. This rare but fatal disease causes neurological disorders, mental retardation, physical deformities, the degradation of the brain, and death. Reasons for the lack of functional sulfite oxidase include a genetic defect that leads to the absence of a

cofactor and

point mutation A point mutation is a genetic mutation where a single nucleotide base is changed, inserted or deleted from a DNA or RNA sequence of an organism's genome. Point mutations have a variety of effects on the downstream protein product—consequences ...

s in the enzyme. A G473D mutation impairs dimerization and catalysis in human sulfite oxidase.

References

External links

*
Research Activity of Sarkar Group

PDBe-KB
provides an overview of all the structure information available in the PDB for Human Sulfite oxidase, mitochondrial {{Portal bar, Biology, border=no EC 1.8.3 Metalloproteins Molybdenum compounds

Structure

Active site and mechanism

Deficiency

See also

References

Further reading

External links