Control of electron transfer in nitric-oxide synthases. Swapping of autoinhibitory elements among nitric-oxide synthase isoforms.

To clarify the role of the autoinhibitory insert in the endothelial (eNOS) and neuronal (nNOS) nitric-oxide synthases, the insert was excised from nNOS and chimeras with its reductase domain; the eNOS and nNOS inserts were swapped and put into the normally insertless inducible (iNOS) isoform and chimeras with the iNOS reductase domain; and an RRKRK sequence in the insert suggested by earlier peptide studies to be important (Salerno, J. C., Harris, D. E., Irizarry, K., Patel, B., Morales, A. J., Smith, S. M., Martasek, P., Roman, L. J., Masters, B. S., Jones, C. L., Weissman, B. A., Lane, P., Liu, Q., and Gross, S. S. (1997) J. Biol. Chem. 272, 29769-29777) was mutated. Insertless nNOS required calmodulin (CaM) for normal NOS activity, but the Ca(2+) requirement for this activity was relaxed. Furthermore, insert deletion enhanced CaM-free electron transfer within nNOS and chimeras with the nNOS reductase, emphasizing the involvement of the insert in modulating electron transfer. Swapping the nNOS and eNOS inserts gave proteins with normal NOS activities, and the nNOS insert acted normally in raising the Ca(2+) dependence when placed in eNOS. Insertion of the eNOS insert into iNOS and chimeras with the iNOS reductase domain significantly lowered NOS activity, consistent with inhibition of electron transfer by the insert. Mutation of the eNOS RRKRK to an AAAAA sequence did not alter the eNOS Ca(2+) dependence but marginally inhibited electron transfer. The salt dependence suggests that the insert modulates electron transfer within the reductase domain prior to the heme/reductase interface. The results clarify the role of the reductase insert in modulating the Ca(2+) requirement, electron transfer rate, and overall activity of nNOS and eNOS.