Insights into the design of a hybrid system between Anabaena ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase and bovine adrenodoxin.

The opportunity to design enzymatic systems is becoming more feasible due to detailed knowledge of the structure of many proteins. As a first step, investigations have aimed to redesign already existing systems, so that they can perform a function different from the one for which they were synthesized. We have investigated the interaction of electron transfer proteins from different systems in order to check the possibility of heterologous reconstitution among members of different chains. Here, it is shown that ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase from Anabaena and adrenodoxin from bovine adrenal glands are able to form optimal complexes for thermodynamically favoured electron transfer reactions. Thus, electron transfer from ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase to adrenodoxin seems to proceed through the formation of at least two different complexes, whereas electron transfer from adrenodoxin to ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase does not take place due because it is a thermodynamically nonfavoured process. Moreover, by using a truncated adrenodoxin form (with decreased reduction potential as compared with the wild-type) ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase is reduced. Finally, these reactions have also been studied using several ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase mutants at positions crucial for interaction with its physiological partner, ferredoxin. The effects observed in their reactions with adrenodoxin do not correlate with those reported for their reactions with ferredoxin. In summary, our data indicate that although electron transfer can be achieved in this hybrid system, the electron transfer processes observed are much slower than within the physiological partners, pointing to a low specificity in the interaction surfaces of the proteins in the hybrid complexes.