Evidence for dramatic acceleration of a C-H bond ionization rate in thiamin diphosphate enzymes by the protein environment.

The hypothesis that thiamin diphosphate-dependent enzymes achieve a significant fraction of their catalytic rate acceleration by providing a protein environment that helps to stabilize unstable zwitterionic/dipolar intermediates (including the enamine/C2alpha-carbanion present on all such enzymes) was tested experimentally using the intermediate C2alpha-hydroxyethylthiamin diphosphate (HEThDP) with the Escherichia coli pyruvate dehydrogenase complex and its E1 subunit (PDHc-E1). Using pre-steady-state and steady-state methods, it was shown that HEThDP is a substrate for this enzyme after ionization of the C2alpha-H bond. An experiment was then carried out to measure the PDHc-E1 catalyzed pre-steady-state rate constant for the D --> H exchange from the C2alpha position of HEThDP-d(4), as an indicator of the formation of the enamine. Importantly, the enzyme accelerates the rate of ionization of this bond by a factor of 10(7), corresponding to a 10 kcal/mol stabilization of the enamine intermediate by the enzyme. This finding is likely a general feature of thiamin diphosphate enzymes.