Crystal structures of Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 quinone oxidoreductase and its complex with NADPH.

Zeta-crystallin-like quinone oxidoreductase is NAD(P)H-dependent and catalyzes one-electron reduction of certain quinones to generate semiquinone. Here we present the crystal structures of zeta-crystallin-like quinone oxidoreductase from Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 (PtoQOR) and its complexes with NADPH determined at 2.4 and 2.01A resolutions, respectively. PtoQOR forms as a homologous dimer, each monomer containing two domains. In the structure of the PtoQOR-NADPH complex, NADPH locates in the groove between the two domains. NADPH binding causes obvious conformational changes in the structure of PtoQOR. The putative substrate-binding site of PtoQOR is wider than that of Escherichia coli and Thermus thermophilus HB8. Activity assays show that PtoQOR has weak 1,4-benzoquinone catalytic activity, and very strong reduction activity towards large substrates such as 9,10-phenanthrenequinone. We propose a model to explain the conformational changes which take place during reduction reactions catalyzed by PtoQOR.