Stereochemical studies of a selenium-containing hydrogenase from Methanococcus vannielii: determination of the absolute configuration of C-5 chirally labeled dihydro-8-hydroxy-5-deazaflavin cofactor.

Reduction of 7,8-didemethyl-8-hydroxy-[5-2H]-5-deazariboflavin by the selenium-containing hydrogenase from Methanococcus vannielii gave a C-5 chirally labeled 1,5-dihydro derivative. The absolute configuration of the chiral label was shown to be (R) by comparison of the chemically degraded product with authentic samples of known absolute configurations. Therefore, the steric course of the enzymic reactions involving the 8-hydroxy-5-deazaflavin cofactor can be defined as follows: (a) reduction occurs on the si face of the 5-deazaflavin molecule; (b) oxidation proceeds by the abstraction of the pro-S hydrogen at C-5 of the 1,5-dihydro-5-deazaflavin. Thus, the selenium-containing hydrogenase and 8-hydroxy-5-deazaflavin-dependent NADP+ reductase from M. vannielii are si face specific.