Electron transfer reactions between aromatic amine dehydrogenase and azurin.

Binding and electron transfer reactions between the tryptophan tryptophylquinone (TTQ) enzyme, aromatic amine dehydrogenase (AADH), and the type I copper protein azurin have been characterized. In steady-state kinetic assays using azurin as an electron acceptor, it was observed that the apparent Km for azurin decreased with increasing ionic strength. These results are the opposite of what was observed for the reaction between the TTQ enzyme methylamine dehydrogenase (MADH) and amicyanin, despite the fact that in both cases the pairs of redox proteins are each acidic proteins. It was further demonstrated that azurin does not function as an effective electron acceptor for MADH, and that amicyanin does not function as an effective electron acceptor for AADH. Thus, while the two TTQ enzymes each use type I copper proteins as physiologic electron acceptors, there is a strong specificity for which copper protein serves as a redox partner. The kinetic parameters for the electron transfer reactions from reduced AADH to oxidized azurin were determined by stopped-flow spectroscopy. Different results were obtained depending upon whether AADH was reduced chemically with dithionite or with the substrate tyramine. The values for the limiting first-order apparent electron transfer rate constant (kET) at 30 degrees C were 4 and 102 s-1, respectively. Kinetically determined values of Kd also differed by a factor of 2.4. These data suggest that the incorporation of the substrate-derived amino group into the reduced TTQ of AADH significantly increases the apparent kET. The interaction between AADH and azurin was also quantitated using an ultrafiltration binding assay. This yielded a Kd of 300 microM for the AADH--azurin complex.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)