2,4-Hexa
dienoyl-coenzyme A (HD-CoA) has been use
d to investigate the re
dox an
d ionizationproperties of me
dium-chain acyl-CoA
dehy
drogenase (MCAD) from pig ki
dney. HD-CoA is athermo
dynamically stabilize
d pro
duct analogue that bin
ds tightly to oxi
dize
d MCAD (
Kdox = 3.5 ± 0.1
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
M, pH 7.6) an
d elicits a re
dox potential shift that is 78% of that observe
d with the natural substrate/pro
duct couple [Lenn, N. D., Stankovich, M. T., an
d Liu, H. (1990)
Biochemistry 29, 3709-3715]. Themi
dpoint potential of the MCAD·HD-CoA complex exhibits a pH
depen
dence that is consistent with there
dox-linke
d ionization of two key glutamic aci
ds as well as the flavin a
denine
dinucleoti
de (FAD) cofactor.The estimate
d ionization constants for Glu376-COOH (p
Ka,ox ![](/images/entities/ap.gif)
9.3) an
d Glu99-COOH (p
Ka,ox ![](/images/entities/ap.gif)
7.4) inthe oxi
dize
d MCAD·HD-CoA complex in
dicate that while bin
ding of the C
6 analogue makes Glu376 astronger catalytic base (p
Ka,ox ![](/images/entities/ap.gif)
6.5, free MCAD), it has little effect on the p
K of Glu99 (p
Ka,ox ![](/images/entities/ap.gif)
7.5,free MCAD) [Mancini-Samuelson, G. J., Kieweg, V., Sabaj, K. M., Ghisla, S., an
d Stankovich, M. T.(1998)
Biochemistry 37, 14605-14612]. This fin
ding is in agreement with the apparent p
K of 9.2
determine
dfor Glu376 in the human MCAD·4-thia-octenoyl-CoA complex [Ru
dik, I., Ghisla, S., an
d Thorpe, C.(1998)
Biochemistry 37, 8437-8445]. The p
Kas estimate
d for Glu376 an
d Glu99 in the re
duce
d pig ki
dneyMCAD·HD-CoA complex, 9.8 an
d 8.6, respectively, suggest that both of these resi
dues remain protonate
din the charge-transfer complex un
der physiological con
ditions. Polarization of HD-CoA in the enzymeactive site may contribute to the observe
d p
Ka an
d re
dox potential shifts. Consequently, the electronicstructures of the pro
duct analogue in its free an
d MCAD-boun
d forms have been characterize
d by Raman
difference spectroscopy. Bin
ding to either the oxi
dize
d or re
duce
d enzyme results in localize
d ![](/images/gifchars/pi.gif)
-electronpolarization of the hexa
dienoyl C(1)=O an
d C(2)=C(3) bon
ds. The C(4)=C(5) bon
d, in contrast, isrelatively unaffecte
d by bin
ding. These results suggest that, upon bin
ding to MCAD, HD-CoA is selectivelypolarize
d such that partial positive charge
develops at the C(3)-H region of the ligan
d, regar
dless of theoxi
dation state of the enzyme.