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Inflated kinetic isotope effects in the branched mechanism of Neurospora crassa 2-nitropropane dioxygenase.

Catalytic turnover of Neurospora crassa 2-nitropropane dioxygenase with nitroethane as substrate occurs through both nonoxidative and oxidative pathways. The pH dependence of the kinetic isotope effects with [1,1-(2)H(2)]nitroethane as substrate was measured in the current study by monitoring the formation of the nitronate product in the nonoxidative pathway. The kinetic isotope effect on the second-order rate constant for nitronate formation, k(cat)/K(m), decreased from an upper limiting value of 23 +/- 1 at low pH to a lower limiting value of 11 +/- 1 at high pH. These kinetic isotope effects are three times larger than those determined previously through measurements of oxygen consumption that occurs in the oxidative pathway of the enzyme [(2006) Biochemistry 45, 13889]. Analytical expressions for the k(cat)/K(m) values determined in each study show that the difference in the kinetic isotope effects arises from the branching of an enzyme-ethylnitronate reaction intermediate through oxidative and nonoxidative turnover. This branching is isotope sensitive due to a kinetic isotope effect on nitronate release rather than on flavin reduction as indicated by the pH-independent (D)k(red) value of 0.99 +/- 0.06 with ethylnitronate as substrate. The kinetic isotope effect on ethylnitronate release arises from the deprotonation of histidine 196, which provides electrostatic interactions with the nitronate to keep it bound in the active site for oxidation. The isotope effect on branching results in an inflation of the kinetic isotope observed for the nonoxidative pathway to values that are larger than the intrinsic values associated with CH bond cleavage.