Two conserved arginine residues facilitate C-S bond cleavage and persulfide transfer in Suf family cysteine desulfurases.
Under conditions of oxidative stress or iron starvation, iron-sulfur cluster biogenesis in E. coli is initiated by the cysteine desulfurase, SufS, via the SUF pathway. SufS is a type II cysteine desulfurase that catalyzes the PLP-dependent breakage of an L-cysteine C-S bond to generate L-alanine and a covalent active site persulfide as products. The persulfide is transferred from SufS to SufE and then to the SufBC2D complex, which utilizes it in iron-sulfur cluster biogenesis. Several lines of evidence suggest two conserved arginine residues that line the solvent side of the SufS active site could be important for function. To investigate the mechanistic roles of R56 and R359, the residues were substituted using site-directed mutagenesis to obtain R56A/K and R359A/K SufS variants. Steady state kinetics indicated R56 and R359 have moderate defects in the desulfurase half reaction but major defects in the transpersulfurase step. Fluorescence polarization binding assays showed that the loss of activity was not due to a defect in forming the SufS/SufE complex. Structural characterization of R56A SufS shows loss of electron density for the 3-4 loop at the R56/G57 positions, consistent with a requirement of R56 for proper loop conformation. The structure of R359A SufS exhibits a conformational change in the 3-4 loop allowing R56 to enter the active site and mimics the residues position in the PLP-cysteine aldimine structure. Taken together, the kinetic, binding, and structural data support a mechanism where R359 plays a role in linking SufS catalysis with modulation of the 3-4 loop to promote a close-approach interaction of SufS and SufE conducive to persulfide transfer.