Distinct role of specific tryptophans in facilitating electron transfer or as [Fe(IV)=O Trp(*)] intermediates in the peroxidase reaction of Bulkholderia pseudomallei catalase-peroxidase: a multifrequency EPR spectroscopy investigation.

We have characterized the reactive intermediates of the peroxidase-like reaction of Bulkholderia pseudomallei KatG using multifrequency EPR spectroscopy. The aim was to investigate the putative role of tryptophanyl radicals as alternative intermediates to the [Fe(IV)=O Por•+] species or as short-lived species involved in superexchange-coupled pathways between redox cofactors. Three distinct sites for the formation of radical intermediates, Trp330, Trp139 and Trp153, were identified using single, double and triple variants of Bulkholderia pseudomallei KatG. The proximal Trp330 is the site for a radical in magnetic interaction with the ferryl heme iron [Fe(IV)=O Trp•+], formed at the expense of a short-lived [Fe(IV)=O Por•+] species as in the cases of Mycobacterium tuberculosis KatG and cytochrome c peroxidase. Formation of the Trp153 radical at a site close to the enzyme surface crucially depends on the integrity of the H-bonding network of the heme distal side, that includes Trp95, the radical site in the...