Reactivity of medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase toward molecular oxygen

The free two-electron-reduced form of medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase is reoxidized by 120 microM molecular oxygen (50 mM phosphate buffer, pH 7.6, 2 degrees C) with a half-time of approximately 7 s. Reoxidation yields hydrogen peroxide as a major product with only traces of the superoxide anion. In contrast, enzyme reduced with octanoyl-CoA is extremely slowly reoxidized oxygen, and so a series of 14 different substrate analogues have been tested to assess the structural factors responsible for this effect. Complexes with redox-inactive ligands such as 3-thia- and 2-azaoctanoyl-CoA lead to an approximately 3000-fold slowing of the rate of reoxidation of the free dihydroflavin form of the enzyme. Comparable ligands lacking the thioester carbonyl function are much less effective with rates some 1.3-4-fold slower than the free enzyme. The strong suppression of oxygen reactivity observed with certain ligands is probably not simply a steric effect but may reflect desolvation of the active site and consequent destabilization of the superoxide anion intermediate formed during reoxidation of the flavin. The profound differences in oxygen reactivity between acyl-CoA dehydrogenase and acyl-CoA oxidase and the unusual stability of certain flavoprotein semiquinones in air are discussed in terms of these thermodynamic and kinetic arguments.