ArsC3 from Desulfovibrio alaskensis G20, a cation and sulfate-independent highly efficient arsenate reductase

Desulfovibrio alaskensis G20, a sulfate-reducing bacterium, contains an arsRBC2C3 operon that encodes two putative arsenate reductases, DaG20_ArsC2 and DaG20_ArsC3. In this study, resistance assays in E. coli transformed with plasmids containing either of the two recombinant arsenate reductases, showed that only DaG20_ArsC3 is functional and able to confer arsenate resistance. Kinetic studies revealed that this enzyme uses thioredoxin as electron donor and therefore belongs to Staphylococcus aureus plasmid pI258 and Bacillus subtilis thioredoxin-coupled arsenate reductases family. Both enzymes from this family contain a potassium-binding site, but only in Sa_ArsC does potassium actually binds resulting in a lower K m. Important differences between the S. aureus and B. subtilis enzymes and DaG20_ArsC3 are observed. DaG20_ArsC3 contains only two (Asn10, Ser33) of the four (Asn10, Ser33, Thr63, Asp65) conserved amino acid residues that form the potassium-binding site and the kinetics is not significantly affected by the presence of either potassium or sulfate ions. Isothermal titration calorimetry measurements confirmed nonspecific binding of K(+) and Na(+), corroborating the non-relevance of these cations for catalysis. Furthermore, the low K m and high k cat values determined for DaG20_ArsC3 revealed that this enzyme is the most catalytically efficient potassium-independent arsenate reductase described so far and, for the first time indicates that potassium binding is not essential to have low K m, for Trx-arsenate reductases.