A Hydrogen-Deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry (HDX-MS) Platform for Investigating Peptide Biosynthetic Enzymes

Hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS) is a powerful method for the biophysical characterization of enzyme conformational changes and enzyme-substrate interactions. Among its many benefits, HDX-MS consumes only small amounts of material, can be performed under near native conditions without the need for enzyme/substrate labeling, and can provide spatially resolved information on enzyme conformational dynamics-even for large enzymes and multiprotein complexes. The method is initiated by the dilution of the enzyme of interest into buffer prepared in D2O. This triggers the exchange of protium in peptide bond amides (N-H) with deuterium (N-D). At the desired exchange time points, reaction aliquots are quenched, the enzyme is proteolyzed into peptides, the peptides are separated by ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC), and the change in mass of each peptide (due to the exchange of hydrogen for deuterium) is recorded by MS. The amount of deuterium uptake by each peptide is strongly dependent on the local hydrogen bonding environment of that peptide. Peptides present in very dynamic regions of the enzyme exchange deuterium very rapidly, whereas peptides derived from well-ordered regions undergo exchange much more slowly. In this manner, the HDX rate reports on local enzyme conformational dynamics. Perturbations to deuterium uptake levels in the presence of different ligands can then be used to map ligand binding sites, identify allosteric networks, and to understand the role of conformational dynamics in enzyme function. Here, we illustrate how we have used HDX-MS to better understand the biosynthesis of a type of peptide natural products called lanthipeptides. Lanthipeptides are genetically encoded peptides that are post-translationally modified by large, multifunctional, conformationally dynamic enzymes that are difficult to study with traditional structural biology approaches. HDX-MS provides an ideal and adaptable platform for investigating the mechanistic properties of these types of enzymes.