Protein radicals in myoglobin dimerization and myoglobin-catalyzed styrene epoxidation

Two mechanisms have been identified for the H2O2-dependent epoxidation of styrenes by sperm whale myoglobin (Mb) [S. Rao, A. Wilks, and P. R. Ortiz de Montellano, J. Biol. Chem. 268, 803-908 (1993)]: (a) ferryl (FeIV = O) oxygen transfer with retention of stereochemistry and incorporation of an oxygen from H2O2, and (b) protein peroxy radical cooxidation with loss of stereochemistry and incorporation of an oxygen from O2. As shown here, cis-beta-methylstyrene is preferentially oxidized to the trans-epoxide when the H2O2:Mb ratio is <0.5 but increasingly to the cis-isomer as the ratio increases to and above 1. At a high (4:1) H2O2:Mb ratio, both the absolute yield and the cis:trans-epoxide ratio increase in proportion to the cis-beta-methylstyrene concentration. A protein radical formed in the Mb-H2O2 reaction also causes dimer and trimer formation, maximum dimer formation (approximately 30%) being obtained with 1 equivalent of H2O2. At low H2O2:Mb ratios, the oxidation equivalents utilized for protein oligomerization and styrene oxidation account for the available H2O2. Previous studies have shown that His-64 is important for protein-mediated olefin cooxidation and Tyr-151/Tyr-103 for Mb dimerization. The W7F, W14F, and W7F/W14F Mb mutants have now been prepared and the W14F, but not W7F, mutation shown to modestly decrease cooxidation of cis-beta-methylstyrene to the trans-epoxide. Neither tryptophan mutation alters dimer formation. Dimer formation is modestly increased rather than decreased by styrene, suggesting that styrene cooxidation and dimerization do not compete. The results indicate that (a) cis-beta-methylstyrene cooxidation and protein dimerization, both of which are mediated by protein radicals, are favored at low H2O2:Mb ratios, (b) as the H2O2:Mb ratio increases, the ferryl epoxidation pathway surpasses the cooxidation mechanism, (c) Trp-14 but not Trp-7 influences olefin cooxidation, and (d) different, possibly nonequilibrating, radicals mediate olefin cooxidation and protein dimerization.