Analysis of the dynamic properties of Bacillus circulans xylanase upon formation of a covalent glycosyl-enzyme intermediate

NMR spectroscopy was used to search for mechanistically significant differences in the local mobility of the main-chain amides of Bacillus circulans xylanase (BCX) in its native and catalytically competent covalent glycosyl-enzyme intermediate states. N-15 T-1, T-2, and N-15{H-1} NOE values were measured for similar to 120 out of 178 peptide groups in both the apo form of the protein and in BCX covalently modified at position Glu78 with a mechanism-based 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-beta-xylobioside inactivator. Employing the model-free formalism of Lipari and Szabo, the measured relaxation parameters were used to calculate a global correlation time ( tau(m)) for the protein in each form (9.2 +/- 0.2 ns for apo-BCX; 9.8 +/- 0.3 ns for the modified protein), as well as individual order parameters for the main-chain NH bond vectors. Average values of the order parameters for the protein in the apo and complexed forms were S-2 = 0.86 +/- 0.04 and S-2 = 0.91 +/- 0.04, respectively. No correlation is observed between these order parameters and the secondary structure, solvent accessibility, or hydrogen bonding patterns of amides in either form of the protein. These results demonstrate that the backbone of BCX is well ordered in both states and that formation of the,glycosyl-enzyme intermediate leads to little change, in any, in the dynamic properties of BCX on the time scales sampled by N-15-NMR relaxation measurements.