Insights into Substrate and Metal Binding from the Crystal Structure of Cyanobacterial Aldehyde Deformylating Oxygenase with Substrate Bound

The nonheme diiron enzyme cyanobacterial aldehyde deformylating oxygenase, cADO, catalyzes the highly unusual deformylation of aliphatic aldehydes to alkanes and formate. We have determined crystal structures for the enzyme with a long-chain water-soluble aldehyde and medium-chain carboxylic acid bound to the active site. These structures delineate a hydrophobic channel that connects the solvent with the deeply buried active site and reveal a mode of substrate binding that is different from previously determined structures with long-chain fatty acids bound. The structures also identify a water channel leading to the active site that could facilitate the entry of protons required in the reaction. NMR studies examining 1-[(13)C]-octanal binding to cADO indicate that the enzyme binds the aldehyde form rather than the hydrated form. Lastly, the fortuitous cocrystallization of the metal-free form of the protein with aldehyde bound has revealed protein conformation changes that are involved in binding iron.