The oxidation state of active site thiols determines activity of saccharopine dehydrogenase at low pH

► A pair of thiols in the vicinity of the dinucleotide-binding site can form a disulfide bond. ► Oxidized enzyme has a higher Kd for NAD+ and a much lower V/Et than wild type enzyme. ► Enzyme exists in two different forms, the disulfide and dithiol forms at low pH. Saccharopine dehydrogenase catalyzes the NAD-dependent conversion of saccharopine to generate l-lysine and α-ketoglutarate. A disulfide bond between cysteine 205 and cysteine 249, in the vicinity of the dinucleotide-binding site, is observed in structures of the apoenzyme, while a dithiol is observed in a structure with AMP bound, suggesting preferential binding of the dinucleotide to reduced enzyme. Mutation of C205 to S gave increased values of V/Et and V/KEt at pH 7 compared to wild type. Primary deuterium and solvent deuterium kinetic isotope effects suggest the catalytic pathway, which includes the hydride transfer and hydrolysis steps, contributes more to rate limitation in C205S, but the rates of the two steps relative to one another remain the same. There is a large increase in the rate constants V1/Et and V1/KNADEt at pH values below 7 compared to WT. Data indicate the low pH increase in activity results from a decreased sensitivity of the C205S mutant enzyme to the protonation state of an enzyme group with a pKa of about 7, likely responsible for a pH-dependent conformational change. Reduction of WT and C205S mutant enzymes with TCEP gives equal activities at pH 6, consistent with the increased activity observed for the C205S mutant enzyme.