X-ray absorption near edge structure study on Acutolysin-C, a zinc-metalloproteinase from Agkistrodon acutus venom: Insight into the acid-inactive mechanism

Acutolysin-C, a snake-venom zinc metalloproteinase, displays a distinct pH-dependent proteolytic activity, which has been tentatively assigned to a structural change of the zinc-containing catalytic center. In this work we compare X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) experimental spectra at the Zn K-edge and theoretical calculations of solutions at different pH values. The experimental data show clear differences confirmed by a best fit using the MXAN procedure. The results show that, when pH decreases from pH 8.0 to pH 3.0, the zinc-coordinating catalytic water molecule moves far from the Glu143 residue that is considered to play an essential role in the proteolytic process. Data suggests that this is the possible mechanism that deactivates the metalloproteinase.