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Abstract

Methyl-coenzyme M reductase (MCR) catalyses the reduction of methyl-coenzyme M (CH3-S-CoM) with coenzyme B (H-S-CoB) to CH4 and CoM-S-S-CoB in methanogenic archaea. Here we present a pulse EPR study of the “ready” form MCRox1, providing a detailed description of the spin density and the coordination of coenzyme M (CoM) to the Ni cofactor F430. To achieve this, MCR was purified from cells grown in a 61Ni enriched medium and samples were prepared in D2O with the substrate analogue CoM either deuterated in the β-position or with 33S in the thiol group. To obtain the magnetic parameters ENDOR and HYSCORE measurements were done at X- and Q-band, and CW EPR, at X- and W-band. The hyperfine couplings of the β-protons of CoM indicate that the nickel to β-proton distances in MCRox1 are very similar to those in Ni(II)-MCRox1-silent, and thus the position of CoM relative to F430 is very similar in both species. Our thiolate sulfur and nickel EPR data prove a Ni−S coordination, with an unpaired spin density on the sulfur of 7 ± 3%. These results highlight the redox-active or noninnocent nature of the sulfur ligand on the oxidation state. Assuming that MCRox1 is oxidized relative to the Ni(II) species, the complex is formally best described as a Ni(III) (d7) thiolate in resonance with a thiyl radical/high-spin Ni(II) complex, NiIII− -SR ↔ NiII−•SR.