Rapid Decay of the Native Intermediate in the Metallooxidase Fet3p Enables Controlled Fe^II Oxidation for Efficient Metabolism

The multicopper oxidases (MCOs) couple four 1e^– oxidations of substrate to the 4e^– reduction of O₂ to H₂O. These divide into two groups: those that oxidize organic substrates with high turnover frequencies (TOFs) up to 560 s^–1 and those that oxidize metal ions with low TOFs, ∼1 s^–1 or less. The catalytic mechanism of the organic oxidases has been elucidated, and the high TOF is achieved through rapid intramolecular electron transfer (IET) to the native intermediate (NI), which only slowly decays to the resting form. Here, we uncover the factors that govern the low TOF in Fet3p, a prototypical metallooxidase, in the context of the MCO mechanism. We determine that the NI decays rapidly under optimal turnover conditions, and the mechanism thereby becomes rate-limited by slow IET to the resting enzyme. Development of a catalytic model leads to the important conclusions that proton delivery to the NI controls the mechanism and enables the slow turnover in Fet3p that is functionally significant in Fe metabolism enabling efficient ferroxidase activity while avoiding ROS generation.