Diphthamide, the target of diphtheria toxin, is a post-translationally modified histidine residue found in archaeal and eukaryotic translation elongation factor 2 (EF2). In the first step of diphthamide biosynthesis, a [4Fe-4S] cluster-containing radical SAM enzyme, Dph1-Dph2 heterodimer in eukaryotes or Dph2 homodimer in archaea, cleaves S-adenosylmethionine and transfers the 3-amino-3-carboxypropyl group to EF2. It was demonstrated previously that for the archaeal Dph2 homodimer, only one [4Fe-4S] cluster is necessary for the in vitro activity. Here, we demonstrate that for the eukaryotic Dph1-Dph2 heterodimer, the [4Fe-4S] cluster-binding cysteine residues in each subunit are required for diphthamide biosynthesis to occur in vivo. Furthermore, our in vitro reconstitution experiments with Dph1-Dph2 mutants suggested that the Dph1 cluster serves a catalytic role, while the Dph2 cluster facilitates the reduction of the Dph1 cluster by the physiological reducing system Dph3/Cbr1/NADH. Our results reveal the asymmetric functional roles of the Dph1-Dph2 heterodimer and may help to understand how the Fe-S clusters in radical SAM enzymes are reduced in biology.
Keywords: Diphthamide biosynthesis; Iron–sulfur cluster; Radical SAM enzyme.