General Base–General Acid Catalysis in Human Histone Deacetylase 8
Open accessAbstract
Histone deacetylases (HDACs) regulate cellular processes such as differentiation and apoptosis and are targeted by anticancer therapeutics in development and in the clinic. HDAC8 is a metal-dependent class I HDAC and is proposed to use a general acid-base catalytic pair in the mechanism of amide bond hydrolysis. Here, we report site-directed mutagenesis and enzymological measurements to elucidate the catalytic mechanism of HDAC8. Specifically, we focus on the catalytic function of Y306 and the histidine-aspartate dyads H142-D176 and H143-D183. Additionally, we report X-ray crystal structures of four representative HDAC8 mutants: D176N, D176N/Y306F, D176A/Y306F, and H142A/Y306F. These structures provide a useful framework for understanding enzymological measurements. The pH dependence of kcat/KM for wild-type Co(II)-HDAC8 is bell-shaped with two pKa values of 7.4 and 10.0. The upper pKa reflects the ionization of the metal-bound water molecule and shifts to 9.1 in Zn(II)-HDAC8. The H142A mutant has activity 230-fold lower than that of wild-type HDAC8, but the pKa1 value is not altered. Y306F HDAC8 is 150-fold less active than the wild-type enzyme; crystal structures show that Y306 hydrogen bonds with the zinc-bound substrate carbonyl, poised for transition state stabilization. The H143A and H142A/H143A mutants exhibit activity that is >80000-fold lower than that of wild-type HDAC8; the buried D176N and D176A mutants have significant catalytic effects, with more subtle effects caused by D183N and D183A. These enzymological and structural studies strongly suggest that H143 functions as a single general base-general acid catalyst, while H142 remains positively charged and serves as an electrostatic catalyst for transition state stabilization.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In HDAC8, the second histidine of the tandem pair acts as a single general base-general acid.
“this contrasts with HDAC8, in which the second histidine of the tandem pair serves as a single general base-general acid.33”
From Histone deacetylase 6 structure and molecular basis of catalysis and inhibition (2016) · cites this paper as [33]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
[20] Processing of X-ray diffraction data collected in oscillation mode
Otwinowski, Z., & Minor, W. (1997) · Methods in Enzymology · doi:10.1016/s0076-6879(97)76066-x · Cited by 33,475 · see citing works
Features and development of Coot
Emsley, P., Lohkamp, B., Scott, W. G., & Cowtan, K. D. (2010) · Acta Crystallographica Section D Biological Crystallography · doi:10.1107/s0907444910007493 · Cited by 27,510 · see citing works
<i>PHENIX</i> : a comprehensive Python-based system for macromolecular structure solution
Adams, P. D., Afonine, P. V., Bunkóczi, G., Chen, V. B., Davis, I. W., Echols, N., Headd, J. J., Hung, L.-W., Kapral, G. J., Grosse-Kunstleve, R. W., et al. (2010) · Acta Crystallographica Section D Biological Crystallography · doi:10.1107/s0907444909052925 · Cited by 23,716 · see citing works
A Correlation of Reaction Rates
Hammond, G. S. (1955) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/ja01607a027 · Cited by 3,590 · see citing works
ACETYLATION AND METHYLATION OF HISTONES AND THEIR POSSIBLE ROLE IN THE REGULATION OF RNA SYNTHESIS
Allfrey, V. G., Faulkner, R. D., & Mirsky, A. E. (1964) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.51.5.786 · Cited by 2,649 · see citing works
Structures of a histone deacetylase homologue bound to the TSA and SAHA inhibitors
Finnin, M. S., Donigian, J. R., Cohen, A., Richon, V. M., Rifkind, R. A., Marks, P. A., Breslow, R., & Pavletich, N. P. (1999) · Nature · doi:10.1038/43710 · Cited by 1,714 · see citing works
Acetylation and deacetylation of non-histone proteins
Glozak, M. A., Sengupta, N., Zhang, X., & Seto, E. (2005) · Gene · doi:10.1016/j.gene.2005.09.010 · Cited by 1,584 · see citing works
Histone deacetylase inhibitors: molecular mechanisms of action
Xu, W. S., Parmigiani, R. B., & Marks, P. A. (2007) · Oncogene · doi:10.1038/sj.onc.1210620 · Cited by 1,542 · see citing works
Gregoretti, I., Lee, Y.-M., & Goodson, H. V. (2004) · Journal of Molecular Biology · doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2004.02.006 · Cited by 1,456 · see citing works
FDA Approval Summary: Vorinostat for Treatment of Advanced Primary Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma
Mann, B. S., Johnson, J. R., Cohen, M. H., Justice, R., & Pazdur, R. (2007) · The Oncologist · doi:10.1634/theoncologist.12-10-1247 · Cited by 1,365 · see citing works
Marks, P. A., & Breslow, R. (2007) · Nature Biotechnology · doi:10.1038/nbt1272 · Cited by 1,198 · see citing works
Histone deacetylases and cancer
Glozak, M. A., & Seto, E. (2007) · Oncogene · doi:10.1038/sj.onc.1210610 · Cited by 1,031 · see citing works
Sauve, A. A., Wolberger, C., Schramm, V. L., & Boeke, J. D. (2006) · Annual Review of Biochemistry · doi:10.1146/annurev.biochem.74.082803.133500 · Cited by 763 · see citing works
(2002) · PubMed · Cited by 732 · see citing works
Therapeutic application of histone deacetylase inhibitors for central nervous system disorders
Kazantsev, A. G., & Thompson, L. M. (2008) · Nature Reviews Drug Discovery · doi:10.1038/nrd2681 · Cited by 715 · see citing works
Structural Snapshots of Human HDAC8 Provide Insights into the Class I Histone Deacetylases
Somoza, J. R., Skene, R. J., Katz, B. A., Mol, C., Ho, J. D., Jennings, A. J., Luong, C., Arvai, A., Buggy, J. J., Chi, E., et al. (2004) · Structure · doi:10.1016/j.str.2004.04.012 · Cited by 710 · see citing works
Structural basis of the action of thermolysin and related zinc peptidases
Matthews, B. W. (1988) · Accounts of Chemical Research · doi:10.1021/ar00153a003 · Cited by 687 · see citing works
Vannini, A., Volpari, C., Filocamo, G., Casavola, E. C., Brunetti, M., Renzoni, D., Chakravarty, P., Paolini, C., De Francesco, R., Gallinari, P., et al. (2004) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0404603101 · Cited by 638 · see citing works
Christianson, D. W., & Lipscomb, W. N. (1989) · Accounts of Chemical Research · doi:10.1021/ar00158a003 · Cited by 606 · see citing works
Self-citationLee, H.-Z., Kwitkowski, V. E., Valle, P. L. D., Ricci, M., Saber, H., Habtemariam, B. A., Bullock, J. M., Bloomquist, E. W., Shen, Y. L., Chen, X.-H., et al. (2015) · Clinical Cancer Research · doi:10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-14-3119 · Cited by 365 · see citing works
Lysine acetylation and the bromodomain: a new partnership for signaling
Yang, X. (2004) · BioEssays · doi:10.1002/bies.20104 · Cited by 359 · see citing works
Vorinostat: a new oral histone deacetylase inhibitor approved for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma
Duvic, M., & Vu, J. (2007) · Expert Opinion on Investigational Drugs · doi:10.1517/13543784.16.7.1111 · Cited by 345 · see citing works
Plumb, J. A., Finn, P. W., Williams, R. J., Bandara, M. J., Romero, M., Watkins, C. J., Thangue, N. B. L., & Brown, R. E. (2003) · PubMed · Cited by 312 · see citing works
HDAC inhibitor‐based therapies: Can we interpret the code?
New, M. I., Olzscha, H., & Thangue, N. B. L. (2012) · Molecular Oncology · doi:10.1016/j.molonc.2012.09.003 · Cited by 310 · see citing works
Structure, mechanism, and inhibition of histone deacetylases and related metalloenzymes
Lombardi, P. M., Cole, K., Dowling, D., & Christianson, D. W. (2011) · Current Opinion in Structural Biology · doi:10.1016/j.sbi.2011.08.004 · Cited by 279 · see citing works
Self-citationSchuetz, A., Min, J., Allali‐Hassani, A., Schapira, M., Shuen, M., Loppnau, P., Mazitschek, R., Kwiatkowski, N. P., Lewis, T. A., Maglathin, R. L., et al. (2008) · Journal of Biological Chemistry · doi:10.1074/jbc.m707362200 · Cited by 261 · see citing works
Panobinostat for the Treatment of Multiple Myeloma
Laubach, J. P., Moreau, P., Miguel, J. F. S., & Richardson, P. G. G. (2015) · Clinical Cancer Research · doi:10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-15-0530 · Cited by 260 · see citing works
Vannini, A., Volpari, C., Gallinari, P., Jones, P., Mattu, M., Carfí, A., De Francesco, R., Steinkühler, C., & Di Marco, S. (2007) · The EMBO Reports · doi:10.1038/sj.embor.7401047 · Cited by 256 · see citing works
Kandegedara, A., & Rorabacher, D. B. (1999) · Analytical Chemistry · doi:10.1021/ac9902594 · Cited by 240 · see citing works
Epigenetic targeting of histone deacetylase: Therapeutic potential in Parkinson's disease?
Harrison, I. F., & Dexter, D. T. (2013) · Pharmacology & Therapeutics · doi:10.1016/j.pharmthera.2013.05.010 · Cited by 227 · see citing works
Dowling, D. P., Gantt, S. L., Gattis, S. G., Fierke, C. A., & Christianson, D. W. (2008) · Biochemistry · doi:10.1021/bi801610c · Cited by 200 · see citing works
Self-citationZinc hydrolases: the mechanisms of zinc-dependent deacetylases
Hernick, M., & Fierke, C. A. (2004) · Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics · doi:10.1016/j.abb.2004.08.006 · Cited by 178 · see citing works
Self-citationOn the importance of orientation in general base catalysis by carboxylate
Gandour, R. D. (1981) · Bioorganic Chemistry · doi:10.1016/0045-2068(81)90020-1 · Cited by 173 · see citing works
Crystal structure of LpxC, a zinc-dependent deacetylase essential for endotoxin biosynthesis
Whittington, D. A., Rusche, K. M., Shin, H., Fierke, C. A., & Christianson, D. W. (2003) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1432990100 · Cited by 167 · see citing works
Self-citationCarboxylate-histidine-zinc interactions in protein structure and function
Christianson, D. W., & Alexander, R. (1989) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/ja00198a065 · Cited by 165 · see citing works
Self-citationCrystal Structure of a Bacterial Class 2 Histone Deacetylase Homologue
Nielsen, T. K., Hildmann, C., Dickmanns, A., Schwienhorst, A., & Ficner, R. (2005) · Journal of Molecular Biology · doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2005.09.065 · Cited by 157 · see citing works
Cole, K. E., Dowling, D. P., Boone, M. A., Phillips, A. J., & Christianson, D. W. (2011) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/ja205972n · Cited by 153 · see citing works
Self-citationGantt, S. L., Gattis, S. G., & Fierke, C. A. (2006) · Biochemistry · doi:10.1021/bi060212u · Cited by 151 · see citing works
Self-citationA Proton-Shuttle Reaction Mechanism for Histone Deacetylase 8 and the Catalytic Role of Metal Ions
Wu, R., Wang, S., Zhou, N., Cao, Z., & Zhang, Y. (2010) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/ja103932d · Cited by 135 · see citing works
Structure and activity of enzymes that remove histone modifications
Holbert, M. A., & Marmorstein, R. (2005) · Current Opinion in Structural Biology · doi:10.1016/j.sbi.2005.10.006 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Corminbœuf, C., Hu, P., Tuckerman, M. E., & Zhang, Y. (2006) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/ja0600882 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Perutz, M. F., Gronenborn, A. M., Clore, G. M., Fogg, J. H., & Shih, D. (1985) · Journal of Molecular Biology · doi:10.1016/0022-2836(85)90016-6 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
Probing the elusive catalytic activity of vertebrate class IIa histone deacetylases
JONES, P. G., Altamura, S., Francesco, R. D., Gallinari, P., Lahm, A., Neddermann, P., Rowley, M., Serafini, S., & Steinkühler, C. (2008) · Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters · doi:10.1016/j.bmcl.2008.02.025 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
Metabolic reprogramming by class I and II histone deacetylases
Mihaylova, M. M., & Shaw, R. J. (2012) · Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism · doi:10.1016/j.tem.2012.09.003 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Kinetics and Comparative Reactivity of Human Class I and Class IIb Histone Deacetylases
Schultz, B. E., Misialek, S., Wu, J., Tang, J., Conn, M. T., Tahilramani, R., & Wong, L. (2004) · Biochemistry · doi:10.1021/bi0494471 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Activation and Inhibition of Histone Deacetylase 8 by Monovalent Cations
Gantt, S. L., Joseph, C. G., & Fierke, C. A. (2009) · Journal of Biological Chemistry · doi:10.1074/jbc.m109.033399 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Self-citationDowling, D., Gattis, S. G., Fierke, C. A., & Christianson, D. W. (2010) · Biochemistry · doi:10.1021/bi1005046 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Self-citationSubstrate and inhibitor specificity of class 1 and class 2 histone deacetylases
Hildmann, C., Wegener, D., Riester, D., Hempel, R., Schober, A., Merana, J., Giurato, L., Guccione, S., Nielsen, T. K., Ficner, R., et al. (2006) · Journal of Biotechnology · doi:10.1016/j.jbiotec.2006.01.030 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Riester, D., Wegener, D., Hildmann, C., & Schwienhorst, A. (2004) · Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications · doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2004.09.155 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Decroos, C., Bowman, C. M., Moser, J. S., Christianson, K. E., Deardorff, M. A., & Christianson, D. W. (2014) · ACS Chemical Biology · doi:10.1021/cb5003762 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Self-citationHernick, M., Gennadios, H. A., Whittington, D. A., Rusche, K. M., Christianson, D. W., & Fierke, C. A. (2005) · Journal of Biological Chemistry · doi:10.1074/jbc.m413560200 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Self-citationInhibition and Mechanism of HDAC8 Revisited
Chen, K., Zhang, X., Wu, Y., & Wiest, O. (2014) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/ja501548p · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Decroos, C., Clausen, D. J., Haines, B. E., Wiest, O., Williams, R. M., & Christianson, D. W. (2015) · Biochemistry · doi:10.1021/acs.biochem.5b00010 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Self-citationMock, W. L., & Aksamawati, M. (1994) · Biochemical Journal · doi:10.1042/bj3020057 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Carver, J. A., & Bradbury, J. (1984) · Biochemistry · doi:10.1021/bi00316a012 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Pyrrole Hydrogen Ionization of Imidazole Derivatives in Metal Ion Complexes and Carbonic Anhydrase
Martin, R. B. (1974) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.71.11.4346 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Cynthia Marie-claire, A., Ruffet, E., Tiraboschi, G., et al. (1998) · FEBS Letters · doi:10.1016/s0014-5793(98)01267-8 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Hernick, M., & Fierke, C. A. (2006) · Biochemistry · doi:10.1021/bi061405k · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Self-citationZimmerman, S. C., & Cramer, K. D. (1988) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/ja00225a056 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Bradbury, J., & Carver, J. A. (1984) · Biochemistry · doi:10.1021/bi00316a013 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Clinical development of histone deacetylase inhibitor romidepsin.
Guan, P. F., & Fang, H. (2010) · PubMed · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Histone deacetylase 6 structure and molecular basis of catalysis and inhibition
Hai, Y., & Christianson, D. W. (2016) · Nature Chemical Biology · doi:10.1038/nchembio.2134 · Cited by 521 · see citing works
“33 In H574A zCD2, the substrate carbonyl was sufficiently activated to undergo nucleophilic attack, but the resulting tetrahedral intermediate was locked in place, deep in the active site pocket – it could not collapse without general acid H574 to protonate the leaving amino group.”
Self-citationHistone deacetylase 11 is a fatty-acid deacylase
Kutil, Z., Novakova, Z., Meleshin, M., Mikesova, J., Schutkowski, M., & Barinka, C. (2018) · ACS Chemical Biology · doi:10.1021/acschembio.7b00942 · Cited by 174 · see citing works
Structure, mechanism, and inhibition of the zinc-dependent histone deacetylases
Porter, N. J., & Christianson, D. W. (2019) · Current Opinion in Structural Biology · doi:10.1016/j.sbi.2019.01.004 · Cited by 146 · see citing works
Self-citationMarek, M., Shaik, T. B., Heimburg, T., Chakrabarti, A., Lancelot, J., Ramos-Morales, E., Da Veiga, C., Kalinin, D., Melesina, J., Robaa, D., et al. (2018) · Journal of Medicinal Chemistry · doi:10.1021/acs.jmedchem.8b01087 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
Innovative Strategies for Selective Inhibition of Histone Deacetylases
Maolanon, A. R., Madsen, A. S., & Olsen, C. A. (2016) · Cell Chemical Biology · doi:10.1016/j.chembiol.2016.06.011 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Class I HDAC Inhibitors: Potential New Epigenetic Therapeutics for Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD)
Bourguet, E., Ozdarska, K., Moroy, G., Jeanblanc, J., & Naassila, M. (2018) · Journal of Medicinal Chemistry · doi:10.1021/acs.jmedchem.7b00115 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
- Authors
- Gantt, S. M. L., Decroos, C., Lee, M. S., Gullett, L. E., Bowman, C. M., Christianson, D. W., & Fierke, C. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan (US)
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Christianson, David W.
- Fierke, Carol A.
- Venue
- Biochemistry
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2016-01-25
- Volume
- 55
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 820-832
- ISSN
- 0006-2960 (ISSN-L)
- 1520-4995
- PMC
- PMC4747815
- OpenAlex
- W2283515591
- Cited by
- 67
- References
- 61
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 9
- FWCI
- 5.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Biochemistry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Program (T32, GM40602, GM49758)
- National Science Foundation (predoctoral fellowship)
- Roy and Diana Vagelos Program in Molecular Life Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors Research
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Enzyme Structure and Function
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Organic Chemistry › Chemical Reaction Mechanisms
- Keywords
- HDAC8, catalytic mechanism, general acid-base catalysis, amide hydrolysis, pH dependence, transition state stabilization, electrostatic catalysis, class I HDACs, site-directed mutagenesis, crystal structure
- MeSH terms
- Acids, Alkalies, Catalysis, Histone Deacetylases, Humans, Hydrogen Bonding, Hydrogen-Ion Concentration, Repressor Proteins, Mutagenesis, Site-Directed, Crystallography, X-Ray
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review