Irreversible inactivation of lactate racemase by sodium borohydride reveals reactivity of the nickel-pincer nucleotide cofactor

The nickel-pincer nucleotide (NPN) cofactor discovered in lactate racemase from Lactiplantibacillus plantarum (LarALp) is essential for the activities of racemases/epimerases in the highly diverse LarA superfamily. Prior mechanistic studies have established a proton-coupled hydride-transfer mechanism for LarALp, but direct evidence showing that hydride attacks the C4 atom in the pyridinium ring of NPN has been lacking. Here, we show that sodium borohydride (NaBH4) irreversibly inactivates LarALp accompanied by a rapid color change of the enzyme. The drastically altered ultraviolet-visible spectra during NaBH4 titration supported hydride transfer to C4 of NPN, and the concomitant Ni loss unraveled by mass spectrometry experiments accounted for the mechanism-based inactivation. High resolution structures of LarALp revealed a substantially weakened C-Ni bond in the metastable sulfite-NPN adduct where the NPN cofactor is in the reduced state. These findings allowed us to propose a mechanism of LarALp inactivation by NaBH4 that provides key insights into the enzyme-catalyzed reaction and sheds light on the reactivity of small molecule NPN mimetics.