The pentacovalent phosphorus intermediate of a phosphoryl transfer reaction.
Lahiri, S.D., Zhang, G., Dunaway-Mariano, D., Allen, K.N.(2003) Science 299: 2067-2071
- PubMed: 12637673 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1082710
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
1O03, 1O08 - PubMed Abstract: 
Enzymes provide enormous rate enhancements, unmatched by any other type of catalyst. The stabilization of high-energy states along the reaction coordinate is the crux of the catalytic power of enzymes. We report the atomic-resolution structure of a high-energy reaction intermediate stabilized in the active site of an enzyme. Crystallization of phosphorylated beta-phosphoglucomutase in the presence of the Mg(II) cofactor and either of the substrates glucose 1-phosphate or glucose 6-phosphate produced crystals of the enzyme-Mg(II)-glucose 1,6-(bis)phosphate complex, which diffracted x-rays to 1.2 and 1.4 angstroms, respectively. The structure reveals a stabilized pentacovalent phosphorane formed in the phosphoryl transfer from the C(1)O of glucose 1,6-(bis)phosphate to the nucleophilic Asp8 carboxylate.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118-2394, USA.