Structural and mechanistic studies on N(2)-(2-carboxyethyl)arginine synthase.
Caines, M.E., Sorensen, J.L., Schofield, C.J.(2009) Biochem Biophys Res Commun 385: 512-517
- PubMed: 19477162 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2009.05.095
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
2IHT, 2IHU, 2IHV - PubMed Abstract: 
N(2)-(2-Carboxyethyl)arginine synthase (CEAS), an unusual thiamin diphosphate (ThDP)-dependent enzyme, catalyses the committed step in the biosynthesis of the b-lactamase inhibitor clavulanic acid in Streptomyces clavuligerus. Crystal structures of tetrameric CEAS-ThDP in complex with the substrate analogues 5-guanidinovaleric acid (GVA) and tartrate, and a structure reflecting a possible enol(ate)-ThDP reaction intermediate are described. The structures suggest overlapping binding sites for the substrates D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (D-G3P) and L-arginine, and are consistent with the proposed CEAS mechanism in which D-G3P binds at the active site and reacts to form an alpha,beta-unsaturated intermediate,which subsequently undergoes (1,4)-Michael addition with the alpha-amino group of L-arginine. Additional solution studies are presented which probe the amino acid substrate tolerance of CEAS, providing further insight into the L-arginine binding site. These findings may facilitate the engineering of CEAS towards the synthesis of alternative beta-amino acid products.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Chemistry Research Laboratory, Oxford OX13TA, United Kingdom.