Insights into the fatty acid chain length specificity of the carboxylesterase PA3859 from Pseudomonas aeruginosa: A combined structural, biochemical and computational study.
Pesaresi, A., Lamba, D.(2010) Biochimie 92: 1787-1792
- PubMed: 20850500 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biochi.2010.09.001
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
3CN7, 3CN9 - PubMed Abstract: 
The open reading frame PA3859 of Pseudomonas aeruginosa encodes an intracellular carboxylesterase belonging to a group of microbial enzymes (EC 3.1.1.1) that catalyze the hydrolysis of aliphatic and aromatic esters with a broad substrate specificity. With few exceptions, for this class of enzymes, belonging to the α/β-hydrolase fold superfamily, very little information is available regarding their biochemical activity and in vivo function. The X-ray crystal structure of recombinant PA3859 has been determined for two crystal forms (space groups P2(1) and P2(1)2(1)2). The kinetic properties of the enzyme were studied using p-nitrophenyl esters as substrates and data fitted to a surface dilution mixed micelle kinetic model. Enzymatic assays and computational docking simulations, pinpointed the enzyme's preference for esters of palmitic and/or stearic acids and provided insights into the enzyme-substrate favorable binding modes.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Istituto di Cristallografia, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Area Science Park - Basovizza, S.S. 14, Km 163.5, I-34149 Trieste, Italy. alessandro.pesaresi@ts.ic.cnr.it