title: Inhibition studies of porphobilinogen synthase from Escherichia coli differentiating between the two recognition sites.
abstract: Porphobilinogen synthase condenses two molecules of 5-aminolevulinate in an asymmetric way. This unusual transformation requires a selective recognition and differentiation between the substrates ending up in the A site or in the P site of porphobilinogen synthase. Studies of inhibitors based on the key intermediate first postulated by Jordan allowed differentiation of the two recognition sites. The P site, whose structure is known from X-ray crystallographic studies, tolerates ester functions well. The A site interacts very strongly with nitro groups, but is not very tolerant to ester functions. This differentiation is a central factor in the asymmetric handling of the two identical substrates. Finally, it could be shown that the keto group of the substrate bound at the A site is not only essential for the recognition, but that an increase in electrophilicity of the carbon atom also increases the inhibition potency considerably. This has important consequences for the recognition process at the A site, whose exact structure is not yet known.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, 10550 N. Torrey Pines Rd., BCC-483, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Stauffer
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zizzari
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Engeloch-Jarret
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Faurite
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bobálová
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Neier
mesh_terms: D000622:Aminolevulinic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D001665:Binding Sites; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000201:enzymology*; D007700:Kinetics; D011162:Porphobilinogen / Q000378:metabolism; D000623:Porphobilinogen Synthase / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000378:metabolism; D013379:Substrate Specificity
chemical_list: D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D011162:Porphobilinogen; D000622:Aminolevulinic Acid; D000623:Porphobilinogen Synthase