title: Conservation of electrostatic properties within enzyme families and superfamilies.
abstract: Electrostatic interactions play a key role in enzyme catalytic function. At long range, electrostatics steer the incoming ligand/substrate to the active site, and at short distances, electrostatics provide the specific local interactions for catalysis. In cases in which electrostatics determine enzyme function, orthologs should share the electrostatic properties to maintain function. Often, electrostatic potential maps are employed to depict how conserved surface electrostatics preserve function. We expand on previous efforts to explain conservation of function, using novel electrostatic sequence and structure analyses of four enzyme families and one enzyme superfamily. We show that the spatial charge distribution is conserved within each family and superfamily. Conversely, phylogenetic analysis of key electrostatic residues provide the evolutionary origins of functionality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61820, USA.
authors.forename: Dennis R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Livesay
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jambeck
authors.forename: Atipat
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rojnuckarin
authors.forename: Shankar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Subramaniam
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004798:Enzymes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010751:Phosphopyruvate Hydratase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D055672:Static Electricity; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D004798:Enzymes; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase; D010751:Phosphopyruvate Hydratase