title: Theoretical studies of the effect of thio substitution on orotidine monophosphate decarboxylase substrates.
abstract: [reaction: see text] The effect of replacing carbonyl oxygens with sulfur in a series of orotidine 5'-monophosphate decarboxylase (ODCase) substrates was studied computationally. Previous experimental results indicate that while 2-thio-orotidine 5'-monophosphate (2-thio-OMP) is a poor substrate for ODCase, 4-thio-orotidine 5'-monophosphate (4-thio-OMP) binds to ODCase, and the resultant k(cat) is measurable. Energetics calculations on 2-thio-1-methyl-orotate and 4-thio-1-methyl-orotate (as models for the 2- and 4-thio-OMPs) indicate that mechanisms involving proton transfer to the 2- or 4-site, regardless of substrate and regardless of whether the 2- or 4-position is a carbonyl or thiocarbonyl, are energetically favorable, as compared to direct decarboxylation without proton transfer. Proton transfer to the 4-site during decarboxylation is found to be energetically more favorable than 2-protonation. Each thiocarbonyl is also found to be more basic than its carbonyl counterpart. Therefore, if 2- or 4-proton transfer is the operative catalytic pathway, energetics alone would not explain why 2-thio-orotidine 5'-monophosphate is a poor ODCase substrate. Conformational preferences for a series of ODCase substrates were also examined computationally. Specifically, the energies and Boltzmann probabilities of the conformers resulting from rotation about the C1'-N1 bond (O4'-C1'-N1-C2 rotation from 0 degrees to 360 degrees ) were calculated. It was found that a calculated preference for the syn versus the anti nucleoside conformation correlates to an experimentally better substrate: the OMP and 4-thio-OMP models show a preference for syn conformations, whereas the 2-thio-OMP (the only substrate of the three OMPs that is experimentally found to bind poorly) model shows a preference for an anti conformation. The same rough correlation was found for a series of ODCase inhibitors; that is, a preference for the syn conformation correlates to a better inhibitor. This result is of interest and points to the possibility that the ability for a substrate to bind well to ODCase may be related to its tendency to favor the syn conformation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA.
authors.forename: Linda M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: Jeehiun K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D015394:Molecular Structure; D009964:Orotidine-5'-Phosphate Decarboxylase / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism*; D011336:Probability; D012399:Rotation; D055672:Static Electricity; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds; D009964:Orotidine-5'-Phosphate Decarboxylase