title: Structural insights into the enzyme mechanism of a new family of d-2-hydroxyacid dehydrogenases, a close homolog of 2-ketopantoate reductase.
abstract: A newly identified family of NAD-dependent D-2-hydroxyacid dehydrogenases (D-2-HydDHs) catalyzes the stereo-specific reduction of branched-chain 2-keto acids with bulky hydrophobic side chains to 2-hydroxyacids. They are promising targets for industrial/practical applications, particularly in the stereo-specific synthesis of C3-branched D-hydroxyacids. Comparative modeling and docking studies have been performed to build models of the enzyme-cofactor-substrate complexes and identify key residues for cofactor and substrate recognition. To explore large conformational transitions (domain motions), a normal mode analysis was employed using a simple potential and the protein models. Our analysis suggests that the new D-2-HydDH family members possess the N-terminal NAD(H) binding Rossmann-fold domain and the alpha-helical C-terminal substrate binding domain. A hinge bending motion between the N- and C-terminal domains was predicted, which would trigger the switch of the conserved essential Lys to form a key hydrogen bond with the C2 ketone of the 2-keto acid substrates. Our findings will be useful for site-directed mutagenesis studies and protein engineering.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Biomedical Innovation, 7-6-8 Saito-Asagi, Ibaraki-shi, Osaka 567-0085, Japan. suku@nibio.go.jp
authors.forename: Sukanta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mondal
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mizuguchi
mesh_terms: D000429:Alcohol Oxidoreductases / Q000737:chemistry*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D000429:Alcohol Oxidoreductases; C021934:2-dehydropantoate 2-reductase; C021379:D-2-hydroxyacid dehydrogenase