title: Sulfur-based mechanistic probes for enzyme-catalyzed reactions.
abstract: Sulfur (S), as the second element in the main group 6A just below oxygen (O), has been often used as an isosteric replacement for O in enzymatic mechanistic studies. In addition, S has also been used as an isosteric replacement for CH₂. These S-based mechanistic probes have been used in the studies with protein enzyme systems such as the sirtuin family of the protein Nε-acyl-lysine deacylases, phosphotransferases, and fatty acid desaturase, as well as various RNA enzymes (ribozymes). These probes are basically the O→S mutants of the corresponding O(or CH₂)-containing substrates for the enzymatic reactions under study. This article will review the significant contributions that the S-based probes have been able to make toward an enhanced mechanistic understanding of different types of the enzyme-catalyzed reactions.
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, Jiangsu University, 301 Xuefu Road, Zhenjiang 212013, Jiangsu Province, PR China. wzheng@ujs.edu.cn
authors.forename: Weiping
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D000577:Amides / Q000737:chemistry*; D002384:Catalysis; D015335:Molecular Probes / Q000737:chemistry*; D015394:Molecular Structure; D037761:Sirtuins / Q000737:chemistry*; D013455:Sulfur / Q000737:chemistry*; D013854:Thioamides / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000577:Amides; D015335:Molecular Probes; D013854:Thioamides; D013455:Sulfur; D037761:Sirtuins