title: Recent advances in radical SAM enzymology: new structures and mechanisms.
abstract: The radical S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) superfamily of enzymes catalyzes an amazingly diverse variety of reactions ranging from simple hydrogen abstraction to complicated multistep rearrangements and insertions. The reactions they catalyze are important for a broad range of biological functions, including cofactor and natural product biosynthesis, DNA repair, and tRNA modification. Generally conserved features of the radical SAM superfamily include a CX3CX2C motif that binds an [Fe4S4] cluster essential for the reductive cleavage of SAM. Here, we review recent advances in our understanding of the structure and mechanisms of these enzymes that, in some cases, have overturned widely accepted mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States.
authors.forename: Jiarui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Rory P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Woldring
authors.forename: Gabriel D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Román-Meléndez
authors.forename: Alan M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: McClain
authors.forename: Brian R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Alzua
authors.forename: E Neil G
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Marsh
mesh_terms: D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D019843:Archaeal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D001665:Binding Sites; D004260:DNA Repair; D004798:Enzymes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D007506:Iron-Sulfur Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D008745:Methylation; D008780:Methyltransferases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D012436:S-Adenosylmethionine / Q000378:metabolism*; D013466:Sulfurtransferases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D019843:Archaeal Proteins; D004798:Enzymes; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D007506:Iron-Sulfur Proteins; D011506:Proteins; D012436:S-Adenosylmethionine; D008780:Methyltransferases; C558134:RlmN protein, E coli; C499584:MiaB protein, E coli; C545011:RimO protein, E coli; D013466:Sulfurtransferases; C088014:spore photoproduct lyase