Catalytic tryptophan

The amino acid residues at the environment of the catalytic tryptophan described above (Fig. 3.6) could be responsible for the differences observed in the oxidation of high redox-potential aromatic substrates by VP and LiP. In this regard, LiP needs redox mediators for oxidation of some compounds that are directly oxidized by VP, such as Reactive Black 5 (RB5) and even polymeric lignin (although model dimers are directly oxidized) [10]. In contrast, VP exhibits a lower efficiency oxidizing VA than LiP. 

Finally, it could also be demonstrated that it is possible to improve VP catalytic properties by modifying the amino acid residues around the catalytic tryptophan. In this sense, simultaneous removal of Arg257 and incorporation of a phenylalanine residue, homologous to LiP Phe267 involved in VA binding [80], resulted in a VP variant with VA transient-state kinetic constants comparable to those of LiP [76]. 

Ruiz-Duenas FJ, Pogni R, Morales M et al (2009) Protein radicals in fungal versatile peroxidase catalytic tryptophan radical in both Compound I and Compound II and studies on W164Y, W164H and W164S variants. J Biol Chem 284 7986—7994... 

Ruiz-Duenas FJ, Morales M, Mate MJ et al (2008) Site-directed mutagenesis of the catalytic tryptophan environment in Pleurotus eryngii versatile peroxidase. Biochemistry 47 1685-1695... 

Enzymatic Process. Chemically synthesized substrates can be converted to the corresponding amino acids by the catalytic action of an enzyme or the microbial cells as an enzyme source, t - Alanine production from L-aspartic acid, L-aspartic acid production from fumaric acid, L-cysteine production from DL-2-aminothiazoline-4-catboxyhc acid, D-phenylglycine (and D-/> -hydtoxyphenylglycine) production from DL-phenyUiydantoin (and DL-/)-hydroxyphenylhydantoin), and L-tryptophan production from indole and DL-serine have been in operation as commercial processes. Some of the other processes shown in Table 10 are at a technical level high enough to be useful for commercial production (24). Representative chemical reactions used ia the enzymatic process are shown ia Figure 6. 

Figure 4.7 Two of the enzymatic activities involved in the biosynthesis of tryptophan in E. coli, phosphoribosyl anthranilate (PRA) isomerase and indoleglycerol phosphate (IGP) synthase, are performed by two separate domains in the polypeptide chain of a bifunctional enzyme. Both these domains are a/p-barrel structures, oriented such that their active sites are on opposite sides of the molecule. The two catalytic reactions are therefore independent of each other. The diagram shows the IGP-synthase domain (residues 48-254) with dark colors and the PRA-isomerase domain with light colors. The a helices are sequentially labeled a-h in both barrel domains. Residue 255 (arrow) is the first residue of the second domain. (Adapted from J.P. Priestle et al., Proc.

During studies on ditryptophan derivatives, an interesting acid-induced cy-cHzation has been discovered. The 10-membered ring 37 was thus subjected to acidic conditions to produce the indolocarbazole derivative 38 (Scheme 6). Interestingly, calculations performed on the precursor 37 indicated that the lowest energy conformation resembled that of the diastereomer of 38, which was never observed. An additional experiment furnished the parent system 1 on treatment of 38 with a catalytic amount of acid. A TFA-induced formation of an indolo[2,3-<3]carbazole was also observed from a related acyclic 2,2 -connected tryptophan dimer (99JOC8537). 

An expedient and stereoselective synthesis of bicyclic ketone 30 exemplifies the utility and elegance of Corey s new catalytic system (see Scheme 8). Reaction of the (R)-tryptophan-derived oxazaboro-lidine 42 (5 mol %), 5-(benzyloxymethyl)-l,3-cyclopentadiene 26, and 2-bromoacrolein (43) at -78 °C in methylene chloride gives, after eight hours, diastereomeric adducts 44 in a yield of 83 % (95 5 exo.endo diastereoselectivity 96 4 enantioselectivity for the exo isomer). After reaction, the /V-tosyltryptophan can be recovered for reuse. The basic premise is that oxazaborolidine 42 induces the Diels-Alder reaction between intermediates 26 and 43 to proceed through a transition state geometry that maximizes attractive donor-acceptor interactions. Coordination of the dienophile at the face of boron that is cis to the 3-indolylmethyl substituent is thus favored.19d f Treatment of the 95 5 mixture of exo/endo diastereo-mers with 5 mol % aqueous AgNC>3 selectively converts the minor, but more reactive, endo aldehyde diastereomer into water-soluble... 

Ishimura Y, R Makino, R Ueno, K Sakaguchi, FO Brady, P Feigelson, P Aisen, O Hayaishi (1980) Copper is not essential for the catalytic activity of L-tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase. J Biol Chem 255 3835-3837. 

The starting point for much of the work described in this article is the idea that quinone methides (QMs) are the electrophilic species that are generated from ortho-hydro-xybenzyl halides during the relatively selective modification of tryptophan residues in proteins. Therefore, a series of suicide substrates (a subtype of mechanism-based inhibitors) that produce quinone or quinonimine methides (QIMs) have been designed to inhibit enzymes. The concept of mechanism-based inhibitors was very appealing and has been widely applied. The present review will be focused on the inhibition of mammalian serine proteases and bacterial serine (3-lactamases by suicide inhibitors. These very different classes of enzymes have however an analogous step in their catalytic mechanism, the formation of an acyl-enzyme intermediate. Several studies have examined the possible use of quinone or quinonimine methides as the latent... 

Kurz LC, Fite B, Jean J, Park J, Erpelding T, Callis P (2005) Photophysics of tryptophan fluorescence link with the catalytic strategy of the citrate synthase from Thermoplasma acidophilum. Biochemistry 44(5) 1394-1413... 

A few intriguing developments in the area of tetrahydro-P-carboline synthetic methodology include the report of a catalytic asymmetric Pictet-Spengler reaction <06JACS1086> and an enantioselective Pd-catalyzed intramolecular allylic alkylation of indoles <06JACS1424>. A one-step synthesis of 1-substituted-P-carbolines from L-tryptophan has appeared that bypassed the tetrahydro intermediate <06T10900>. 

The desired polymer-bound tryptophan was rapidly generated under microwave irradiation, employing a classical esterification protocol using N,N -dicydohexylcar-bodiimide (DCC) and a catalytic amount of N,N-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP), followed by subsequent Fmoc deprotection (Scheme 7.68). Cyclocondensations with various carbonyl compounds were performed with catalytic amounts of p-toluene-... 

In the case of carboxypeptidase B, Shaklai et al.(2lT> compared the relative contributions to the protein phosphorescence from tyrosine and tryptophan for the apoenzyme, the zinc-containing metalloenzyme in the absence of substrate, the metalloenzyme in the presence of the substrate iV-acetyl-L-arginine, and the metalloenzyme in the presence of the specific inhibitor L-arginine. The tyrosine tryptophan emission ratio of the metalloenzyme was about a factor of four smaller than that of the apoenzyme. Binding of either the substrate or the inhibitor led to an increase in the emission ratio to a value similar to that of the apoenzyme. The change in the tyrosine tryptophan phosphorescence ratio was attributed to an interaction between a tyrosine and the catalytically essential zinc. The emission ratio was also studied as a function of pH. The titration data are difficult to interpret, however, because a Tris buffer was used and the ionization of Tris is strongly temperature dependent. In general, the use of Tris buffers for phosphorescence studies should be avoided. 

Numerous examples of modiflcations to the fundamental cyclodextrin structure have appeared in the literature.The aim of much of this work has been to improve the catalytic properties of the cyclodextrins, and thus to develop so-called artificial enzymes. Cyclodextrins themselves have long been known to be capable of catalyzing such reactions as ester hydrolysis by interaction of the guest with the secondary hydroxyl groups around the rim of the cyclodextrin cavity. The replacement, by synthetic methods, of the hydroxyl groups with other functional groups has been shown, however, to improve remarkably the number of reactions capable of catalysis by the cyclodextrins. For example, Breslow and CO workersreported the attachment of the pyridoxamine-pyridoxal coenzyme group to beta cyclodextrin, and thus found a two hundred-fold acceleration of the conversion of indolepyruvic acid into tryptophan. 

For example, chymotrypsin cleaves peptides on the C-terminal side of aromatic amino acid residues phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan, and to a lesser extent some other residues with bulky side-chains, e.g. Leu, Met, Asn, Gin. On the other hand, trypsin cleaves peptides on the C-terminal side of the basic residues arginine and lysine. Elastase usually catalyses hydrolysis of peptide bonds on the C-terminal side of neutral aliphatic amino acids, especially glycine or alanine. These three pancreatic enzymes are about 40% identical in their amino acid sequences, and their catalytic mechanisms are nearly identical. 

ACYL-SERINE INTERMEDIATE CHYMOTRYPSIN CATALYTIC TRIAD TRYPTOPHANASE TRYPTOPHAN SYNTHASE T state,... 

FADH2 halogenases such as tryptophan 7-halogenase have been shown to catalyze regioselective halogenation of a wide range of indole derivatives and aromatic heterocycles, where a cofactor regeneration system has recently been developed to use only a catalytic amount of cofactors (Scheme 7.13) [52, 53]. 

The mechanism is in complete agreement with results from recent tryptophan fluorescence experiments (which, due to the inviolability of microscopic reversibility, also hold in the synthesis mode) that establish definitively that (i) P, cannot simply bind spontaneously, (ii) an enzyme species with all three catalytic sites occupied is the only catalytically competent species, and (iii) release of product and binding of substrate caimot be simultaneous, rather product release must precede substrate binding [38]. 

Isolation of alkaline phosphatase from Escherichia coli in which 85% of the proline residues were replaced by 3,4-dehydro-proline affected the heat lability and ultraviolet spectrum of the protein but the important criteria of catalytic function such as the and were unaltered (12). Massive replacement of methionine by selenomethionine in the 0-galactosidase of E. coli also failed to influence the catalytic activity. Canavanine facilely replaced arginine in the alkaline phosphatase of this bacterium at least 13 and perhaps 20 to 22 arginyl residues were substituted. This replacement by canavanine caused subunit accumulation since the altered subunits did not dimerize to yield the active enzyme (21). Nevertheless, these workers stated "There was also formed, however, a significant amount of enzymatically active protein in which most arginine residues had been replaced by canavanine." An earlier study in which either 7-azatryptophan or tryptazan replaced tryptophan resulted in active protein comparable to the native enzyme (14). 

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