Site-directed mutagenesis chemical modification with

Before the introduction of site-directed mutagenesis, chemical modification was the predominant means of altering a specific amino acid the earliest report with lysozyme was from Parsons and Raftery (241), who prepared the ethyl ester derivative of Asp-52 by reaction with triethyloxonium fluoroborate the modified enzyme lost catalytic function but not substrate affinity. An ethyleneimine reaction product of Asp-52 has also been prepared with similar effects on catalysis (242). Sharon and co-workers modified and then regenerated Asp-52 to eliminate concern that inactivation results from experimental manipulation rather than specific amino acid modification (243, 244). Thus, Asp-52 was first esteri-fied with an epoxypropyl-jS-glycoside derivative of di-(/V-acetyl-D-glucosamine), then reduced to homoserine or hydrolyzed to return the free aspartate. Both the... 

One example of the combined use of site-directed mutagenesis with chemical modification has been provided by the work of Bowler et al. with yeast iso-l-cytochrome c [15]. These workers introduced a His residue at position 62 to provide a site for attachment of a pentammineruthenium complex. Introduction of a second redox-active metal center to the protein at this position permitted... 

A pathway (Scheme I) (8.9) for the hydrolysis of oligoglycosides by lysozyme that differs from the previously accepted mechanism (Scheme II) (3,10-12) is described in this section. The alternative pathway, suggested by results of a 55-ps MD simulation of the lysozyme (GlcNAc)e complex (1), is consistent with the available experimental data and with stereoelectronic considerations. Experimental data have demonstrated that Glu 35 and Asp 52 are essential, as shown by recent site-directed mutagenesis results (13.) which corroborate chemical modification studies (3.14 and references cited therein), and that the reaction proceeds with retention of configuration at Ci Q and references cited therein). A fundamental feature of the alternative pathway is that an endocyclic bond is broken in the initial step, in contrast to the exocyclic bond cleavage in the accepted mechanism. 

On the basis of chemical modification studies, Tyr 198 of carboxypeptidase A was proposed to act as a proton donor (i.e., a general acid) in the mechanism of catalysis. However, when Tyr 198 was replaced with Phe by means of site-directed mutagenesis, the modified enzyme retained substantial enzymatic activity, indicating that the tyrosyl hydroxyl may not have a specific role in catalysis. 

Thus far, the only a-1,4 glucan synthase reported to be overexpressed with high activity is the E. coli enzyme. This system should be further exploited with respect to the methodologies of chemical modification, site-directed mutagenesis, and attempts to determine its three-dimensional structure. 

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