Crystal structure of an (R)-selective ω-transaminase from Aspergillus terreus

PLoS One. 2014 Jan 30;9(1):e87350. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0087350. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Chiral amines are important building blocks for the synthesis of pharmaceutical products, fine chemicals, and agrochemicals. ω-Transaminases are able to directly synthesize enantiopure chiral amines by catalysing the transfer of an amino group from a primary amino donor to a carbonyl acceptor with pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) as cofactor. In nature, (S)-selective amine transaminases are more abundant than the (R)-selective enzymes, and therefore more information concerning their structures is available. Here, we present the crystal structure of an (R)-ω-transaminase from Aspergillus terreus determined by X-ray crystallography at a resolution of 1.6 Å. The structure of the protein is a homodimer that displays the typical class IV fold of PLP-dependent aminotransferases. The PLP-cofactor observed in the structure is present in two states (i) covalently bound to the active site lysine (the internal aldimine form) and (ii) as substrate/product adduct (the external aldimine form) and free lysine. Docking studies revealed that (R)-transaminases follow a dual binding mode, in which the large binding pocket can harbour the bulky substituent of the amine or ketone substrate and the α-carboxylate of pyruvate or amino acids, and the small binding pocket accommodates the smaller substituent.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amines / chemistry
  • Amines / metabolism
  • Aspergillus / metabolism*
  • Catalysis
  • Catalytic Domain
  • Crystallography, X-Ray / methods
  • Ketones / chemistry
  • Ketones / metabolism
  • Pyruvic Acid / chemistry
  • Pyruvic Acid / metabolism
  • Substrate Specificity
  • Transaminases / chemistry*
  • Transaminases / metabolism*

Substances

  • Amines
  • Ketones
  • Pyruvic Acid
  • Transaminases

Grants and funding

This work has been supported by the Federal Ministry of Economy, Family and Youth (BMWFJ), the Federal Ministry of Traffic, Innovation and Technology (bmvit) and the Styrian Business Promotion Agency SFG. Additional funding was provided by the Standortagentur Tirol and ZIT - Technology Agency of the City of Vienna through the COMET-Funding Program managed by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.