The lineage and diversity of putative amino acid sensor ACR proteins in plants.

Amino acid metabolic enzymes often contain a regulatory ACT domain, named for aspartate kinase, chorismate mutase, and TyrA (prephenate dehydrogenase). Arabidopsis encodes 12 putative amino acid sensor ACT repeat (ACR) proteins, all containing ACT repeats but no identifiable catalytic domain. Arabidopsis ACRs comprise three groups based on domain composition and sequence: group I and II ACRs contain four ACTs each, and group III ACRs contain two ACTs. Previously, all three groups had been documented only in Arabidopsis. Here, we extended this to algae and land plants, showing that all three groups of ACRs are present in most, if not all, land plants, whereas among algal ACRs, although quite diverse, only group III is conserved. The appearance of canonical group I and II ACRs thus accompanied the evolution of plants from living in water to living on land. Alignment of ACTs from plant ACRs revealed a conserved motif, DRPGLL, at the putative ligand-binding site. Notably, the unique features of the DRPGLL motifs in each ACT domain are conserved in ACRs from algae to land plants. The conservation of plant ACRs is reminiscent of that of human cellular arginine sensor for mTORC1 (CASTOR1), a member of a small protein family highly conserved in animals. CASTOR proteins also have four ACT domains, although the sequence identities between ACRs and CASTORs are very low. Thus, plant ACRs and animal CASTORs may have adapted the regulatory ACT domains from a more ancient metabolic enzyme, and then evolved independently.

Molecular basis of the evolution of alternative tyrosine biosynthetic routes in plants.

L-Tyrosine (Tyr) is essential for protein synthesis and is a precursor of numerous specialized metabolites crucial for plant and human health. Tyr can be synthesized via two alternative routes by different key regulatory TyrA family enzymes, prephenate dehydrogenase (PDH, also known as TyrAp) or arogenate dehydrogenase (ADH, also known as TyrAa), representing a unique divergence of primary metabolic pathways. The molecular foundation underlying the evolution of these alternative Tyr pathways is currently unknown. Here we characterized recently diverged plant PDH and ADH enzymes, obtained the X-ray crystal structure of soybean PDH, and identified a single amino acid residue that defines TyrA substrate specificity and regulation. Structures of mutated PDHs co-crystallized with Tyr indicate that substitutions of Asn222 confer ADH activity and Tyr sensitivity. Reciprocal mutagenesis of the corresponding residue in divergent plant ADHs further introduced PDH activity and relaxed Tyr sensitivity, highlighting the critical role of this residue in TyrA substrate specificity that underlies the evolution of alternative Tyr biosynthetic pathways in plants.

Characterization of two key enzymes for aromatic amino acid biosynthesis in symbiotic archaea.

Biosynthesis of L-tyrosine (L-Tyr) and L-phenylalanine (L-Phe) is directed by the interplay of three enzymes. Chorismate mutase (CM) catalyzes the rearrangement of chorismate to prephenate, which can be either converted to hydroxyphenylpyruvate by prephenate dehydrogenase (PD) or to phenylpyruvate by prephenate dehydratase (PDT). This work reports the first characterization of a trifunctional PD-CM-PDT from the smallest hyperthermophilic archaeon Nanoarchaeum equitans and a bifunctional CM-PD from its host, the crenarchaeon Ignicoccus hospitalis. Hexa-histidine tagged proteins were expressed in Escherichia coli and purified by affinity chromatography. Specific activities determined for the trifunctional enzyme were 21, 80, and 30 U/mg for CM, PD, and PDT, respectively, and 47 and 21 U/mg for bifunctional CM and PD, respectively. Unlike most PDs, these two archaeal enzymes were insensitive to regulation by L-Tyr and preferred NADP(+) to NAD(+) as a cofactor. Both the enzymes were highly thermally stable and exhibited maximal activity at 90 °C. N. equitans PDT was feedback inhibited by L-Phe (Ki = 0.8 µM) in a non-competitive fashion consistent with L-Phe's combination at a site separate from that of prephenate. Our results suggest that PD from the unique symbiotic archaeal pair encompass a distinct subfamily of prephenate dehydrogenases with regard to their regulation and co-substrate specificity.

Identification of a metagenome-derived prephenate dehydrogenase gene from an alkaline-polluted soil microorganism.

A novel prephenate dehydrogenase gene designated pdhE-1 was cloned by sequence-based screening of a plasmid metagenomic library from uncultured alkaline-polluted microorganisms. The deduced amino acid sequence comparison and phylogenetic analysis indicated that PdhE-1 and other putative prephenate dehydrogenases were closely related. The putative prephenate dehydrogenase gene was subcloned into pETBlue-2 vector and overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) pLacI. The recombinant protein was purified to homogeneity. The maximum activity of the PdhE-1 protein occurred at pH 8.0 and 45 °C using prephenic acid as the substrate. The prephenate dehydrogenase had an apparent K m value of 0.87 mM, a V max value of 41.5 U/mg, a k cat value of 604.8/min and a k cat/K m value of 1.16 × 10(4)/mol/s. L-Tyrosine did not obviously inhibit the recombinant PdhE-1 protein. The identification of a metagnome-derived prephenate dehydrogenase provides novel material for studies and application of proteins involved in tyrosine biosynthesis.

Identification and characterization of the maize arogenate dehydrogenase gene family.

In plants, the amino acids tyrosine and phenylalanine are synthesized from arogenate by arogenate dehydrogenase and arogenate dehydratase, respectively, with the relative flux to each being tightly controlled. Here the characterization of a maize opaque endosperm mutant (mto140), which also shows retarded vegetative growth, is described The opaque phenotype co-segregates with a Mutator transposon insertion in an arogenate dehydrogenase gene (zmAroDH-1) and this led to the characterization of the four-member family of maize arogenate dehydrogenase genes (zmAroDH-1-zmAroDH-4) which share highly similar sequences. A Mutator insertion at an equivalent position in AroDH-3, the most closely related family member to AroDH-1, is also associated with opaque endosperm and stunted vegetative growth phenotypes. Overlapping but differential expression patterns as well as subtle mutant effects on the accumulation of tyrosine and phenylalanine in endosperm, embryo, and leaf tissues suggest that the functional redundancy of this gene family provides metabolic plasticity for the synthesis of these important amino acids. mto140/arodh-1 seeds shows a general reduction in zein storage protein accumulation and an elevated lysine phenotype typical of other opaque endosperm mutants, but it is distinct because it does not result from quantitative or qualitative defects in the accumulation of specific zeins but rather from a disruption in amino acid biosynthesis.

The structure of Haemophilus influenzae prephenate dehydrogenase suggests unique features of bifunctional TyrA enzymes.

Chorismate mutase/prephenate dehydrogenase from Haemophilus influenzae Rd KW20 is a bifunctional enzyme that catalyzes the rearrangement of chorismate to prephenate and the NAD(P)(+)-dependent oxidative decarboxylation of prephenate to 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate in tyrosine biosynthesis. The crystal structure of the prephenate dehydrogenase component (HinfPDH) of the TyrA protein from H. influenzae Rd KW20 in complex with the inhibitor tyrosine and cofactor NAD(+) has been determined to 2.0 Šresolution. HinfPDH is a dimeric enzyme, with each monomer consisting of an N-terminal α/ß dinucleotide-binding domain and a C-terminal α-helical dimerization domain. The structure reveals key active-site residues at the domain interface, including His200, Arg297 and Ser179 that are involved in catalysis and/or ligand binding and are highly conserved in TyrA proteins from all three kingdoms of life. Tyrosine is bound directly at the catalytic site, suggesting that it is a competitive inhibitor of HinfPDH. Comparisons with its structural homologues reveal important differences around the active site, including the absence of an α-ß motif in HinfPDH that is present in other TyrA proteins, such as Synechocystis sp. arogenate dehydrogenase. Residues from this motif are involved in discrimination between NADP(+) and NAD(+). The loop between ß5 and ß6 in the N-terminal domain is much shorter in HinfPDH and an extra helix is present at the C-terminus. Furthermore, HinfPDH adopts a more closed conformation compared with TyrA proteins that do not have tyrosine bound. This conformational change brings the substrate, cofactor and active-site residues into close proximity for catalysis. An ionic network consisting of Arg297 (a key residue for tyrosine binding), a water molecule, Asp206 (from the loop between ß5 and ß6) and Arg365' (from the additional C-terminal helix of the adjacent monomer) is observed that might be involved in gating the active site.

Biochemical characterization and crystal structure of Synechocystis arogenate dehydrogenase provide insights into catalytic reaction.

The extreme diversity in substrate specificity, and in the regulation mechanism of arogenate/prephenate dehydrogenase enzymes in nature, makes a comparative structural study of these enzymes of great interest. We report here on the biochemical and structural characterization of arogenate dehydrogenase from Synechocystis sp. (TyrAsy). This work paves the way for the understanding of the structural determinants leading to diversity in substrate specificity, and of the regulation mechanisms of arogenate/prephenate dehydrogenases. The overall structure of TyrAsy in complex with NADP was refined to 1.6 A. The asymmetric unit contains two TyrAsy homodimers, with each monomer consisting of a nucleotide binding N-terminal domain and a particularly unique alpha-helical C-terminal dimerization domain. The substrate arogenate was modeled into the active site. The model of the ternary complex enzyme-NADP-arogenate nicely reveals at the atomic level the concerted mechanism of the arogenate/prephenate dehydrogenase reaction.

Biochemical characterization of prephenate dehydrogenase from the hyperthermophilic bacterium Aquifex aeolicus.

A monofunctional prephenate dehydrogenase (PD) from Aquifex aeolicus was expressed as a His-tagged protein in Escherichia coli and was purified by nickel affinity chromatography allowing the first biochemical and biophysical characterization of a thermostable PD. A. aeolicus PD is susceptible to proteolysis. In this report, the properties of the full-length PD are compared with one of these products, an N-terminally truncated protein variant (Delta19PD) also expressed recombinantly in E. coli. Both forms are dimeric and show maximum activity at 95 degrees C or higher. Delta19PD is more sensitive to temperature effects yielding a half-life of 55 min at 95 degrees C versus 2 h for PD, and values of kcat and Km for prephenate, which are twice those determined for PD at 80 degrees C. Low concentrations of guanidine-HCl activate enzyme activity, but at higher concentrations activity is lost concomitant with a multi-state pathway of denaturation that proceeds through unfolding of the dimer, oligomerization, then unfolding of monomers. Measurements of steady-state fluorescence intensity and its quenching by acrylamide in the presence of Gdn-HCl suggest that, of the two tryptophan residues per monomer, one is buried in a hydrophobic pocket and does not become solvent exposed until the protein unfolds, while the less buried tryptophan is at the active site. Tyrosine is a feedback inhibitor of PD activity over a wide temperature range and enhances the cooperativity between subunits in the binding of prephenate. Properties of this thermostable PD are compared and contrasted with those of E. coli chorismate mutase-prephenate dehydrogenase and other mesophilic homologs.

The ß1 domain of protein G can replace the chorismate mutase domain of the T-protein.

T-protein is composed of chorismate mutase (AroQ(T)) fused to the N-terminus of prephenate dehydrogenase (TyrA). Here, we report the replacement of AroQ(T) with the ß1-domain of protein G (Gß1). The TyrA domain shows a strong dehydrogenase activity within the context of this fusion, and our data indicate that Gß1-TyrA folds into a dimeric conformation. Amino acid substitutions in the Gß1 domain of Gß1-TyrA identified residues involved in stabilizing the TyrA dimeric conformation. Gß1 substitutions in the N-terminal ß-hairpin eliminated Gß1-TyrA expression, whereas Gß1-TyrA tolerated Gß1 substitutions in the C-terminal ß-hairpin and in the α-helix. All of the characterized variants folded into a dimeric conformation. The importance of the ß2-strand in forming a Gß1 homo-dimerization interface explains the relevance of the first-ß-hairpin in stabilizing the dimeric TyrA protein.

A reporter system that discriminates EF-hand-sensor motifs from signal-modulators at the single-motif level.

The T-protein is a single-polypeptide bi-functional enzyme composed of a chorismate mutase domain fused to a prephenate dehydrogenase domain (TyrA). We replaced the chorismate mutase domain with canonical or pseudo-Ca(2+)-binding motifs (EF-hand). Canonical-EF-hand-motifs differentiate from pseudo-EF-hand-motifs by experimenting a Ca(2+)-dependent conformational change. The Ca(2+)-free EF-hand-TyrA fusion-proteins showed TyrA activity at the T-protein level. Canonical-EF-hand-TyrA fusions showed a Ca(2+)-dependent loss of TyrA activity, but a pseudo-EF-hand-TyrA fusion showed high TyrA activity level in excess-Ca(2+) conditions. Because TyrA activity exhibits robust changes in response to Ca(2+)-dependent-EF-hand conformational alterations, TyrA could be a good Ca(2+)-reporter enzyme. A chimeric canonical/pseudo-EF-hand strategy is proposed to confer pseudo-EF-hand motifs with a Ca(2+)-dependent conformational change.

Crystal structure of prephenate dehydrogenase from Streptococcus mutans.

Prephenate dehydrogenase (PDH) is a bacterial enzyme that catalyzes conversion of prephenate to 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate through the oxidative decarboxylation pathway for tyrosine biosynthesis. This enzymatic pathway exists in prokaryotes but is absent in mammals, indicating that it is a potential target for the development of new antibiotics. The crystal structure of PDH from Streptococcus mutans in a complex with NAD(+) shows that the enzyme exists as a homo-dimer, each monomer consisting of two domains, a modified nucleotide binding N-terminal domain and a helical prephenate C-terminal binding domain. The latter is the dimerization domain. A structural comparison of PDHs from mesophilic S. mutans and thermophilic Aquifex aeolicus showed differences in the long loop between ß6 and ß7, which may be a reason for the high K(m) values of PDH from Streptococcus mutans.

The crystal structure of Aquifex aeolicus prephenate dehydrogenase reveals the mode of tyrosine inhibition.

TyrA proteins belong to a family of dehydrogenases that are dedicated to l-tyrosine biosynthesis. The three TyrA subclasses are distinguished by their substrate specificities, namely the prephenate dehydrogenases, the arogenate dehydrogenases, and the cyclohexadienyl dehydrogenases, which utilize prephenate, l-arogenate, or both substrates, respectively. The molecular mechanism responsible for TyrA substrate selectivity and regulation is unknown. To further our understanding of TyrA-catalyzed reactions, we have determined the crystal structures of Aquifex aeolicus prephenate dehydrogenase bound with NAD(+) plus either 4-hydroxyphenylpyuvate, 4-hydroxyphenylpropionate, or l-tyrosine and have used these structures as guides to target active site residues for site-directed mutagenesis. From a combination of mutational and structural analyses, we have demonstrated that His-147 and Arg-250 are key catalytic and binding groups, respectively, and Ser-126 participates in both catalysis and substrate binding through the ligand 4-hydroxyl group. The crystal structure revealed that tyrosine, a known inhibitor, binds directly to the active site of the enzyme and not to an allosteric site. The most interesting finding though, is that mutating His-217 relieved the inhibitory effect of tyrosine on A. aeolicus prephenate dehydrogenase. The identification of a tyrosine-insensitive mutant provides a novel avenue for designing an unregulated enzyme for application in metabolic engineering.

Crystal structure of prephenate dehydrogenase from Aquifex aeolicus. Insights into the catalytic mechanism.

The enzyme prephenate dehydrogenase catalyzes the oxidative decarboxylation of prephenate to 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate for the biosynthesis of tyrosine. Prephenate dehydrogenases exist as either monofunctional or bifunctional enzymes. The bifunctional enzymes are diverse, since the prephenate dehydrogenase domain is associated with other enzymes, such as chorismate mutase and 3-phosphoskimate 1-carboxyvinyltransferase. We report the first crystal structure of a monofunctional prephenate dehydrogenase enzyme from the hyper-thermophile Aquifex aeolicus in complex with NAD+. This protein consists of two structural domains, a modified nucleotide-binding domain and a novel helical prephenate binding domain. The active site of prephenate dehydrogenase is formed at the domain interface and is shared between the subunits of the dimer. We infer from the structure that access to the active site is regulated via a gated mechanism, which is modulated by an ionic network involving a conserved arginine, Arg250. In addition, the crystal structure reveals for the first time the positions of a number of key catalytic residues and the identity of other active site residues that may participate in the reaction mechanism; these residues include Ser126 and Lys246 and the catalytic histidine, His147. Analysis of the structure further reveals that two secondary structure elements, beta3 and beta7, are missing in the prephenate dehydrogenase domain of the bifunctional chorismate mutase-prephenate dehydrogenase enzymes. This observation suggests that the two functional domains of chorismate mutase-prephenate dehydrogenase are interdependent and explains why these domains cannot be separated.

Purification and characterization of a functionally active Mycobacterium tuberculosis prephenate dehydrogenase.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains to be a global health problem. New drugs are badly needed to drastically reduce treatment time and overcome some of the challenges with tuberculosis treatment, such as multi-drug resistant (MDR) strain infected patients or tuberculosis/HIV co-infected patients. The essentiality of mycobacterial aromatic amino acid biosynthesis pathways and their absence from human host indicate that the member enzymes of these pathways promising drug targets for therapeutic agents against pathogen mycobacteria. Prephenate dehydrogenase (PDH) is a key regulatory enzyme in tyrosine biosynthesis, catalyzing the NAD(+)-dependent conversion of prephenate to p-hydroxyphenylpyruvate, making it a potential drug target for antibiotics discovery. The recombinant PDH with an N-terminal His-tag (His-rMtPDH) was first purified in Escherichia coli, and using enterokinase rMtPDH was obtained by cleaving the N-terminal fusion partner. The effect of pH, temperature and the cation-Na(+) on purified enzyme activity was characterized. The N-terminal fusion partner was found to have little effect on the biochemical properties of PDH. We also provide in vitro evidence that Mycobacterium tuberculosis PDH does not possess any chorismate mutase (CM) activity, which suggests that, unlike many other enteric bacteria (where PDH exists as a fusion protein with CM), M. tuberculosis PDH is a monofunctional protein.

Feedback inhibition of chorismate mutase/prephenate dehydrogenase (TyrA) of Escherichia coli: generation and characterization of tyrosine-insensitive mutants.

In order to get insights into the feedback regulation by tyrosine of the Escherichia coli chorismate mutase/prephenate dehydrogenase (CM/PDH), which is encoded by the tyrA gene, feedback-inhibition-resistant (fbr) mutants were generated by error-prone PCR. The tyrA(fbr) mutants were selected by virtue of their resistance toward m-fluoro-D,L-tyrosine, and seven representatives were characterized on the biochemical as well as on the molecular level. The PDH activities of the purified His6-tagged TyrA proteins exhibited up to 35% of the enzyme activity of TyrA(WT), but tyrosine did not inhibit the mutant PDH activities. On the other hand, CM activities of the TyrA(fbr) mutants were similar to those of the TyrA(WT) protein. Analyses of the DNA sequences of the tyrA genes revealed that tyrA(fbr) contained amino acid substitutions either at Tyr263 or at residues 354 to 357, indicating that these two sites are involved in the feedback inhibition by tyrosine.

Subnanomolar detection limit for sodium dodecyl sulfate-capillary gel electrophoresis using a fluorogenic, noncovalent dye.

Picomolar limits of detection are obtained using the noncovalent, fluorogenic dye, Sypro Red. The size separation of four commonly used sodium dodecyl sulfate-capillary gel electrophoresis (SDS-CGE) molecular weight markers with 8% linear polyacrylamide (PAA) as the sieving matrix is used to construct a calibration curve for molecular weight determinations. SDS-CGE purity and molecular weight determination of purified chorismate mutase-prephenate dehydrogenase (CMPD) from Escherichia coli is shown to be comparable in accuracy with slab gel SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). A migration time precision study indicates excellent reproducibility. Sypro red labeling of SDS-bovine serum albumin (SDS-BSA) complexes at nanomolar protein concentrations suggests assay detection limits surpassing those of silver staining. This detectability exceeds that achieved in previous SDS-CGE laser-induced fluorescence studies. This approach is expected to be easily adapted for use with commercial polymer formulations and automated instrumentation.

Identifying groups involved in the binding of prephenate to prephenate dehydrogenase from Escherichia coli.

Site-directed mutagenesis was used to investigate the importance of Lys178, Arg286, and Arg294 in the binding of prephenate to the bifunctional enzyme chorismate mutase-prephenate dehydrogenase. From comparison of the kinetic parameters of wild-type enzyme and selected mutants, we conclude that only Arg294 interacts specifically with prephenate. The R294Q substitution reduces the enzyme's affinity for prephenate without affecting V/Et of the dehydrogenase reaction or the kinetic parameters of the mutase reaction. Arg294 likely interacts with the ring carboxylate at C-1 of prephenate since the dissociation constants for a series of inhibitors missing the ring carboxyl group were similar for wild-type and R294Q enzymes. The pH dependencies of log (V/KprephenateEt) and of pKi for hydroxyphenyllactate show that the wild-type dehydrogenase possesses a group with a pK of 8.8 that must be protonated for binding prephenate to the enzyme. None of the three conserved residues is this group since its titration is observed in the V/KprephenateEt profiles for the mutants K178Q, R286A, and R294Q. This group is also seen in the pH-rate profiles of the binding of two substrate analogues, hydroxyphenyllactate and deoxoprephenate. Their only common structural feature at C-1 is the side chain carboxylate, indicating that the protonated residue (pK 8.8) must interact with prephenate's side chain carboxylate. Gdn-HCl-induced denaturation was conducted on wild-type and selected mutant proteins. Unfolding of the wild-type enzyme proceeds through a partially unfolded dimer which dissociates into unfolded monomers. The order of stability is wild-type = R294Q > K178Q > R286A > K178R. The least unstable mutants have reduced mutase and dehydrogenase activities.

A single cyclohexadienyl dehydrogenase specifies the prephenate dehydrogenase and arogenate dehydrogenase components of the dual pathways to L-tyrosine in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Dual biosynthetic pathways diverge from prephenate to L-tyrosine in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, with 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate and L-arogenate being the unique intermediates of these pathways. Prephenate dehydrogenase and arogenate dehydrogenase activities could not be separated throughout fractionation steps yielding a purification of more than 200-fold, and the ratio of activities was constant throughout purification. Thus, the enzyme is a cyclohexadienyl dehydrogenase. The native enzyme has a molecular weight of 150,000 and is a hexamer made up of identical 25,500 subunits. The enzyme is specific for NAD+ as an electron acceptor, and identical Km values of 0.25 mM were obtained for NAD+, regardless of whether activity was assayed as prephenate dehydrogenase or as arogenate dehydrogenase. Km values of 0.07 mM and 0.17 mM were calculated for prephenate and L-arogenate, respectively. Inhibition by L-tyrosine was noncompetitive with respect to NAD+, but was strictly competitive with respect to either prephenate or L-arogenate. With cyclohexadiene as variable substrate, similar Ki values for L-tyrosine of 0.06 mM (prephenate) and 0.05 mM (L-arogenate) were obtained. With NAD+ as the variable substrate, similar Ki values for L-tyrosine of 0.26 mM (prephenate) and 0.28 mM (L-arogenate), respectively, were calculated. This is the first characterization of a purified, monofunctional cyclohexadienyl dehydrogenase.

Identification of active site residues of chorismate mutase-prephenate dehydrogenase from Escherichia coli.

Chemical modification studies of the bifunctional enzyme chorismate mutase-prephenate dehydrogenase and mass spectral analysis of peptide fragments containing modified residues are presented. The reaction with diethyl pyrocarbonate (DEPC) results in the modification of several enzymic groups, including a single histidine group essential for dehydrogenase activity and a single lysine residue essential for mutase activity. This conclusion is based on the following evidence. (1) Hydroxylamine rapidly restores dehydrogenase activity to the DEPC-inactivated enzyme without restoring mutase activity. (2) Mutase activity is also lost upon treatment of the enzyme with trinitrobenzene sulfonate. (3) The reactivity of the dehydrogenase to DEPC increases with pH, suggesting the participation of a group with a pKa of 7.0 in the dehydrogenase reaction. (4) Two peptides identified by differential peptide mapping had mass values matching those calculated for peptides comprising residues 127-135 (containing His131) and residues 36-48 (containing Lys37). In support of the idea that the residues being modified are within the active sites, we show that the substrates prephenate and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) offer protection against inactivation of dehydrogenase activity while inactivation of mutase activity can be prevented by prephenate and a transition state analogue (3-endo-8-exo)-8-hydroxy-2-oxabicyclo[3.3.1]-non-6-ene-3,5-dicarboxylic acid (endo-oxabicyclic diacid). Lys37 is conserved among several chorismate mutases and may participate in catalysis by interacting with an ether oxygen between C-5 and C-8 of chorismate in the transition state. His131 may be assisting in a hydride transfer from prephenate to NAD+ in the dehydrogenase reaction.

An allosterically insensitive class of cyclohexadienyl dehydrogenase from Zymomonas mobilis.

The key enzyme of tyrosine biosynthesis in many Gram-negative prokaryotes is cyclohexadienyl dehydrogenase. The Zymomonas mobilis gene (tyrC) coding for this enzyme was cloned in Escherichia coli by complementation of a tyrosine auxotroph. The tyrC gene was 882 bp long, encoding a protein with a calculated molecular mass of 32086 Da. The Z. mobilis cyclohexadienyl dehydrogenase expressed in E. coli was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity. The subunit molecular mass of the purified enzyme was 32 kDa as determined by SDS/PAGE. The ratio of the activity of arogenate dehydrogenase to that of prephenate dehydrogenase (approximately 3:1) remained constant throughout purification, and the two activities were therefore inseparable. The genetic and biochemical data obtained demonstrated a single enzyme protein capable of catalyzing either of two reactions. Km values of 0.25 mM and 0.18 mM were obtained from prephenate and L-arogenate, respectively. The Km value obtained for NAD+ (0.09 mM) was the same regardless of whether the enzyme was assayed as arogenate dehydrogenase or as prephenate dehydrogenase. Unlike the corresponding enzyme of Pseudomonas aeruginosa or E. coli, the cyclohexadienyl dehydrogenase of Z. mobilis lacks sensitivity to feedback inhibition by L-tyrosine. A typical NAD(+)-binding domain was found to be located at the N-terminus of the protein. Although the deduced amino-acid sequence of the Z. mobilis cyclohexadienyl dehydrogenase showed relatively low identity (19-32%) with the prephenate dehydrogenases of Bacillus subtilis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as well as with the cyclohexadienyl dehydrogenase components of the bifunctional T-proteins of E. coli and Erwinia herbicola, a presumptive motif was identified which may correspond to critical residues of the binding site for cyclohexadienyl substrate molecules. Immediately upstream of tryC a portion of a gene was sequenced and found to exhibit clearcut homology of the deduced amino-acid sequence with the B. subtilis hisH gene product. Thus, the Zymomonas gene organization is reminiscent of the linkage of genes encoding a tryosine-pathway dehydrogenase and a histidine-pathway aminotransferase in B. subtilis.