Electroclinical features and phenotypic differences in adenylosuccinate lyase deficiency: Long-term follow-up of seven patients from four families and appraisal of the literature.

OBJECTIVE: Adenylosuccinate lyase (ADSL) deficiency is a rare inherited metabolic disorder with a wide phenotypic presentation, classically grouped into three types (neonatal, type I, and type II). We aim to better delineate the pathological spectrum, focusing on the electroclinical characteristics and phenotypic differences of patients with ADSL deficiency. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Seven patients, from four different families, underwent serial electroencephalogram (EEG), clinical assessment, and neuroimaging. We also performed a systematic review of the cases published in the literature, summarizing the available clinical, neurophysiological, and genetic data. RESULTS: We report seven previously unreported ADSL deficiency patients with long-term follow-up (10-34 years). From the literature review, we collected 81 previously reported cases. Of the included patient population, 58 % (51/88) were classified as having ADSL deficiency type I, 28% (25/88) as having type II, and 14% (12/88) as having neonatal. The most frequently reported pathogenic variants are p.R426H homozygous (19 patients), p.Y114H in compound heterozygosity (13 patients), and p.D430N homozygous (6 patients). In the majority (89.2%), disease onset was within the first year of life. Epilepsy is present in 81.8% of the patients, with polymorphic and often intractable seizures. EEG features seem to display common patterns and developmental trajectories: (i) poor general background organization with theta-delta activity; (ii) hypsarrhythmia with spasms, usually adrenocorticotropic hormone-responsive; (iii) generalized epileptic discharges with frontal or frontal temporal predominance; and (iv) epileptic discharge activation in sleep with an altered sleep structure. Imaging features present consistent findings of cerebral atrophy with frontal predominance, cerebellar atrophy, and white matter abnormalities among the three types. SIGNIFICANCE: ADSL deficiency presents variable phenotypic expression, whose severity could be partially attributed to residual activity of the mutant protein. Although a precise phenotype-genotype correlation was not yet feasible, we delineated a common pattern of clinical, neuroradiological, and neurophysiological features.

Crystal structure of adenylosuccinate lyase from the thermophilic bacterium Thermus thermophilus HB8.

Adenylosuccinate lyase (PurB) catalyzes two distinct reactions in the purine nucleotide biosynthetic pathway using the same active site. The ability to recognize two different sets of substrates is of structural and evolutionary interest. In the present study, the crystal structure of PurB from the thermophilic bacterium Thermus thermophilus HB8 (TtPurB) was determined at a resolution of 2.38 Šby molecular replacement using a structure predicted by AlphaFold2 as a template. The asymmetric unit of the TtPurB crystal contained two TtPurB molecules, and some regions were disordered in the crystal structure. The disordered regions were the substrate-binding site and domain 3. TtPurB forms a homotetramer and the monomer is composed of three domains (domains 1, 2 and 3), which is a typical structure for the aspartase/fumarase superfamily. Molecular dynamics simulations with and without substrate/product were performed using a full-length model of TtPurB which was obtained before deletion of the disordered regions. The substrates and products were bound to the model structures during the MD simulations. The fluctuations of amino-acid residues were greater in the disordered regions and became smaller upon the binding of substrate or product. These results demonstrate that the full-length model obtained using AlphaFold2 can be used to generate the coordinates of disordered regions within the crystal structure.

MicroRNA-21 guide and passenger strand regulation of adenylosuccinate lyase-mediated purine metabolism promotes transition to an EGFR-TKI-tolerant persister state.

In EGFR-mutant lung cancer, drug-tolerant persister cells (DTPCs) show prolonged survival when receiving EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) treatments. They are a likely source of drug resistance, but little is known about how these cells tolerate drugs. Ribonucleic acids (RNAs) molecules control cell growth and stress responses. Nucleic acid metabolism provides metabolites, such as purines, supporting RNA synthesis and downstream functions. Recently, noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs), such as microRNAs (miRNAs), have received attention due to their capacity to repress gene expression via inhibitory binding to downstream messenger RNAs (mRNAs). Here, our study links miRNA expression to purine metabolism and drug tolerance. MiR-21-5p (guide strand) is a commonly upregulated miRNA in disease states, including cancer and drug resistance. However, the expression and function of miR-21-3p (passenger strand) are not well understood. We found that upregulation of miR-21-5p and miR-21-3p tune purine metabolism leading to increased drug tolerance. Metabolomics data demonstrated that purine metabolism was the top pathway in the DTPCs compared with the parental cells. The changes in purine metabolites in the DTPCs were partially rescued by targeting miR-21. Analysis of protein levels in the DTPCs showed that reduced expression of adenylosuccinate lyase (ADSL) was reversed after the miR-21 knockdown. ADSL is an essential enzyme in the de novo purine biosynthesis pathway by converting succino-5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide riboside (succino-AICAR or SAICAR) to AICAR (or acadesine) as well as adenylosuccinate to adenosine monophosphate (AMP). In the DTPCs, miR-21-5p and miR-21-3p repress ADSL expression. The levels of top decreased metabolite in the DTPCs, AICAR was reversed when miR-21 was blocked. AICAR induced oxidative stress, evidenced by increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reduced expression of nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor 2 (NRF2). Concurrently, miR-21 knockdown induced ROS generation. Therapeutically, a combination of AICAR and osimertinib increased ROS levels and decreased osimertinib-induced NRF2 expression. In a MIR21 knockout mouse model, MIR21 loss-of-function led to increased purine metabolites but reduced ROS scavenging capacity in lung tissues in physiological conditions. Our data has established a link between ncRNAs, purine metabolism, and the redox imbalance pathway. This discovery will increase knowledge of the complexity of the regulatory RNA network and potentially enable novel therapeutic options for drug-resistant patients.

A widespread pathway for substitution of adenine by diaminopurine in phage genomes.

DNA modifications vary in form and function but generally do not alter Watson-Crick base pairing. Diaminopurine (Z) is an exception because it completely replaces adenine and forms three hydrogen bonds with thymine in cyanophage S-2L genomic DNA. However, the biosynthesis, prevalence, and importance of Z genomes remain unexplored. Here, we report a multienzyme system that supports Z-genome synthesis. We identified dozens of globally widespread phages harboring such enzymes, and we further verified the Z genome in one of these phages, Acinetobacter phage SH-Ab 15497, by using liquid chromatography with ultraviolet and mass spectrometry. The Z genome endows phages with evolutionary advantages for evading the attack of host restriction enzymes, and the characterization of its biosynthetic pathway enables Z-DNA production on a large scale for a diverse range of applications.

Understanding the structural insights of enzymatic conformations for adenylosuccinate lyase receptor in malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum.

The dreadful disease malaria is one among the infectious diseases that comes in third number after the tuberculosis and HIV. This disease is spread by female Anopheles mosquito and caused by the malarial parasite sp notably Plasmodium falciparum. In this, the organism has several enzymes for processing the infection and growth mechanism and among that, the adenylosuccinate lyase is an enzyme that plays a critical role in metabolism and cellular replication via its action in the de novo purine biosynthetic pathway. Adenylosuccinate has been studied for two reaction mechanisms, and in that, the adenylosuccinate to AMP and fumarate is core important. As of now, there have been several studies indicating the reaction mechanism of adenylosuccinate lyase, this study projects the conformations of the reactant and product changes through molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulations. Adenylosuccinate bound complex involves His role in the product than the reactant complex, and the complex shows high flexibility due to fumarate. Thus, identifying the core inhibitor that binds to His rings could be a standard adenylosuccinate lyase inhibitor, that can block the malarial diseases in humans. In addition to the competitive inhibition site, we also predicted the uncompetitive ligand binding site, which suggest the alternate region to be targeted. Thus, from this work, we suggest both competitive and uncompetitive binding regions for the purpose identifying the malarial inhibitors.

Molecular comparison of Neanderthal and Modern Human adenylosuccinate lyase.

The availability of genomic data from extinct homini such as Neanderthals has caused a revolution in palaeontology allowing the identification of modern human-specific protein substitutions. Currently, little is known as to how these substitutions alter the proteins on a molecular level. Here, we investigate adenylosuccinate lyase, a conserved enzyme involved in purine metabolism for which several substitutions in the modern human protein (hADSL) have been described to affect intelligence and behaviour. During evolution, modern humans acquired a specific substitution (Ala429Val) in ADSL distinguishing it from the ancestral variant present in Neanderthals (nADSL). We show here that despite this conservative substitution being solvent exposed and located distant from the active site, there is a difference in thermal stability, but not enzymology or ligand binding between nADSL and hADSL. Substitutions near residue 429 which do not profoundly affect enzymology were previously reported to cause neurological symptoms in humans. This study also reveals that ADSL undergoes conformational changes during catalysis which, together with the crystal structure of a hitherto undetermined product bound conformation, explains the molecular origin of disease for several modern human ADSL mutants.

Cryptococcus neoformans ADS lyase is an enzyme essential for virulence whose crystal structure reveals features exploitable in antifungal drug design.

There is significant clinical need for new antifungal agents to manage infections with pathogenic species such as Cryptococcus neoformans Because the purine biosynthesis pathway is essential for many metabolic processes, such as synthesis of DNA and RNA and energy generation, it may represent a potential target for developing new antifungals. Within this pathway, the bifunctional enzyme adenylosuccinate (ADS) lyase plays a role in the formation of the key intermediates inosine monophosphate and AMP involved in the synthesis of ATP and GTP, prompting us to investigate ADS lyase in C. neoformans. Here, we report that ADE13 encodes ADS lyase in C. neoformans. We found that an ade13Δ mutant is an adenine auxotroph and is unable to successfully cause infections in a murine model of virulence. Plate assays revealed that production of a number of virulence factors essential for dissemination and survival of C. neoformans in a host environment was compromised even with the addition of exogenous adenine. Purified recombinant C. neoformans ADS lyase shows catalytic activity similar to its human counterpart, and its crystal structure, the first fungal ADS lyase structure determined, shows a high degree of structural similarity to that of human ADS lyase. Two potentially important amino acid differences are identified in the C. neoformans crystal structure, in particular a threonine residue that may serve as an additional point of binding for a fungal enzyme-specific inhibitor. Besides serving as an antimicrobial target, C. neoformans ADS lyase inhibitors may also serve as potential therapeutics for metabolic disease; rather than disrupt ADS lyase, compounds that improve the stability the enzyme may be used to treat ADS lyase deficiency disease.

Structural and kinetic analysis of Schistosoma mansoni Adenylosuccinate Lyase (SmADSL).

Schistosoma mansoni is the parasite responsible for schistosomiasis, a disease that affects about 218 million people worldwide. Currently, both direct treatment and disease control initiatives rely on chemotherapy using a single drug, praziquantel. Concerns over the possibility of resistance developing to praziquantel, have stimulated efforts to develop new drugs for the treatment of schistosomiasis. Schistosomes do not have the de novo purine biosynthetic pathway, and instead depend entirely on the purine salvage pathway to supply its need for purines. The purine salvage pathway has been reported as a potential target for developing new drugs against schistosomiasis. Adenylosuccinate lyase (SmADSL) is an enzyme in this pathway, which cleaves adenylosuccinate (ADS) into adenosine 5'-monophosphate (AMP) and fumarate. SmADSL kinetic characterization was performed by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) using both ADS and SAICAR as substrates. Structures of SmADSL in Apo form and in complex with AMP were elucidated by x-ray crystallography revealing a highly conserved tetrameric structure required for their function since the active sites are formed from residues of three different subunits. The active sites are also highly conserved between species and it is difficult to identify a potent species-specific inhibitor for the development of new therapeutic agents. In contrast, several mutagenesis studies have demonstrated the importance of dimeric interface residues in the stability of the quaternary structure of the enzyme. The lower conservation of these residues between SmADSL and human ADSL could be used to lead the development of anti-schistosomiasis drugs based on disruption of subunit interfaces. These structures and kinetics data add another layer of information to Schistosoma mansoni purine salvage pathway.

Colocalization and Sequential Enzyme Activity in Aqueous Biphasic Systems: Experiments and Modeling.

Subcellular compartmentalization of biomolecules and their reactions is common in biology and provides a general strategy for improving and/or controlling kinetics in metabolic pathways that contain multiple sequential enzymes. Enzymes can be colocalized in multiprotein complexes, on scaffolds or inside subcellular organelles. Liquid organelles formed by intracellular phase coexistence could provide an additional means of sequential enzyme colocalization. Here we use experiment and computation to explore the kinetic consequences of sequential enzyme compartmentalization into model liquid organelles in a crowded polymer solution. Two proteins of the de novo purine biosynthesis pathway, ASL (adenylosuccinate lyase, Step 8) and ATIC (5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleotide transformylase/inosine monophosphate cyclohydrolase, Steps 9 and 10), were studied in a polyethylene glycol/dextran aqueous two-phase system. Dextran-rich phase droplets served as model liquid compartments for enzyme colocalization. In this system, which lacks any specific binding interactions between the phase-forming polymers and the enzymes, we did not observe significant rate enhancements from colocalization for the overall reaction under our experimental conditions. The experimental results were used to adapt a mathematical model to quantitatively describe the kinetics. The mathematical model was then used to explore additional, experimentally inaccessible conditions to predict when increased local concentrations of enzymes and substrates can (or cannot) be expected to yield increased rates of product formation. Our findings indicate that colocalization within these simplified model liquid organelles can lead to enhanced metabolic rates under some conditions, but that very strong partitioning into the phase that serves as the compartment is necessary. In vivo, this could be provided by specific binding affinities between components of the liquid compartment and the molecules to be localized within it.

Structural and kinetic studies on adenylosuccinate lyase from Mycobacterium smegmatis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis provide new insights on the catalytic residues of the enzyme.

Adenylosuccinate lyase (ASL), an enzyme involved in purine biosynthesis, has been recognized as a drug target against microbial infections. In the present study, ASL from Mycobacterium smegmatis (MsASL) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MtbASL) were cloned, purified and crystallized. The X-ray crystal structure of MsASL was determined at a resolution of 2.16 Å. It is the first report of an apo-ASL structure with a partially ordered active site C3 loop. Diffracting crystals of MtbASL could not be obtained and a model for its structure was derived using MsASL as a template. These structures suggest that His149 and either Lys285 or Ser279 of MsASL are the residues most likely to function as the catalytic acid and base, respectively. Most of the active site residues were found to be conserved, with the exception of Ser148 and Gly319 of MsASL. Ser148 is structurally equivalent to a threonine in most other ASLs. Gly319 is replaced by an arginine residue in most ASLs. The two enzymes were catalytically much less active compared to ASLs from other organisms. Arg319Gly substitution and reduced flexibility of the C3 loop might account for the low catalytic activity of mycobacterial ASLs. The low activity is consistent with the slow growth rate of Mycobacteria and their high GC containing genomes, as well as their dependence on other salvage pathways for the supply of purine nucleotides. STRUCTURED DIGITAL ABSTRACT: purB and purB bind by x-ray crystallography (View interaction).

Structural and biochemical characterization of human adenylosuccinate lyase (ADSL) and the R303C ADSL deficiency-associated mutation.

Adenylosuccinate lyase (ADSL) deficiency is a rare autosomal recessive disorder, which causes a defect in purine metabolism resulting in neurological and physiological symptoms. ADSL executes two nonsequential steps in the de novo synthesis of AMP: the conversion of phosphoribosylsuccinyl-aminoimidazole carboxamide (SAICAR) to phosphoribosylaminoimidazole carboxamide, which occurs in the de novo synthesis of IMP, and the conversion of adenylosuccinate to AMP, which occurs in the de novo synthesis of AMP and also in the purine nucleotide cycle, using the same active site. Mutation of ADSL's arginine 303 to a cysteine is known to lead to ADSL deficiency. Interestingly, unlike other mutations leading to ADSL deficiency, the R303C mutation has been suggested to more significantly affect the enzyme's ability to catalyze the conversion of succinyladenosine monophosphate than that of SAICAR to their respective products. To better understand the causation of disease due to the R303C mutation, as well as to gain insights into why the R303C mutation potentially has a disproportional decrease in activity toward its substrates, the wild type (WT) and the R303C mutant of ADSL were investigated enzymatically and thermodynamically. Additionally, the X-ray structures of ADSL in its apo form as well as with the R303C mutation were elucidated, providing insight into ADSL's cooperativity. By utilizing this information, a model for the interaction between ADSL and SAICAR is proposed.

Aspartase/fumarase superfamily: a common catalytic strategy involving general base-catalyzed formation of a highly stabilized aci-carboxylate intermediate.

Members of the aspartase/fumarase superfamily share a common tertiary and quaternary fold, as well as a similar active site architecture; the superfamily includes aspartase, fumarase, argininosuccinate lyase, adenylosuccinate lyase, δ-crystallin, and 3-carboxy-cis,cis-muconate lactonizing enzyme (CMLE). These enzymes all process succinyl-containing substrates, leading to the formation of fumarate as the common product (except for the CMLE-catalyzed reaction, which results in the formation of a lactone). In the past few years, X-ray crystallographic analysis of several superfamily members in complex with substrate, product, or substrate analogues has provided detailed insights into their substrate binding modes and catalytic mechanisms. This structural work, combined with earlier mechanistic studies, revealed that members of the aspartase/fumarase superfamily use a common catalytic strategy, which involves general base-catalyzed formation of a stabilized aci-carboxylate (or enediolate) intermediate and the participation of a highly flexible loop, containing the signature sequence GSSxxPxKxN (named the SS loop), in substrate binding and catalysis.

In vitro hybridization and separation of hybrids of human adenylosuccinate lyase from wild-type and disease-associated mutant enzymes.

Human adenylosuccinate lyase (ASL) deficiency is an inherited metabolic disease in which the majority of the patients are compound heterozygotes for the mutations that occur in the ASL gene. Starting with purified wild-type (WT) and single-mutant human ASL, we generated in vitro hybrids that mimic compound heterozygote ASL. For this study, we used His-tagged WT/non-His-tagged WT, His-tagged WT/non-His-tagged R396C, His-tagged WT/non-His-tagged R396H, His-tagged R194C/non-His-tagged R396C, and His-tagged L311V/non-His-tagged R396H enzyme pairs. We generated various hybrids by denaturing pairs of enzymes in 1 M guanidinium chloride and renaturing them by removing the denaturant. The hybrids were separated on a nickel-nitrilotriacetic acid-agarose column based on the number of His tags present in the enzyme tetramer. Analytical ultracentrifuge data indicate that the hybrids have predominant amounts of heterotetramers. Analysis of the V(max) values of the hybrids indicates that most of the subunits behave independently; however, the hybrid tetramers retain weak positive cooperativity, indicating that there is some interaction between the different subunit types. The interactions between WT and mutant subunits may be advantageous to the parents of ASL deficient patients, while the interactions between some mutant subunits may assist heterozygote ASL deficient patients.

Structure of Staphylococcus aureus adenylosuccinate lyase (PurB) and assessment of its potential as a target for structure-based inhibitor discovery.

The medium-resolution structure of adenylosuccinate lyase (PurB) from the bacterial pathogen Staphylococcus aureus in complex with AMP is presented. Oxalate, which is likely to be an artifact of crystallization, has been modelled in the active site and occupies a position close to that where succinate is observed in orthologous structures. PurB catalyzes reactions that support the provision of purines and the control of AMP/fumarate levels. As such, the enzyme is predicted to be essential for the survival of S. aureus and to be a potential therapeutic target. Comparisons of this pathogen PurB with the enzyme from Escherichia coli are presented to allow discussion concerning the enzyme mechanism. Comparisons with human PurB suggest that the close similarity of the active sites would make it difficult to identify species-specific inhibitors for this enzyme. However, there are differences in the way that the subunits are assembled into dimers. The distinct subunit-subunit interfaces may provide a potential area to target by exploiting the observation that creation of the enzyme active site is dependent on oligomerization.

Biochemical and structural analysis of 14 mutant adsl enzyme complexes and correlation to phenotypic heterogeneity of adenylosuccinate lyase deficiency.

Adenylosuccinate lyase (ADSL) deficiency is neurometabolic disease characterized by accumulation of dephosphorylated enzyme substrates SAICA-riboside (SAICAr) and succinyladenosine (S-Ado) in body fluids of affected individuals. The phenotypic severity differs considerably among patients: neonatal fatal, severe childhood, and moderate phenotypic forms correlating with different values for the ratio between S-Ado and SAICAr concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid have been distinguished. To reveal the biochemical and structural basis for this phenotypic heterogeneity, we expressed and characterized 19 ADSL mutant proteins identified in 16 patients representing clinically distinct subgroups. Respecting compound heterozygosity and considering the homotetrameric structure of ADSL, we used intersubunit complementation and prepared and characterized genotype-specific heteromeric mutant ADSL complexes. We correlated clinical phenotypes with biochemical properties of the mutant proteins and predicted structural impacts of the mutations. We found that phenotypic severity in ADSL deficiency is correlated with residual enzymatic activity and structural stability of the corresponding mutant ADSL complexes and does not seem to result from genotype-specific disproportional catalytic activities toward one of the enzyme substrates. This suggests that the S-Ado/SAICAr ratio is probably not predictive of phenotype severity; rather, it may be secondary to the degree of the patient's development (i.e., to the age of the patient at the time of sample collection).

Combined effect of mutations in ADSL and GARS-AIRS-GART genes on IMP content in chickens.

1. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of ADSL gene, GARS-AIRS-GART gene and their combination genotype on inosine monophosphate content (IMP) in chicken. 2. The chicken breeds used for this study were Recessive White chicken (RW, Jiang-13 strain of white Plymouth Rock) and preserved population of 4 Chinese native chicken breeds, including Silkies, Baier, Tibetan and Xiaoshan. 3. The primers for exon 2 in ADSL gene and 5'UTR region in GARS-AIRS-GART gene were designed and the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were detected by PCR-SSCP and DNA sequencing. 4. Two SNPs were detected, C/T substitution at position 3484 in exon 2 of ADSL gene, which was a silent mutation, and C/T point mutation at position -179 in 5'UTR region of GARS-AIRS-GART gene. In ADSL gene, individuals with TT genotype had significantly higher IMP content than CT and CC genotype individuals. No significant difference was observed between CT and CC genotypes. Similar results were obtained for GARS-AIRS-GART gene. The combination of genotypes ADSL and GARS-AIRS-GART genes also had a significant effect on IMP content. Individuals with TTTT genotype had the highest muscle IMP content, while individuals with CCCT genotype had the lowest. 4. We putatively drew the conclusion that the SNPs in these two genes, as well as the combination genotypes, could be used as potential molecular markers for meat quality in chicken.

The structure of phosphate-bound Escherichia coli adenylosuccinate lyase identifies His171 as a catalytic acid.

Adenylosuccinate lyase (ASL) is an enzyme from the purine-biosynthetic pathway that catalyzes the cleavage of 5-aminoimidazole-4-(N-succinylcarboxamide) ribonucleotide (SAICAR) to 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleotide (AICAR) and fumarate. ASL is also responsible for the conversion of succinyladenosine monophosphate (SAMP) to adenosine monophosphate (AMP) and fumarate. Here, the crystal structure of adenylosuccinate lyase from Escherichia coli was determined to 1.9 A resolution. The enzyme adopts a substrate-bound conformation as a result of the presence of two phosphate ions bound in the active site. Comparison with previously solved structures of the apoenzyme and an SAMP-bound H171A mutant reveals a conformational change at His171 associated with substrate binding and confirms the role of this residue as a catalytic acid.

Biochemical and biophysical analysis of five disease-associated human adenylosuccinate lyase mutants.

Adenylosuccinate lyase (ASL), a catalyst of key reactions in purine biosynthesis, is normally a homotetramer in which three subunits contribute to each of four active sites. Human ASL deficiency is an inherited metabolic disease associated with autism and mental retardation. We have characterized five disease-associated ASL mutants: R194C and K246E are located at subunit interfaces, L311V is in the central helical region away from the active site, and R396C and R396H are at the entrance to the active site. The V(max) (at 25 degrees C) for R194C is comparable to that of WT, while those of L311V, R396C, R396H, and K246E are considerably reduced and affinity for adenylosuccinate is retained. The mutant enzymes have decreased positive cooperativity as compared to WT. K246E exists mainly as dimer or monomer, accounting for its negligible activity, whereas the other mutant enzymes are similar to WT in the predominance of tetramer. At 37 degrees C, the specific activity of WT and these mutant enzymes slowly decreases 30-40% with time and reaches a limiting specific activity without changing significantly the amount of tetramer. Mutant R194C is unique in being rapidly inactivated at the harsher temperature of 60 degrees C, indicating that it is the least stable enzyme in vitro. Conformational changes in the mutant enzymes are evident from protein fluorescence intensity at 25 degrees C and after incubation at 37 degrees C, which correlates with the loss of enzymatic activity. Thus, these disease-associated single mutations can yield enzyme with reduced activity either by affecting the active site or by perturbing the enzyme's structure and/or native conformation which are required for catalytic function.

Elucidation of the substrate specificity, kinetic and catalytic mechanism of adenylosuccinate lyase from Plasmodium falciparum.

Adenylosuccinate lyase (ASL) catalyzes two distinct but chemically similar reactions in purine biosynthesis. The first, exclusive to the de novo pathway involves the cleavage of 5-aminoimidazole-4-(N-succinylcarboxamide) ribonucleotide (SAICAR) to 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleotide (AICAR) and fumarate and the second common to both de novo and the salvage pathways involves the cleavage of succinyl-adenosine monophosphate (SAMP) to AMP and fumarate. A detailed kinetic and catalytic mechanism of the recombinant His-tagged ASL from Plasmodium falciparum (PfASL) is presented here. Initial velocity kinetics, product inhibition studies and transient kinetics indicate a Uni-Bi rapid equilibrium ordered mechanism. Substrate and solvent isotope effect studies implicate the process of C(gamma)-N bond cleavage to be rate limiting. Interestingly, the effect of pH on k(cat) and k(cat)/K(m) highlight ionization of the base only in the enzyme substrate complex and not in the enzyme alone, thereby implicating the pivotal role of the substrate in the activation of the catalytic base. Site-directed mutagenesis implicates a key role for the conserved serine (S298) in catalysis. Despite the absence of a de novo pathway for purine synthesis and most importantly, the absence of other enzymes that can metabolise AICAR in P. falciparum, PfASL catalyzes the SAICAR cleavage reaction with kinetic parameters similar to those of SAMP reaction and binds AICAR with affinity similar to that of AMP. The presence of this catalytic feature allows the use of AICAR or its analogues as inhibitors of PfASL and hence, as novel putative anti-parasitic agents. In support of this, we do see a dose dependent inhibition of parasite growth in the presence of 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleoside (AICAriboside) with half-maximal inhibition at 167+/-5 microM.

Effect of a new non-cleavable substrate analog on wild-type and serine mutants in the signature sequence of adenylosuccinate lyase of Bacillus subtilis and Homo sapiens.

Adenylosuccinate lyase (ASL) catalyzes two beta-elimination reactions in purine biosynthesis, leading to the question of whether the two substrates occupy the same or different active sites. Kinetic studies of Bacillus subtilis and human ASL with a new substrate analog, adenosine phosphonobutyric acid, 2'(3'), 5'-diphosphate (APBADP), show that it acts as a competitive inhibitor with respect to either substrate (K(I) approximately 0.1 microM), indicating that the two substrates occupy the same active site. Binding studies show that both the B. subtilis and human ASLs bind up to 4 mol of APBADP per mole of enzyme tetramer and that both enzymes exhibit cooperativity: negative for B. subtilis ASL and positive for human ASL. Mutant B. subtilis ASLs, with replacements for residues previously identified as critical for catalysis, bind the substrate analog similarly to wild-type ASL. Two serines in a flexible loop of ASL have been proposed to play roles in catalysis because they are close to the substrate in the crystal structure of Escherichia coli ASL. We have now mutated the corresponding serines to alanines in B. subtilis and human ASL to evaluate their involvement in enzyme function. Kinetic data reveal that human Ser(289) and B. subtilis Ser(262) and Ser(263) are essential for catalysis, while the ability of these Ser mutants to bind APBADP suggests that they do not contribute to substrate affinity. Although these serines are not visible in the crystal structure of human adenylosuccinate lyase complexed with substrate or products (PDB #2VD6), they may be interacting with the active sites.