Steve Ealick's Research Group

Abstract:

Jenkins A, Zhang Y, Ealick SE and Begley TP. Mutagenesis studies on TenA: a thiamin salvage enzyme from Bacillus subtilis. Bioorg. Chem. 36:29-32 (2008).

TenA catalyzes the hydrolysis of 4-amino-5-aminomethyl-2-methylpyrimidine and participates in the salvage of base-degraded thiamin. Here, we describe mutagenesis of the active site of TenA guided by structures of the enzyme complexed to a substrate analog and to the product. Catalytic roles for each of the active site residues are identified and a mechanism for the reaction is described.