Trapping the tetrahedral intermediate in the alkaline phosphatase reaction by substitution of the active site serine with threonine.

ABSTRACT: We report here the construction of a mutant version of Escherichia coli alkaline phosphatase (AP) in which the active site Ser was replaced by Thr (S102T), in order to investigate whether the enzyme can utilize Thr as the nucleophile and whether the rates of the critical steps in the mechanism are altered by the substitution. The mutant AP with Thr at position 102 exhibited an approximately 4000-fold decrease in k(cat) along with a small decrease in Km. The decrease in catalytic efficiency of approximately 2000-fold was a much smaller drop than that observed when Ala or Gly were substituted at position 102. The mechanism by which Thr can substitute for Ser in AP was further investigated by determining the X-ray structure of the S102T enzyme in the presence of the Pi (S102T_Pi), and after s

SUBMITTER: Wang J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2242381 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature