An unusual carbon-carbon bond cleavage reaction during phosphinothricin biosynthesis.

ABSTRACT: Natural products containing phosphorus-carbon bonds have found widespread use in medicine and agriculture. One such compound, phosphinothricin tripeptide, contains the unusual amino acid phosphinothricin attached to two alanine residues. Synthetic phosphinothricin (glufosinate) is a component of two top-selling herbicides (Basta and Liberty), and is widely used with resistant transgenic crops including corn, cotton and canola. Recent genetic and biochemical studies showed that during phosphinothricin tripeptide biosynthesis 2-hydroxyethylphosphonate (HEP) is converted to hydroxymethylphosphonate (HMP). Here we report the in vitro reconstitution of this unprecedented C(sp(3))-C(sp(3)) bond cleavage reaction and X-ray crystal structures of the enzyme. The protein is a mononuclear non-haem ir

SUBMITTER: Cicchillo RM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2874955 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature