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QM/MM study of catalytic methyl transfer by the N5-glutamine SAM-dependent methyltransferase and its inhibition by the nitrogen analogue of coenzyme

✍ Scribed by Ruibo Wu; Zexing Cao


Book ID
102876894
Publisher
John Wiley and Sons
Year
2007
Tongue
English
Weight
603 KB
Volume
29
Category
Article
ISSN
0192-8651

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✦ Synopsis


Abstract

The combined density functional quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) approach has been used to investigate methyl‐transfer reactions catalyzed by the N^5^‐glutamine S‐adenosyl‐L‐methionine (SAM)‐dependent methyltransferase (HemK) and the coenzyme‐modified HemK with the replacement of SAM by a nitrogen analogue. Calculations reveal that the catalytic methyl transfer by HemK is an energy‐favored process with an activation barrier of 15.7 kcal/mol and an exothermicity of 12.0 kcal/mol, while the coenzyme‐modified HemK is unable to catalyze the methyl transfer because of a substantial barrier of 20.6 kcal/mol and instability of the product intermediate. The results lend support to the experimental proposal that the nitrogen analogue of the SAM coenzyme should be a practicable inhibitor for the catalytic methyl transfer by HemK. Comparative QM/MM calculations show that the protein environment, especially the residues Asn197 and Pro198 in the active site, plays a pivotal role in stabilizing the transition state and regulating the positioning of reactive groups. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2008