Publication Abstract from PubMed
Crystal structures of the murine cytokine-inducible nitric oxide synthase oxygenase dimer with active-center water molecules, the substrate L-arginine (L-Arg), or product analog thiocitrulline reveal how dimerization, cofactor tetrahydrobiopterin, and L-Arg binding complete the catalytic center for synthesis of the essential biological signal and cytotoxin nitric oxide. Pterin binding refolds the central interface region, recruits new structural elements, creates a 30 angstrom deep active-center channel, and causes a 35 degrees helical tilt to expose a heme edge and the adjacent residue tryptophan-366 for likely reductase domain interactions and caveolin inhibition. Heme propionate interactions with pterin and L-Arg suggest that pterin has electronic influences on heme-bound oxygen. L-Arginine binds to glutamic acid-371 and stacks with heme in an otherwise hydrophobic pocket to aid activation of heme-bound oxygen by direct proton donation and thereby differentiate the two chemical steps of nitric oxide synthesis.
Structure of nitric oxide synthase oxygenase dimer with pterin and substrate.,Crane BR, Arvai AS, Ghosh DK, Wu C, Getzoff ED, Stuehr DJ, Tainer JA Science. 1998 Mar 27;279(5359):2121-6. PMID:9516116[1]
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
