Lysozyme was the first enzyme whose X-ray structure was determined [1][2]. This shows Hen Egg White (HEW) lysozyme containing a trisaccharide of N-acetylglucosamine (NAG) bound to a cleft in the enzyme. David Phillips, who determined the structure in 1965, saw that the cleft was large enough to fit three more saccharide units. He therefore built a model extending the trisaccharide to a
that fits into the cleft, labeling the sugar subsites A-F[3]. Alternately click on and to turn the modeled portion of the hexasaccharide on and off.
The interesting thing about the model was that the only way that the hexasaccharide would fit into the cleft was if the 4th saccharide (in subsite D) was strained into a . This conformation is what would be necessary for the formation of an oxocarbenium ion (oxionium ion). When the model was studied, was found to be in an ideal location to act as a general acid catalyst, 3.34 Angstroms from the bridging oxygen between the 4th and 5th saccharide units. appeared to be too far away (2.69 angstroms) in the static lysozyme structure to have formed a covalent bond with C1 of the half-chair model in the D site, and no covalent intermediate had ever been detected, so Phillips proposed that it acted as an electrostatic stabilizer of the oxonium ion (referred to as The Phillips Mechanism).
Then, in 2001, Stephen Withers published ,[4] in which Glu 35 he had mutated to Gln to remove the general acid catalyst. The substrate contained NAG-2-fluoro-glucosyl fluoride (NAG2FGlcF). The fluoro group on C-1 does not require acid catalysis to be a good leaving group, and the remaining saccharide, in the absence of the acid necessary to catalyse the second step of the reaction, was demonstrated to form a . In this of the half chair model with 1HEW (greens) and the covalent intermediate in 1H6M (blues), note the relatively small motions of Asp 52 and C1 of the sugar ring in going from the model to the covalent intermediate. to observe the motion from the to the just toggle between the two green links.
Some Useful External Links
Lysozyme
Retaining Glycoside Hydrolases
References
- ↑ Johnson LN, Phillips DC. Structure of some crystalline lysozyme-inhibitor complexes determined by X-ray analysis at 6 Angstrom resolution. Nature. 1965 May 22;206(986):761-3. PMID:5840126
- ↑ Phillips, D. C. The hen egg white lysozyme molecule. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 57, 483-495 (1967)
- ↑ coordinates of the model kindly provided by Louise Johnson
- ↑ Vocadlo DJ, Davies GJ, Laine R, Withers SG. Catalysis by hen egg-white lysozyme proceeds via a covalent intermediate. Nature. 2001 Aug 23;412(6849):835-8. PMID:11518970 doi:10.1038/35090602
