skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Crystallographic Snapshots of the Complete Catalytic Cycle of the Unregulated Aspartate Transcarbamoylase from Bacillus subtilis

Journal Article · · Journal of Molecular Biology

Here, we report high-resolution X-ray structures of Bacillus subtilis aspartate transcarbamoylase (ATCase), an enzyme that catalyzes one of the first reactions in pyrimidine nucleotide biosynthesis. Structures of the enzyme have been determined in the absence of ligands, in the presence of the substrate carbamoyl phosphate, and in the presence of the bisubstrate/transition state analog N-phosphonacetyl-L-aspartate. Combining the structural data with in silico docking and electrostatic calculations, we have been able to visualize each step in the catalytic cycle of ATCase, from the ordered binding of the substrates, to the formation and decomposition of the tetrahedral intermediate, to the ordered release of the products from the active site. Analysis of the conformational changes associated with these steps provides a rationale for the lack of cooperativity in trimeric ATCases that do not possess regulatory subunits.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE SC OFFICE OF SCIENCE (SC)
DOE Contract Number:
DE-AC02-98CH10886
OSTI ID:
1041877
Report Number(s):
BNL-97555-2012-JA; JMOBAK; TRN: US201212%%288
Journal Information:
Journal of Molecular Biology, Vol. 411, Issue 1; ISSN 0022-2836
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English