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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Direct Detection of the Acetate-forming Activity of the Enzyme Acetate Kinase
Published on: December 19, 2011
Enzymology, structure, and dynamics of acetohydroxy acid isomeroreductase
1Laboratoire Mixte CNRS/INRA/Aventis, Aventis CropScience, 14-20 rue Pierre Baizet, 69263 Lyon, France. renaud.dumas@aventis.com
Abstract:
Acetohydroxy acid isomeroreductase is a key enzyme involved in the biosynthetic pathway of the amino acids isoleucine, valine, and leucine. This enzyme is of great interest in agrochemical research because it is present only in plants and microorganisms, making it a potential target for specific herbicides and fungicides. Moreover, it catalyzes an unusual two-step reaction that is of great fundamental interest. With a view to characterizing both the mechanism of inhibition by potential herbicides and the complex reaction mechanism, various techniques of enzymology, molecular biology, mass spectrometry, X-ray crystallography, and theoretical simulation have been used. The results and conclusions of these studies are described briefly in this paper.
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