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Methylidene-imidazolone: a novel electrophile for substrate activation
1Institute for Organic Chemistry, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, H-1111, Budapest, Gellért tér 4, Hungary. poppe.szk@chem.bme.hu
Current Opinion in Chemical Biology
|October 2, 2001
Abstract:
The recent three-dimensional structure of histidine ammonia-lyase revealed that the enzyme contains a 3,5-dihydro-5-methylidene-4H-imidazol-4-one (MIO) ring, which forms autocatalytically from an Ala-Ser143-Gly triad. This novel prosthetic group, which is also present in phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, activates substrates by electrophilic interaction. Modern analytical methods, theoretical calculations and molecular biology tools have given further insight into the mode of action of MIO.