Role of tunneling in the enzyme glutamate mutase

The role of quantum mechanical atom tunneling during the conversion of glutamate to methylaspartate catalyzed by glutamate mutase is investigated by quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) simulations based on coupled cluster and density functional calculations. The use of instanton theory allows us to calculate the tunneling contributions of up to 78 atoms in the active site. We calculate kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) and compare them to experimental data. The simulations lead to deuterium KIEs of 10 for the hydrogen abstraction from glutamate substrate and 16 for the hydrogen abstraction from methylaspartate substrate, which are consistent with the experimental results. The hydrogen abstraction from methylaspartate has higher primary deuterium and tritium (46.1) KIEs than the abstraction from glutamate. The tunneling effect increases the reaction rate by a factor of 12.3 for the hydrogen abstraction from methylaspartate at 0. Tunneling is supported by the environment by preparing the enzyme through classical motions. Consideraton of the tunneling contributions of more and more atoms around the active center shows that the motions at the ribose ring play a central role during the tunneling enhancement of the hydrogen transfers. Our simulations give new insight into the catalytic process in glutamate mutase and the way enzymes use tunneling effects for a successful catalysis.