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The MultiBac Protein Complex Production Platform at the EMBL
Published on: July 11, 2013
Cross-functionalities of Bacillus deacetylases involved in bacillithiol biosynthesis and bacillithiol-S-conjugate
Zhong Fang1, Alexandra A Roberts, Karissa Weidman
1Department of Chemistry, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27109, USA.
Abstract:
BshB, a key enzyme in bacillithiol biosynthesis, hydrolyses the acetyl group from N-acetylglucosamine malate to generate glucosamine malate. In Bacillus anthracis, BA1557 has been identified as the N-acetylglucosamine malate deacetylase (BshB); however, a high content of bacillithiol (~70%) was still observed in the B. anthracis ∆BA1557 strain. Genomic analysis led to the proposal that another deacetylase could exhibit cross-functionality in bacillithiol biosynthesis. In the present study, BA1557, its paralogue BA3888 and orthologous Bacillus cereus enzymes BC1534 and BC3461 have been characterized for their deacetylase activity towards N-acetylglucosamine malate, thus providing biochemical evidence for this proposal. In addition, the involvement of deacetylase enzymes is also expected in bacillithiol-detoxifying pathways through formation of S-mercapturic adducts. The kinetic analysis of bacillithiol-S-bimane conjugate favours the involvement of BA3888 as the B. anthracis bacillithiol-S-conjugate amidase (Bca). The high degree of specificity of this group of enzymes for its physiological substrate, along with their similar pH-activity profile and Zn²⁺-dependent catalytic acid-base reaction provides further evidence for their cross-functionalities.
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