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Updated: Apr 3, 2026

A Direct, Early Stage Guanidinylation Protocol for the Synthesis of Complex Aminoguanidine-containing Natural Products
Published on: September 9, 2016
The Nitrile-Forming Enzyme 7-Cyano-7-Deazaguanine Synthase from Geobacillus kaustophilus: A Reverse Nitrilase?
Margit Winkler1, Katharina Dokulil2, Hansjörg Weber3
1Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (acib GmbH), Petersgasse 14, 8010, Graz, Austria. margit.winkler@acib.at.
Abstract:
7-Cyano-7-deazaguanine synthase (E.C. 6.3.4.20) is an enzyme that catalyzes the formation of a nitrile from a carboxylic acid and ammonia at the expense of ATP. The protein from G. kaustophilus was heterologously expressed, and its biochemical characteristics were explored by using a newly developed HPLC-MS based assay, (31) P NMR, and a fluorescence-based thermal-shift assay. The protein showed the expected high thermostability, had a pH optimum at pH 9.5, and an apparent temperature optimum at 60 °C. We observed strict substrate specificity of QueC for the natural substrate 7-carboxy-7-deazaguanine, and determined AMP and pyrophosphate as co-products of preQ0.
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