Insight into the Highly Conserved and Differentiated Cofactor-Binding Sites of meso-Diaminopimelate Dehydrogenase...

meso-Diaminopimelate dehydrogenase ( meso-DAPDH) is a good candidate for one-step synthesis of d-amino acid from 2-keto acids. Our previous research revealed the classification of meso-DAPDH family and showed that type II meso-DAPDH, such as the meso-DAPDH from Symbiobacterium thermophilum (StDAPDH), could catalyze reductive amination. In this article, seven residues of StDAPDH, which are highly conserved in each subfamily but are different between two subfamilies, were targeted to explore the relationships between structure and function. Determination of kinetic parameters showed that the amino acid residues, including P69, K159, V68, S90, V14, and V156, played very important roles in the catalytic function of StDAPDH. Molecular dynamics simulation revealed that these point mutations reduced the productive conformations by the newly formed or eliminated interactions between the residues and ligands. These results strengthen our understanding of the catalytic mechanism and evolution of meso-DAPDH and can aid future endeavors in enzyme engineering.