Different ways to transport ammonia in human and Mycobacterium tuberculosis NAD⁺ synthetases

NAD⁺ synthetase is an essential enzyme of de novo and recycling pathways of NAD⁺ biosynthesis in Mycobacterium tuberculosis but not in humans. This bifunctional enzyme couples the NAD⁺ synthetase and glutaminase activities through an ammonia tunnel but free ammonia is also a substrate. Here we show that the Homo sapiens NAD⁺ synthetase (hsNadE) lacks substrate specificity for glutamine over ammonia and displays a modest activation of the glutaminase domain compared to tbNadE. We report the crystal structures of hsNadE and NAD⁺ synthetase from M. tuberculosis (tbNadE) with synthetase intermediate analogues. Based on the observed exclusive arrangements of the domains and of the intra- or inter-subunit tunnels we propose a model for the inter-domain communication mechanism for the regulation of glutamine-dependent activity and NH₃ transport. The structural and mechanistic comparison herein reported between hsNadE and tbNadE provides also a starting point for future efforts in the development of anti-TB drugs.