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Updated: Nov 13, 2025

Light-driven Molecular Motors on Surfaces for Single Molecular Imaging
Published on: March 13, 2019
Octahedral Trifluoromagnesate, an Anomalous Metal Fluoride Species, Stabilizes the Transition State in a Biological
Mengyu Ge1, Robert W Molt2,3, Huw T Jenkins1
1York Structural Biology Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
Isoelectronic metal fluoride transition state analogue (TSA) complexes, MgF3 - and AlF4 -, have proven to be immensely useful in understanding mechanisms of biological motors utilizing phosphoryl transfer. Here we report a previously unobserved octahedral TSA complex, MgF3(H2O)-, in a 1.5 Å resolution Zika virus NS3 helicase crystal structure. 19F NMR provided independent validation and also the direct observation of conformational tightening resulting from ssRNA binding in solution. The TSA stabilizes the two conformations of motif V of the helicase that link ATP hydrolysis with mechanical work. DFT analysis further validated the MgF3(H2O)- species, indicating the significance of this TSA for studies of biological motors.
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