O-Acetyl-L-serine hydrochloride

Although tryptophan synthase catalyzes a number of pyridoxal phosphate dependent beta-elimination and beta-replacement reactions that are also catalyzed by tryptophanase, a principal and puzzling difference between the two enzymes lies in the apparent inability of tryptophan synthase to catalyze beta-elimination of indole from L-tryptophan. We now demonstrate for the first time that the beta 2 subunit and the alpha 2 beta 2 complex of tryptophan synthase from Escherichia coli and from Salmonella typhimurium do catalyze a slow beta-elimination reaction with L-tryptophan to produce indole, pyruvate, and ammonia. The rate of the reaction is about 10-fold higher in the presence of the alpha subunit. The rate of indole production is increased about 4-fold when the aminoacrylate produced is converted to S-(hydroxyethyl)-L-cysteine by a coupled beta-replacement reaction with beta-mercaptoethanol. The rate of L-tryptophan cleavage is also increased when the indole produced is removed by extraction with toluene or by condensation with D-glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate to form indole-3-glycerol phosphate in a reaction catalyzed by the alpha subunit of tryptophan synthase. The amount of L-tryptophan cleavage is greatest in the presence of both beta-mercaptoethanol and D-glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate, which cause the removal of both products of cleavage. The cleavage reaction is not due to contaminating tryptophanase since the activity is not inhibited by (3R)-2,3-dihydro-L-tryptophan, a specific inhibitor of tryptophanase, but is inhibited by (3S)-2,3-dihydro-L-tryptophan, a specific inhibitor of tryptophan synthase. The cleavage reaction is also inhibited by D-tryptophan, the product of a slow racemization reaction.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The binding of substrates and inhibitors to wild-type Proteus vulgaris tryptophan indole-lyase and to wild type and Y71F Citrobacter freundii tyrosine phenol-lyase was investigated in the crystalline state by polarized absorption microspectrophotometry. Oxindolyl-lalanine binds to tryptophan indole-lyase crystals to accumulate predominantly a stable quinonoid intermediate absorbing at 502 nm with a dissociation constant of 35 microm, approximately 10-fold higher than that in solution. l-Trp or l-Ser react with tryptophan indole-lyase crystals to give, as in solution, a mixture of external aldimine and quinonoid intermediates and gem-diamine and external aldimine intermediates, respectively. Different from previous solution studies (Phillips, R. S., Sundararju, B., & Faleev, N. G. (2000) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 122, 1008-1114), the reaction of benzimidazole and l-Trp or l-Ser with tryptophan indole-lyase crystals does not result in the formation of an alpha-aminoacrylate intermediate, suggesting that the crystal lattice might prevent a ligand-induced conformational change associated with this catalytic step. Wild-type tyrosine phenol-lyase crystals bind l-Met and l-Phe to form mixtures of external aldimine and quinonoid intermediates as in solution. A stable quinonoid intermediate with lambda(max) at 502 nm is accumulated in the reaction of crystals of Y71F tyrosine phenol-lyase, an inactive mutant, with 3-F-l-Tyr with a dissociation constant of 1 mm, approximately 10-fold higher than that in solution. The stability exhibited by the quinonoid intermediates formed both by wild-type tryptophan indole-lyase and by wild type and Y71F tyrosine phenol-lyase crystals demonstrates that they are suitable for structural determination by x-ray crystallography, thus allowing the elucidation of a key species of pyridoxal 5'-phosphate-dependent enzyme catalysis.

The interactions of ring fluorinated analogs of tyrosine with tyrosine phenol-lyase and tryptophan indole-lyase (tryptophanase) were studied by rapid-scanning stopped-flow spectrophotometry. The reaction of L-tyrosine with tyrosine phenol-lyase resulted in rapid formation of a small absorbance peak at 500 nm, attributed to a quinonoid intermediate. The reaction of 3-fluoro-L-tyrosine with tyrosine phenol-lyase resulted in a peak at 500 nm with much higher absorbance, as did the reaction of 3,5-difluoro-L-tyrosine, due to increased accumulation of quinonoid intermediates. In constrast, complexes with 2-fluoro-L-tyrosine, 2,3-difluoro-L-tyrosine, 2,5-difluoro-L-tyrosine, and 2,6-difluoro-L-tyrosine exhibited much lower absorbance intensity at 500 nm. The rate constant for quinonoid intermediate formation from 3-fluoro-L-tyrosine was comparable to that for L-tyrosine. However, 3,5-difluoro-L-tyrosine reacted to form a quinonoid intermediate at about half the rate of L-tyrosine, while 2,3-difluoro-L-tyrosine reacted at twice the rate of L-tyrosine. In addition, the 2-substituted difluorotyrosines exhibited an intermediate, which was formed rapidly, absorbing strongly at about 340 nm, which is likely due to a gem-diamine intermediate. Tyrosine is not a substrate for tryptophan indole-lyase; the reaction of tryptophan indole-lyase with L-tyrosine resulted in formation of external aldimine, which absorbed at 420 nm, and a very small absorbance peak at 500 nm. 3-Fluoro-L-tyrosine reacted with tryptophan indole-lyase to produce a prominent quinonoid absorbance peak at 500 nm, whereas L-tyrosine, 2-fluoro-L-tyrosine, and all difluoro-L-tyrosines, had a much reduced intensity for this peak. Thus, the presence of ring fluorine substituents in L-tyrosine that are remote from the site of the chemical transformation has significant effects on the rates and equilibria of intermediate formation in the reactions with both tyrosine phenol-lyase and tryptophan indole-lyase. Although it is commonly thought that fluorine substitution will not result in any significant steric effects, our results suggest that the effects of fluorine substitution in the reactions of fluorinated tyrosines with tyrosine phenol-lyase and tryptophan indole-lyase are due to a combination of steric and electronic effects.