The QueF monomer is made up of two ferredoxin-like domains aligned together with their beta-sheets that have additional embellishments. This subunit is composed of a three-stranded beta-sheet and two alpha-helices. QueF reduces a nitrile bond to a pr ...
The QueF monomer is made up of two ferredoxin-like domains aligned together with their beta-sheets that have additional embellishments. This subunit is composed of a three-stranded beta-sheet and two alpha-helices. QueF reduces a nitrile bond to a primary amine. The two monomer units together create suitable substrate-binding pockets [1].
First discovered from the biosynthetic pathway of queuosine, QueF nitrile reductase is part of the tRNA biosynthetic pathway in the cytosol of bacteria. The role of QueF in this pathway is to catalyse the NADPH-dependent reduction of 7-cyano-7-deazaguanine (preQ0) to 7-aminomethyl-7-deazaguanine (preQ1) by a unique four-electron reduction of nitrile to amine. This pathway is crucial for the pathogenicity of bacteria and has the potential to be used in industrial catalysis of organic compounds.
Defined by 5 residues: CYS:A-197 [auth A-194]THR:A-200 [auth A-197]ASP:A-204 [auth A-201]HIS:A-236 [auth A-233]GLU:A-237 [auth A-234]