Primary Citation of Related Structures:   1GKJ, 1GKM
PubMed Abstract: 
Histidine ammonia-lyase (EC 4.3.1.3) catalyzes the nonoxidative elimination of the alpha-amino group of histidine using a 4-methylidene-imidazole-5-one (MIO), which is formed autocatalytically from the internal peptide segment 142Ala-Ser-Gly. The structure of the enzyme inhibited by a reaction with l-cysteine was established at the very high resolution of 1 ...
Histidine ammonia-lyase (EC 4.3.1.3) catalyzes the nonoxidative elimination of the alpha-amino group of histidine using a 4-methylidene-imidazole-5-one (MIO), which is formed autocatalytically from the internal peptide segment 142Ala-Ser-Gly. The structure of the enzyme inhibited by a reaction with l-cysteine was established at the very high resolution of 1.0 A. Five active center mutants were produced and their catalytic activities were measured. Among them, mutant Tyr280-->Phe could be crystallized and its structure could be determined at 1.7 A resolution. It contains a planar sp2-hybridized 144-N atom of MIO, in contrast to the pyramidal sp3-hybridized 144-N of the wild-type. With the planar 144-N atom, MIO assumes the conformation of a putative intermediate aromatic state of the reaction, demonstrating that the conformational barrier between aromatic and wild-type states is very low. The data led to a new proposal for the geometry for the catalyzed reaction, which also applies to the closely related phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (EC 4.3.1.5). Moreover, it suggested an intermediate binding site for the released ammonia.
Related Citations: 
Crystal Structure of Histidine Ammonia-Lyase Revealing a Novel Polypeptide Modification as the Catalytic Electrophile Schwede, T.F., Retey, J., Schulz, G.E. (1999) Biochemistry 38: 5355
Homogenization and Crystallization of Histidine Ammonia-Lyase by Exchange of a Surface Cysteine Residue Schwede, T.F., Baedeker, M., Langer, M., Retey, J., Schulz, G.E. (1999) Protein Eng 12: 151
Organizational Affiliation: 
Institut für Organische Chemie und Biochemie, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.