Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Tsao D
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3125089 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Tsao Douglas D Liu Shubin S Dokholyan Nikolay V NV
Chemical physics letters 20110401 4-6
Catechol O-methyltransferase (COMT) metabolizes catechol moieties by methylating a single hydroxyl group at the meta- or para- hydroxyl position. Hydrophobic amino acids near the active site of COMT influence the regioselectivity of this reaction. Our sequence analysis highlights their importance by showing that these residues are highly conserved throughout evolution. Reaction barriers calculated in the gas phase reveal a lower barrier during methylation at the meta- position, suggesting that t ...[more]