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Is N-acetyl-D-glucosamine a rigid 4C1 chair?

ABSTRACT: Understanding microsecond-timescale dynamics is crucial to establish three-dimensional (3D) structure-activity relationships in sugars but has been intractable to experiments and simulations. As a consequence, whether arguably the most important chemical scaffold in glycobiology, N-acetyl-d-glucosamine (GlcNAc), deviates from a rigid (4)C(1) chair is unknown. Here, conformer populations and exchange kinetics were quantified from the longest aqueous carbohydrate simulations to date (0.2 ms total) of GlcNAc, four derivatives from heparan sulfate and their methylglycosides. Unmodified GlcNAc took 3-5 ?s to reach a conformational equilibrium, which comprised a metastable (4)C(1) chair that underwent (4)C(1) ? (1)C(4) transitions at a predicted forward rate of 0.8 ?s(-1) with an average (1)C(4)-chair lifetime of 3 ns. These predictions agree with high-resolution crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance but not with the hypothesis that GlcNAc is a rigid (4)C(1) chair, concluded from previous experimental analyses and non-aqueous modeling. The methylglycoside was calculated to have a slower forward rate (0.3 ?s(-1)) and a more stable (4)C(1) conformer (0.2 kcal mol(-1)), suggesting that pivotal 3D intermediates (particularly (2)S(O), (1)S(5) and B(2,5)) increased in energy, and water was implicated as a major cause. Sulfonation (N-, 3-O and 6-O) significantly augmented this effect by blocking pseudorotation, but did not alter the rotational preferences of hydroyxl or hydroxymethyl groups. We therefore propose that GlcNAc undergoes puckering exchange that is dependent on polymerization and sulfo substituents. Our analyses, and 3D model of the equilibrium GlcNAc conformer in water, can be used as dictionary data and present new opportunities to rationally modify puckering and carbohydrate bioactivity, with diverse applications from improving crop yields to disease amelioration.

SUBMITTER: Sattelle BM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3219419 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Is N-acetyl-D-glucosamine a rigid 4C1 chair?

Sattelle Benedict M BM Almond Andrew A

Glycobiology 20110801 12

Understanding microsecond-timescale dynamics is crucial to establish three-dimensional (3D) structure-activity relationships in sugars but has been intractable to experiments and simulations. As a consequence, whether arguably the most important chemical scaffold in glycobiology, N-acetyl-d-glucosamine (GlcNAc), deviates from a rigid (4)C(1) chair is unknown. Here, conformer populations and exchange kinetics were quantified from the longest aqueous carbohydrate simulations to date (0.2 ms total) ...[more]

PMID: 21807769

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Project description:NagA is a member of the amidohydrolase superfamily and catalyzes the deacetylation of N-acetyl-d-glucosamine-6-phosphate. The catalytic mechanism of this enzyme was addressed by the characterization of the catalytic properties of metal-substituted derivatives of NagA from Escherichia coli with a variety of substrate analogues. The reaction mechanism is of interest since NagA from bacterial sources is found with either one or two divalent metal ions in the active site. This observation indicates that there has been a divergence in the evolution of NagA and suggests that there are fundamental differences in the mechanistic details for substrate activation and hydrolysis. NagA from E. coli was inactivated by the removal of the zinc bound to the active site and the apoenzyme reactivated upon incubation with 1 equiv of Zn2+, Cd2+, Co2+, Mn2+, Ni2+, or Fe2+. In the proposed catalytic mechanism the reaction is initiated by the polarization of the carbonyl group of the substrate via a direct interaction with the divalent metal ion and His-143. The invariant aspartate (Asp-273) found at the end of beta-strand 8 in all members of the amidohydrolase superfamily abstracts a proton from the metal-bound water molecule (or hydroxide) to promote the hydrolytic attack on the carbonyl group of the substrate. A tetrahedral intermediate is formed and then collapses with cleavage of the C-N bond after proton transfer to the leaving group amine by Asp-273. The lack of a solvent isotope effect by D2O and the absence of any changes to the kinetic constants with increases in solvent viscosity indicate that net product formation is not limited to any significant extent by proton-transfer steps or the release of products. N-Trifluoroacetyl-d-glucosamine-6-phosphate is hydrolyzed by NagA 26-fold faster than the corresponding N-acetyl derivative. This result is consistent with the formation or collapse of the tetrahedral intermediate as the rate limiting step in the catalytic mechanism of NagA.

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Is N-acetyl-D-glucosamine a rigid 4C1 chair?

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Is N-acetyl-D-glucosamine a rigid 4C1 chair?

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