Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:1.5.1.3 (dihydrofolate reductase)
 5,819 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Accumulating experimental evidence suggests that the occurrence of hydrogen tunneling is likely to be widespread in enzyme-catalyzed reactions. The realization that hydrogen can transfer via tunneling mechanisms has far-reaching implications for our understanding of enzyme catalysis involving proton, hydride or hydrogen atom transfer reactions. The current status of the field is highlighted by three enzyme systems that have been under intensive study in recent years, including soybean lipoxygenase-1, thermophilic alcohol dehydrogenase and dihydrofolate reductase. Particular attention has been devoted to the issues of whether protein dynamics modulate hydrogen tunneling probability and whether the tunneling process contributes to the catalytic power of enzymes.
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PMID:Structural bases of hydrogen tunneling in enzymes: progress and puzzles. 1558 87

Theoretical perspectives on hydrogen transfer reactions in enzymes are presented. The proton-coupled electron transfer reaction catalyzed by soybean lipoxygenase and the hydride transfer reaction catalyzed by dihydrofolate reductase are discussed. The first reaction is nonadiabatic and involves two distinct electronic states, while the second reaction is predominantly adiabatic and occurs on the electronic ground state. Theoretical studies indicate that hydrogen tunneling and protein motion play significant roles in both reactions. In both cases, the proton donor-acceptor distance decreases relative to its equilibrium value to enable efficient hydrogen tunneling. Equilibrium thermal motions of the protein lead to conformational changes that facilitate hydrogen transfer, but the nonequilibrium dynamical aspects of these motions have negligible impact.
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PMID:Hydrogen tunneling and protein motion in enzyme reactions. 1648 28

Transfer of hydrogen as a proton, hydride or hydrogen atom is an important step in many enzymic reactions. Experiments show kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) for some enzyme-catalysed hydrogen transfer reactions that deviate significantly from the limits imposed by considering the differences in mass of the isotopes alone (i.e. the semiclassical limit). These KIEs can be explained if the transfer of the hydrogen species occurs via a quantum mechanical tunnelling mechanism. The unusual temperature dependence of some KIEs has led to suggestions that enzymes have evolved to promote tunnelling through dynamics - a highly controversial hypothesis. Molecular simulations have a vital role in resolving these questions, providing a level of detail of analysis not possible through experiments alone. Here, we review computational molecular modelling studies of quantum tunnelling in enzymes, in particular focusing on the enzymes soybean lipoxygenase-1 (SLO-1), dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), methylamine dehydrogenase (MADH) and aromatic amine dehydrogenase (AADH) to illustrate the current controversy regarding the importance of quantum effects in enzyme catalysis.
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PMID:Computer simulations of quantum tunnelling in enzyme-catalysed hydrogen transfer reactions. 2064 Jul 99

This brief review analyzes the underlying physical principles of enzyme catalysis, with an emphasis on the role of equilibrium enzyme motions and conformational sampling. The concepts are developed in the context of three representative systems, namely, dihydrofolate reductase, ketosteroid isomerase, and soybean lipoxygenase. All of these reactions involve hydrogen transfer, but many of the concepts discussed are more generally applicable. The factors that are analyzed in this review include hydrogen tunneling, proton donor-acceptor motion, hydrogen bonding, pKa shifting, electrostatics, preorganization, reorganization, and conformational motions. The rate constant for the chemical step is determined primarily by the free energy barrier, which is related to the probability of sampling configurations conducive to the chemical reaction. According to this perspective, stochastic thermal motions lead to equilibrium conformational changes in the enzyme and ligands that result in configurations favorable for the breaking and forming of chemical bonds. For proton, hydride, and proton-coupled electron transfer reactions, typically the donor and acceptor become closer to facilitate the transfer. The impact of mutations on the catalytic rate constants can be explained in terms of the factors enumerated above. In particular, distal mutations can alter the conformational motions of the enzyme and therefore the probability of sampling configurations conducive to the chemical reaction. Methods such as vibrational Stark spectroscopy, in which environmentally sensitive probes are introduced site-specifically into the enzyme, provide further insight into these aspects of enzyme catalysis through a combination of experiments and theoretical calculations.
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PMID:Catalytic efficiency of enzymes: a theoretical analysis. 2324 Jul 65