Glutamate 2,3-aminomutase () is an enzyme that belongs to the radical SAM enzymes superfamily. These enzymes facilitate the reductive cleavage of S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) through the use of radical chemistry and an ironâÂÂsulfur cluster. This enzyme family is implicated in the biosynthesis of DNA precursors, vitamin, cofactor, antibiotic and herbicides and in biodegradation pathways. In particular, glutamate 2,3 aminomutase is involved in the conversion of <small>L</small>-ñ-glutamate to <small>L</small>-ò-glutamate in Clostridioides difficile. The generalized reaction is shown below:
This enzyme is closely related to lysine 2,3-aminomutase (LAM) and is thought to use similar cofactors and has a similar reaction mechanism. Experimental evidence suggests that glutamate 2,3 aminomutase uses a pyridoxal 5-phosphate cofactor to catalyze the reaction shown. The pyridoxal 5-phosphate cofactor (Vitamin B<sub>6</sub>) is heavily utilized by enzymes that catalyze amino acid transformations.
By comparing the amino acid sequences of a closely related enzyme to glutamate 2,3-aminomutase, lysine 2,3-aminomutase, researchers were able to identify key catalytic residues in glutamate 2,3-aminomutase that are distinguishing from similar aminomutases. In the case of lysine 2,3-aminomutase, lysine is bound to the enzyme in the active state, whereas glutamate 2,3-aminomutase has glutamate bound in the active state. Both enzymes appear to bind ñ-carboxylate groups on their respective amino acid substrates in a similar manner using arginine residues at positions 134 (lysine 2,3 aminomutase) and 173 (glutamate 2,3-aminomutase). However, the binding of the amino acid side chains differs because lysine confers basic properties where as glutamate confers acidic properties. The proposed identifying residues of a glutamate 2,3-aminomutase are Lys332 and Asn369 which likely bind the óâÂÂcarboxylate group of glutamate. This is the key difference from lysine 2,3-aminomutase because that enzyme uses Asp293 and Asp330 to bind the õâÂÂaminium group of lysine. The proposed differences lead to a unique hydrogen bonding pattern to further distinguish glutamate 2,3-aminomutases from lysine 2,3-aminomutases which is shown here:
Based on high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy techniques, the subsequent proposed glutamate 2,3-aminomutase reaction scheme is shown below: