Isopenicillin-N synthase (IPNS) is a non-heme iron-dependent enzyme

Enzyme

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...

 belonging to the oxidoreductase

Oxidoreductase

In biochemistry, an oxidoreductase is an enzyme that catalyzes the transfer of electrons from one molecule to another...

 family. This enzyme catalyzes the formation of isopenicillin-N from δ-(L-α-aminoadipoyl)-L-cysteinyl-D-valine (LLD-ACV).

N-[(5S)-5-amino-5-carboxypentanoyl]-L-cysteinyl-D-valine + O₂ isopenicillin N + 2 H₂O

This reaction is a key step in the biosynthesis

Biosynthesis

Biosynthesis is an enzyme-catalyzed process in cells of living organisms by which substrates are converted to more complex products. The biosynthesis process often consists of several enzymatic steps in which the product of one step is used as substrate in the following step...

 of penicillin

Penicillin

Penicillin is a group of antibiotics derived from Penicillium fungi. They include penicillin G, procaine penicillin, benzathine penicillin, and penicillin V....

 and cephalosporin

Cephalosporin

The cephalosporins are a class of β-lactam antibiotics originally derived from Acremonium, which was previously known as "Cephalosporium".Together with cephamycins they constitute a subgroup of β-lactam antibiotics called cephems.-Medical use:...

 antibiotics.

The active site

Active site

In biology the active site is part of an enzyme where substrates bind and undergo a chemical reaction. The majority of enzymes are proteins but RNA enzymes called ribozymes also exist. The active site of an enzyme is usually found in a cleft or pocket that is lined by amino acid residues that...

 of most isopenicillin-N synthase

Synthase

In biochemistry, a synthase is an enzyme that catalyses a synthesis process.Following the EC number classification, they belong to the group of ligases, with lyases catalysing the reverse reaction....

s contains an iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

 ion

Ion

An ion is an atom or molecule in which the total number of electrons is not equal to the total number of protons, giving it a net positive or negative electrical charge. The name was given by physicist Michael Faraday for the substances that allow a current to pass between electrodes in a...

.
This enzyme is also called isopenicillin N synthetase.

Mechanism

A Fe(II) metal ion in the active site of the enzyme is coordinated by at least two histidine

Histidine

Histidine Histidine, an essential amino acid, has a positively charged imidazole functional group. It is one of the 22 proteinogenic amino acids. Its codons are CAU and CAC. Histidine was first isolated by German physician Albrecht Kossel in 1896. Histidine is an essential amino acid in humans...

 residues, an aspartate residue, a glutamine

Glutamine

Glutamine is one of the 20 amino acids encoded by the standard genetic code. It is not recognized as an essential amino acid but may become conditionally essential in certain situations, including intensive athletic training or certain gastrointestinal disorders...

 residue, and two water

Water

Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...

 molecule

Molecule

A molecule is an electrically neutral group of at least two atoms held together by covalent chemical bonds. Molecules are distinguished from ions by their electrical charge...

s in the absence of a bound substrate

Substrate (biochemistry)

In biochemistry, a substrate is a molecule upon which an enzyme acts. Enzymes catalyze chemical reactions involving the substrate. In the case of a single substrate, the substrate binds with the enzyme active site, and an enzyme-substrate complex is formed. The substrate is transformed into one or...

. Just two histidine residues and one aspartic acid residue are entirely conserved. Therefore, it is highly significant that these two histidine residues, His214 and His270, and one aspartic acid residue, Asp216, are precisely the ones essential for activity. When ACV binds the active site, Gln330 and one water molecule are replaced by the ACV thiolate.



The linear tripeptide δ-(L-α-aminoadipoyl)-L-cysteinyl-D-valine (LLD-ACV) must first be assembled from its component amino acids by N-(5-amino-5-carboxypentanoyl)-L-cysteinyl-D-valine synthase

N-(5-amino-5-carboxypentanoyl)-L-cysteinyl-D-valine synthase

In enzymology, a N--L-cysteinyl-D-valine synthase is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reactionThe 5 substrates of this enzyme are ATP, L-2-aminohexanedioate, L-cysteine, L-valine, and H2O, whereas its 3 products are AMP, diphosphate, and...

 (ACV synthase). This allows for the binding of the substrate ACV to the deprotonated thiol group of the cysteine

Cysteine

Cysteine is an α-amino acid with the chemical formula HO2CCHCH2SH. It is a non-essential amino acid, which means that it is biosynthesized in humans. Its codons are UGU and UGC. The side chain on cysteine is thiol, which is polar and thus cysteine is usually classified as a hydrophilic amino acid...

 residue. This ligation

Chemical ligation

Chemical ligation is a set of techniques used for creating long peptide or protein chains. It is the second step of a convergent approach. First, smaller peptides containing 30-50 amino acids are prepared by conventional chemical peptide synthesis. Then, they are completely deprotected...

 of the thiolate to the iron center anchors the ACV within the active site.

The ligation of ACV results in a reduction

Redox

Redox reactions describe all chemical reactions in which atoms have their oxidation state changed....

 of the FeI/FeII redox potential. This allows dioxygen to bind, which changes the oxidation state

Oxidation state

In chemistry, the oxidation state is an indicator of the degree of oxidation of an atom in a chemical compound. The formal oxidation state is the hypothetical charge that an atom would have if all bonds to atoms of different elements were 100% ionic. Oxidation states are typically represented by...

, initiating the reaction cycle. An intramolecular hydrogen

Hydrogen

Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...

 transfer takes place from C-3 of the cysteine residue, taking the iron back to the +II state. A thioaldehyde and a hydroperoxy ligand are produced in this process. The hydroperoxy ligand deprotonates the amide which then closes the β-lactam ring by a nucleophilic attack at the thioaldehyde carbon.

This causes the hydrogen atom at the C-3 of the valine

Valine

Valine is an α-amino acid with the chemical formula HO2CCHCH2. L-Valine is one of 20 proteinogenic amino acids. Its codons are GUU, GUC, GUA, and GUG. This essential amino acid is classified as nonpolar...

 residue to come closer to the iron(IV) oxo ligand which is highly electrophilic. A second hydrogen transfer occurs, most likely producing an isopropyl radical which closes the thiazolidine

Thiazolidine

Thiazolidines are a class of heterocyclic organic compounds with a 5-membered saturated ring with a thioether group and an amine group in the 1 and 3 positions, respectively. It is a sulfur analogue of oxazolidine. The drug pioglitazone contains a thiazolidine ring. It is a drug usually indicated...

 ring by attacking the thiolate sulfur

Sulfur

Sulfur or sulphur is the chemical element with atomic number 16. In the periodic table it is represented by the symbol S. It is an abundant, multivalent non-metal. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow...

 atom.

Role in Antibiotic Formation

Following the IPNS pathway, further enzymes are responsible for the epimerization of isopenicillin N to penicillin N, the derivitazation to other penicillins, and the ring expansion that eventually leads to the various cephalosporins.

This shows how IPNS occupies an early and key role in the biosynthetic pathway of all of the penicillins and cephalosporins, which are different types of β-lactam antibiotics. This class of antibiotics is the most widely used of any available antibiotic available. They act by inhibiting the synthesis of the peptidoglycan

Peptidoglycan

Peptidoglycan, also known as murein, is a polymer consisting of sugars and amino acids that forms a mesh-like layer outside the plasma membrane of bacteria , forming the cell wall. The sugar component consists of alternating residues of β- linked N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetylmuramic acid...

 layer of bacterial cell wall

Cell wall

The cell wall is the tough, usually flexible but sometimes fairly rigid layer that surrounds some types of cells. It is located outside the cell membrane and provides these cells with structural support and protection, and also acts as a filtering mechanism. A major function of the cell wall is to...

s, which is especially important in Gram-positive organisms.

There are several types of penicillins that can be used to treat different kinds of infection

Infection

An infection is the colonization of a host organism by parasite species. Infecting parasites seek to use the host's resources to reproduce, often resulting in disease...

s such as skin infections, dental infections, ear infections, respiratory tract infections, urinary tract infections, gonorrhea, and other infections caused by bacteria

Bacteria

Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...

. They will not work for infections cause by virus

Virus

A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...

es, such as colds or the flu.

Structural studies

As of late 2007, 26 structures

Tertiary structure

In biochemistry and molecular biology, the tertiary structure of a protein or any other macromolecule is its three-dimensional structure, as defined by the atomic coordinates.-Relationship to primary structure:...

 have been solved for this class of enzymes, with PDB

Protein Data Bank

The Protein Data Bank is a repository for the 3-D structural data of large biological molecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids....

accession codes , , , , , , , , , , , , 2JB4, 1QJE, 1ODN, 1HB1, 1HB2, 1HB3, 1HB4, 1QIQ, 1QJF, 1BK0, 1BLZ, 1OBN, 1OC1, 1IPS