Structure and mechanism of O-acetylserine sulfhydrylase

The O-acetylserine sulfhydrylase (OASS) from Salmonella typhimurium catalyzes a beta-replacement reaction in which the beta-acetoxy group of O-acetyl-L-serine (OAS) is replaced by bisulfide to give L-cysteine and acetate. The kinetic mechanism of OASS is ping-pong with a stable alpha-aminoacrylate intermediate. The enzyme is a homodimer with one pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) bound per subunit deep within the protein in a cleft between the N- and C-terminal domains of each of the monomers. All of the active site residues are contributed by a single subunit. The enzyme cycles through open and closed conformations as it catalyzes its reaction with structural changes largely limited to a subdomain of the N- terminal domain. The elimination of acetic acid from OAS is thought to proceed via an anti-E2 mechanism, and the only catalytic group identified to date is lysine 41, which originally participates in Schiff base linkage to PLP. The transition state for the elimination of acetic acid is thought to be asynchronous and earlier for C beta-O bond cleavage than for Calpha-H bond cleavage.