Transfer of pro-R hydrogen from NADH to dihydroxyacetonephosphate by sn-glycerol-1-phosphate dehydrogenase from the Archaeon Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus

sn-Glycerol-1-phosphate dehydrogenase is responsible for the formation of the sn-glycerol-1-phosphate backbone of archaeal lipids. [4-H-3]NADH that had H-3 at the R side was produced from [4-H-3]NAD and glucose with glucose dehydrogenase (a pro-S type enzyme). The H-3 of this [4-H-3]NADH was transferred to dihydroxyacetonephosphate during the sn-glycerol-1-phosphate dehydrogenase reaction. On the contrary, in a similar reaction using alcohol dehydrogenase (a pro-R type enzyme), H-3 was not incorporated into glycerophosphate. These results confirmed a prediction of the tertiary structure of sn-glycerol-1-phosphate dehydrogenase by homology modeling.