D-Ornithine coopts pyrrolysine biosynthesis to make and insert pyrroline-carboxy-lysine

  • Nat Chem Biol. 2011 Apr 27;7(8):528-30. doi: 10.1038/nchembio.586.
Susan E Cellitti  1 ,  Weijia Ou ,  Hsien-Po Chiu ,  Jan Grünewald ,  David H Jones ,  Xueshi Hao ,  Qian Fan ,  Lisa L Quinn ,  Kenneth Ng ,  Andrew T Anfora ,  Scott A Lesley ,  Tetsuo Uno ,  Ansgar Brock ,  Bernhard H Geierstanger
Affiliations
  • 1. Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, San Diego, California, USA.
PMID: 21525873 DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.586
Abstract

D-ornithine has previously been suggested to enhance the expression of pyrrolysine-containing proteins. We unexpectedly discovered that uptake of D-ornithine results in the insertion of a new amino acid, pyrroline-carboxy-lysine (Pcl) instead of the anticipated pyrrolysine (Pyl). Our feeding and biochemical studies point to specific roles of the poorly understood Pyl biosynthetic Enzymes PylC and PylD in converting L-lysine and D-ornithine to Pcl and confirm intermediates in the biosynthesis of Pyl.

Products