Role of a Highly Conserved and Catalytically Important Glutamate-49 in the Enterococcus faecalis Acetolactate Synthase

Acetolactate synthase (ALS) is a thiamine diphosphate (ThDP)-dependent enzyme that catalyzes the decarboxylation of pyruvate and then condenses the hydroxyethyl moiety with another molecule of pyruvate to give 2-acetolactate (AL). AL is a key metabolic intermediate in various metabolic pathways of microorganisms. In addition, AL can be converted to acetoin, an important physiological metabolite that is excreted by many microorganisms. There are two types of ALSs reported in the literature, anabolic aceto-hydroxyacid synthase (AHAS) and catabolic ALSs (cALS). The anabolic AHAS is primarily found in plants, fungi, and bacteria, is involved in the biosynthesis of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), and contains flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), whereas the cALS is found only in some bacteria and is involved in the butanediol fermentation pathway. Both of the enzymes are ThDP-dependent and require a divalent metal ion for catalytic activity. Despite the similarities of the reactions catalyzed, the cALS can be distinguished from anabolic AHAS by a low optimal pH of about 6.0, FAD-independent functionality, a genetic location within the butanediol operon, and lack of a regulatory subunit. It is noteworthy that the structural and functional features of AHAS have been extensively studied, in contrast to those of cALS, for which only limited information is available. To date, the only crystal structure of cALS reported is from Klebsiella pneumonia, which revealed that the overall structure of K. pneumonia ALS is similar to that of AHAS except for the FAD binding region found in AHAS