In
enzymology
Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. A ...
, a phosphoribosylanthranilate isomerase (PRAI) () is an
enzyme that
catalyzes
Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recyc ...
the third step of the
synthesis of the amino acid tryptophan.
This enzyme participates in the
phenylalanine
Phenylalanine (symbol Phe or F) is an essential α-amino acid with the formula . It can be viewed as a benzyl group substituted for the methyl group of alanine, or a phenyl group in place of a terminal hydrogen of alanine. This essential amino a ...
,
tyrosine and
tryptophan biosynthesis
Biosynthesis is a multi-step, enzyme-catalyzed process where substrates are converted into more complex products in living organisms. In biosynthesis, simple compounds are modified, converted into other compounds, or joined to form macromolecules. ...
pathway, also known as the
aromatic amino acid biosynthesis pathway
In yeast, it is encoded by the ''TRP1'' gene.
Nomenclature
This enzyme belongs to the family of
isomerases, specifically those intramolecular
oxidoreductases interconverting
aldose
An aldose is a monosaccharide (a simple sugar) with a carbon backbone chain with a carbonyl group on the endmost carbon atom, making it an aldehyde, and hydroxyl groups connected to all the other carbon atoms. Aldoses can be distinguished from keto ...
s and
ketoses. The
systematic name of this enzyme class is N-(5-phospho-beta-D-ribosyl)anthranilate aldose-ketose-isomerase. Other names in common use include:
* PRA isomerase,
* PRAI,
* IGPS:PRAI (indole-3-glycerol-phosphate,
* synthetase/N-5'-phosphoribosylanthranilate isomerase complex), and
* N-(5-phospho-beta-D-ribosyl)anthranilate ketol-isomerase.
*xPRAI (monomeric variant in Saccharmyces cerevisiae)
*PRAI
L256-452(engineered variant of 1-(2-carboxy-phenylamino)-1-deoxy-D-ribulose 5-phosphate carboxylase: PRAI)
Reaction
Phosphoribosylanthranilate isomerase is one of the many enzymes within the biosynthesis pathway of tryptophan (an essential amino acid). The upstream* pathway substrates and intermediates are shown below (''Fig. 2'').
As seen in Fig. 3, N-(5'-phosphoribosyl)-anthranilate via this enzyme is converted into 1-(o-carboxyphenylamino)-1-deoxribulose 5-phosphate. As the name phosphoribosylanthranilate isomerase suggests, it functions as an
isomerase, rearranging the parts of the molecule without adding or removing molecules or atoms.
The reaction seen in ''Fig. 3'', is an intramolecular redox (reduction-oxidation) reaction.
Its first step involves a proton transfer. This product intermediate, an enolamine, is fluorescent, which is useful for kinetic studies
within this pathway.
However, this product is unstable, and quickly isomerases into an α-amino keto.
* Note: Upstream/Downstream are relative to the compounds/molecules directly involved in phosphoribosylanthranilate isomerase reaction
Kinetics
Michaelis–Menten kinetics data, is given in the table below for PRAI and indole-glycerol-phosphate synthase (IGPS, EC 4.1.1.48).
Structure
Depending on the microorganism PRAI's structure can vary between a mono-functional enzyme (
monomeric and
labile) or a stable bi-functional
dimeric enzyme. Within ''Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas putida, and Acinetobacter calcoaceticus'' the enzyme is monmeric.
In contrast, in
hyperthermophile ''
Thermotoga maritima,'' ''Escherichia coli'' (''Fig. 5''), ''Salmonella typhimurium'', and ''Aerobacter aerogenes'', and ''Serratia marcescens'', it is a bi-functional enzyme with indoleglycerol phosphate synthase as the paired enzyme.
The crystal structure has been characterized for a variety of the above listed microorganisms. The known 2.0 A
structure
A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...
of PRAI from Pyrococcus furiosus shows that tPRAI has a
TIM-barrel fold (''Fig. 6''). PRAI derived from ''Thermococcus kodakaraensis'' also expresses a similar TIM-barrel fold structure.
The
subunits of tPRAI associate via the N-terminal faces of their central
beta-barrels. Two long, symmetry-related
loops that protrude reciprocally into cavities of the other subunit provide for multiple
hydrophobic interactions. Moreover, the
side chains of the N-terminal
methionine
Methionine (symbol Met or M) () is an essential amino acid in humans. As the precursor of other amino acids such as cysteine and taurine, versatile compounds such as SAM-e, and the important antioxidant glutathione, methionine plays a critical ro ...
s and the C-terminal
leucines of both
subunits are immobilized in a
hydrophobic cluster, and the number of
salt bridges is increased in tPRAI. These features appear to be mainly responsible for the high
thermostability
In materials science and molecular biology, thermostability is the ability of a substance to resist irreversible change in its chemical or physical structure, often by resisting decomposition or polymerization, at a high relative temperature.
...
of tPRAI.

The bi-functional version of this enzyme isolated from ''E. Coli'' (''Fig. 5'') performs two steps within the Tryptophan pathway. Referencing ''Fig. 7'', the N-terminal catalyzes the IGPS reaction (residues ~1–289 purple), and the C-terminal domain performs the PRAI reaction (residues ~158–452 turquoise). Although these domains overlap (orange), the active sites are not overlapping, and studies have shown that mono-functional enzymes composing of these two domains are still able to produce a functional tryptophan bio-synthetic pathway.
The βα loops are responsible for the activity of this enzyme, and the αβ loops are involved in the protein's stability.
More details on the discovery of this enzyme's structure can be found in Willmann's paper.
[; ]
Active site
Specifically, for phosphoribosyl anthranilate isomerase, ''Tk''TrpF, from ''Thermococcus kodakaraensis.'' The active site for the Amadori rearrangement, was determined to be Cys8 (acting as the general base) and Asp135 (as the general acid).
Inhibitors
An
enzyme inhibitor is molecule that binds to an enzyme that therefore decreases the activity of the protein. The following molecules have been shown to inhibit PRAI activity:
Reduced 1-(2-carboxyphenylamino )-1-deoxy-D-ribulose 5-phosphate
Molecular weight
26300 (Bacillus subtilis, gel filtration)
45000 (Aeromonas formicans, Serratia marinorubra, gel filtration, indole-3-
glycerol-phosphate synthetase/N-5'-phosphoribosylanthranilate isomerase
complex)
46000 (E. coli, sedimentation equilibrium)
47000 (Citrobacter ballerupensis, gel filtration, indole-3-glycerol-phosphate
synthetase/N-5'-phosphoribosylanthranilate isomerase complex)
48000 (Serratia marcescens, Erwinia carotovora, gel filtration, indole-3-glycerol-phosphate synthetase/N-5'-phosphoribosylanthranilate
isomerase complex )
49370 (E. coli, calculated from gene sequence)
53000 (Proteus vulgaris, gel filtration, indole-3-glycerol-phosphate synthetase/
N-5'-phosphoribosylanthranilate isomerase complex)
160000 (Neurospora crassa, gel filtration, component lib of the anthranilate
synthetase complex has N-(5'-phosphoribosyl)anthranilate isomerase and
indole-3-glycerol phosphate synthetase activities)
185000 (Hansenula henricii, gel filtration, indole-3-glycerol-phosphate synthetase/
N-5'-phosphoribosylanthranilate isomerase complex)
Homologous genes
There are Homology (biology)">homologous
Homology may refer to:
Sciences
Biology
*Homology (biology), any characteristic of biological organisms that is derived from a common ancestor
*Sequence homology, biological homology between DNA, RNA, or protein sequences
* Homologous chrom ...
genes which produce this enzyme in plant species such as ''Arabidopsis thaliana'' and ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian Rice). One form of bacterium it is found in
Thermotoga maritima.
Phosphoribosylanthranilate isomerase is also found in various forms of fungi such as ''
Kluyveromyces lactis'' (yeast), ''
Saccharomyces cerevisiae'' (yeast), and ''
Ashbya gossypii
(also known as Ashbya gossypii) is a filamentous fungus or mold closely related to yeast, but growing exclusively in a filamentous way. It was originally isolated from cotton as a pathogen causing stigmatomycosis by Ashby and Nowell in 1926. T ...
''.
A list of genes encoding for PRAI can also be found on KEGG Enzyme database.
References
Further reading
*
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EC 5.3.1
Enzymes of known structure
Protein domains