Observation of Thiamin-Bound Intermediates and Microscopic Rate Constants for Their Interconversion on 1-Deoxy-d-xylulose 5-Phosphate Synthase: 600-Fold Rate Acceleration of Pyruvate Decarboxylation by d-Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate.

The thiamin diphosphate (ThDP)-dependent enzyme 1-deoxy-d-xylulose 5-phosphate (DXP) synthase carries out the condensation of pyruvate as a 2-hydroxyethyl donor with d-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (d-GAP) as acceptor forming DXP. Toward understanding catalysis of this potential anti-infective drug target, we examined the pathway of the enzyme using steady state and presteady state kinetic methods. It was found that DXP synthase stabilizes the ThDP-bound predecarboxylation intermediate formed between ThDP and pyruvate (C2α-lactylThDP or LThDP) in the absence of d-GAP, while addition of d-GAP enhanced the rate of decarboxylation by at least 600-fold. We postulate that decarboxylation requires formation of a ternary complex with both LThDP and d-GAP bound, and the central enzyme-bound enamine reacts with d-GAP to form DXP. This appears to be the first study of a ThDP enzyme where the individual rate constants could be evaluated by time-resolved circular dichroism spectroscopy, and the results could have releva...