Identification and analysis of residues contained on β → α loops of the dual‐substrate (βα)8 phosphoribosyl isomerase A specific for its phosphoribosyl anthranilate isomerase activity

A good model to experimentally explore evolutionary hypothesis related to enzyme function is the ancient-like dual-substrate (βα)8 phosphoribosyl isomerase A (PriA), which takes part in both histidine and tryptophan biosynthesis in Streptomyces coelicolor and related organisms. In this study, we determined the Michaelis–Menten enzyme kinetics for both isomerase activities in wild-type PriA from S. coelicolor and in selected single-residue monofunctional mutants, identified after Escherichia coliin vivo complementation experiments. Structural and functional analyses of a hitherto unnoticed residue contained on the functionally important β → α loop 5, namely, Arg139, which was postulated on structural grounds to be important for the dual-substrate specificity of PriA, is presented for the first time. Indeed, enzyme kinetics analyses done on the mutant variants PriA_Ser81Thr and PriA_Arg139Asn showed that these residues, which are contained on β → α loops and in close proximity to the N-terminal phosphate-binding site, are essential solely for the phosphoribosyl anthranilate isomerase activity of PriA. Moreover, analysis of the X-ray crystallographic structure of PriA_Arg139Asn elucidated at 1.95 A herein strongly implicates the occurrence of conformational changes in this β → α loop as a major structural feature related to the evolution of the dual-substrate specificity of PriA. It is suggested that PriA has evolved by tuning a fine energetic balance that allows the sufficient degree of structural flexibility needed for accommodating two topologically dissimilar substrates—within a bifunctional and thus highly constrained active site—without compromising its structural stability.