Specificity in lipases: A computational study of transesterification of sucrose

Computational conformational searches of putative transition states of the reaction of sucrose with vinyl laurate catalyzed by lipases from Candida antarctica B and Thermomyces lanuginosus have been carried out. The dielectric of the media have been varied to understand the role of protein plasticit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Protein Science
Main Authors: Fuentes, Gloria, Ballesteros, Anthonio, Verma, Chandra S.
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press 2004
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2287317
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15557256
https://doi.org/10.1110/ps.04724504
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Summary:Computational conformational searches of putative transition states of the reaction of sucrose with vinyl laurate catalyzed by lipases from Candida antarctica B and Thermomyces lanuginosus have been carried out. The dielectric of the media have been varied to understand the role of protein plasticity in modulating the observed regioselective transesterification. The binding pocket of lipase from Candida adapts to the conformational variability of the various substates of the substrates by small, local adjustments within the binding pocket. In contrast, the more constrained pocket of the lipase from Thermomyces adapts by adjusting through concerted global motions between subdomains. This leads to the identification of one large pocket in Candida that accommodates both the sucrose and the lauroyl moieties of the transition state, whereas in Thermomyces the binding pocket is smaller, leading to the localization of the two moieties in two distinct pockets; this partly rationalizes the broader specificity of the former relative to the latter. Mutations have been suggested to exploit the differences towards changing the observed selectivities.