Molecular dynamics studies of ground state and intermediate of the hyperthermophilic indole-3-glycerol phosphate synthase.

Indole-3-glycerol phosphate synthase catalyzes the terminal ring closure step in tryptophan biosynthesis. In this paper, we compare the results from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of enzyme-bound substrate at 298, 333, 363, and 385 K and the enzyme-bound intermediate at 385 K, solvated in TIP3P water box with a CHARMM force field. Results from MD simulations agree with experimental studies supporting the observation that Lys-110 is the general acid. Based on its location in the active site during the MD simulations, Glu-210 warrants classification as the general base instead of the previously proposed Glu-159. We find that the relative population of the reactive enzyme-substrate Michaelis conformers [near attack conformers (NACs)] with temperature correlates well (correlation coefficient of 0.96) with the relative activity of this thermophilic enzyme. At higher temperature, the enzyme-substrate electrostatic interaction favors the binding of the substrate in NAC conformation, whereas, at lower temperature, the substrate is distorted and bound in a nonreactive conformation. This change is reflected in the approximately 1,100-fold increase in population of NACs at 385 K relative to 298 K. The easily determined population of NACs at given temperature tells much about the thermophilic property of the enzyme. Thus, the hyperthermophilic enzyme has evolved to have optimum activity at high temperatures, and, with lowering of the temperature, the electrostatic interaction at the active site is enhanced and the structure is deformed. This model can be regarded as a general explanation for the activity of hyperthermophilic enzymes.