The 1.8 A structures of leech intramolecular trans-sialidase complexes: evidence of its enzymatic mechanism.
Luo, Y., Li, S.C., Li, Y.T., Luo, M.(1999) J Mol Biol 285: 323-332
- PubMed: 9878409 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1006/jmbi.1998.2345
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
2SLI, 3SLI, 4SLI - PubMed Abstract: 
Intramolecular trans-sialidase from leech (Macrobdella decora) is the first member of the sialidase superfamily found to exhibit strict specificity towards the cleavage of terminal Neu5Acalpha2-->3Gal linkage in sialoglycoconjugates. Its release of 2,7-anhydro-Neu5Ac instead of Neu5Ac indicates that it catalyzes an intramolecular trans-sialosyl reaction. Crystal structures of its complexes with an inactive substrate analogue 2-propenyl-Neu5Ac, and with the product 2,7-anhydro-Neu5Ac, have been determined to 1.8 A resolution. The boat conformation of the pyranose observed in the complexes supports the proposed enzymatic mechanism that O7 of an axial 6-glycerol group attacks the positively charged C2 of the intermediate. A generalized mechanism is proposed for the sialidase superfamily.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Center for Macromolecular Crystallography, University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA.