Mutagenesis of the conserved tyrosine (Y370) of the
Micromonospora viridifaciens sialidaseto small amino acids changes the mechanism of catalysis from retention of anomeric configuration toinversion [
Watson, J. N., et al. (2003)
Biochemistry 42, 12682-12690]. For the Y370G mutant enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis of a series of aryl sialosides and 3'-sialyllactose, the derived Br
nsted parameters(
lg) on
kcat and
kcat/
Km are -0.63 ± 0.05 and -0.80 ± 0.08, respectively. Thus, for the Y370G enzyme,glycosidic C-O bond cleavage is rate-determining. Analysis of the activity of the Y370G mutant andwild-type enzymes against a substrate [3,4-dihydro-2
H-pyrano[3,2-
c]pyridinium
-
D-
N-acetylneuraminide(DHP-
Neu5Ac)] whose hydrolysis cannot be accelerated by acid catalysis is consistent with these reactionsproceeding via S
N1 and S
N2 mechanisms, respectively. The overall structure of the Y370G mutant sialidaseactive site is very similar to the previously reported wild-type structure [Gaskell, A., et al. (1995)
Structure3, 1197-1205], although removal of the tyrosine residue creates two significant changes to the activesite. First, the anomeric oxygen atom of the hydrolysis product (
-
N-acetylneuraminic acid) and fourwater molecules bind in the large cavity created by the Y370G mutation. Second, the side chain of Asn310moves to make a strong hydrogen bond to one of the bound water molecules.