2025/01/01 by Carlos Josué Alvarez Quispe, Koen Beerens, A.M.W.H. Thunnissen +3 · 2 voices
Materials Science · Medicine · #Diet, Metabolism, and Disease #Enzyme Structure and Function #Pancreatic function and diabetes
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.csbj.2025.05.037
openalex publication_date 2025/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
UDP-galactose 4-epimerases (Gal4Es) catalyze the inversion of the 4-hydroxyl configuration of a sugar moiety from an NDP-sugar through a three-step process: oxidation, rotation and reduction. Despite extensive biochemical and structural studies, the role of protein dynamics on substrate specificity remains poorly understood. The recently identified subgroup of GDP-sugar 4-epimerases, notable for its exceptional substrate promiscuity, provides an intriguing model to investigate the role of dynamics in the Gal4E catalytic mechanism and the unique promiscuity of the subgroup.