A Trojan horse transition state analogue generated by MgF 3 − formation in an enzyme active site

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Abstract
Identifying how enzymes stabilize high-energy species along the reaction pathway is central to explaining their enormous rate acceleration. β-Phosphoglucomutase catalyses the isomerization of β-glucose-1-phosphate to β-glucose-6-phosphate and appeared to be unique in its ability to stabilize a high-energy pentacoordinate phosphorane intermediate sufficiently to be directly observable in the enzyme active site. Using 19 F-NMR and kinetic analysis, we report that the complex that forms is not the postulated high-energy reaction intermediate, but a deceptively similar transition state analogue in which MgF 3 − mimics the transferring PO 3 − moiety. Here we present a detailed characterization of the metal ion–fluoride complex bound to the enzyme active site in solution, which reveals the molecular mechanism for fluoride inhibition of β-phosphoglucomutase. This NMR methodology has a general application in identifying specific interactions between fluoride complexes and proteins and resolving structural assignments that are indistinguishable by x-ray crystallography.