Cys/Met metabolism PLP-dependent enzyme family
In molecular biology, the Cys/Met metabolism PLP-dependent enzyme family is a family of proteins including enzymes involved in cysteine and methionine metabolism which use PLP (pyridoxal-5'-phosphate) as a cofactor. Mechanism of action. PLP is employed as it binds to amino groups and stabilises carbanion intermediates. PLP enzymes exist in their resting state as a Schiff base, the aldehyde group of PLP forming a linkage with the epsilon-amino group of an active site lysine residue on the enzyme. The alpha-amino group of the substrate displaces the lysine epsilon-amino group , in the process forming a new aldimine with the substrate. This aldimine is the common central intermediate for all PLP-catalysed reactions, enzymatic and non-enzymatic. Function. PLP is the active form of vitamin B6 (pyridoxine or pyridoxal). PLP is a versatile catalyst, acting as a coenzyme in a multitude of reactions, including decarboxylation, deamination and transamination. A number of pyridoxal-dependent enzymes involved in the metabolism of cysteine, homocysteine and methionine have been shown to be evolutionary related. These enzymes are tetrameric proteins of about 400 amino-acid residues. Each monomer has an active site, which however requires the  N-terminal of another monomer to be completed (salt bridges to phosphate and entrance way). The phosphopyridoxyl group is attached to a lysine residue located in the central section of these enzymes and is stabilised by π-stacking interactions with a tyrosine residue above it. Family members. There are five different structurally related types of PLP enzymes. Members of this family belong to the type I and are: Note: MetC, metB, metZ are closely related and have fuzzy boundaries so fall under the same NCBI orthologue cluster (COG0626).