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The evolution of glutamate synthase

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Abstract

DNA coding for the ferredoxin-dependent glutamate synthase (EC1.4.7.1) of spinach chloroplasts has been cloned and sequenced. It consists of 5015 bp and starts with the codon for the N-terminal cysteine of the mature protein. Ferredoxin-dependent glutamate synthase is one of the key enzymes in the early stages of ammonia assimilation in plants, algae and cyanobacteria. In addition to the ferredoxin-dependent enzyme, there are two other forms of glutamate synthase, one of which uses NADH as the electron donor and a second that uses NADPH. Although all three forms catalyze the reductive transamidation of the amido nitrogen from glutamine to 2-oxoglutarate to form two molecules of glutamate, ferredoxin-dependent glutamate synthases differ from the NADH and NADPH-dependent forms in subunit composition and amino acid sequence. The recent availability of sequence data for glutamate synthases from spinach and from two archael species has produced a clearer and more detailed picture of the evolution of this key enzyme in nitrogen metabolism and the origins of the two subunit/domain structure of the enzyme.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, and Biochemistry, USA

    H. Benan Dincturk & David B. Knaff

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  1. H. Benan Dincturk
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  2. David B. Knaff
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Dincturk, H.B., Knaff, D.B. The evolution of glutamate synthase. Mol Biol Rep 27, 141–148 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007107909619

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