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We are deeply saddened by the passing of Amos Bairoch (1957–2025), the creator of PROSITE. We wish to dedicate our latest paper, published shortly before his death, to him. He will always be a source of inspiration to us.
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Amos Bairoch

PROSITE documentation PDOC00165
Isopenicillin N synthase signatures


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PURL: https://purl.expasy.org/prosite/documentation/PDOC00165

Description

Isopenicillin N synthase (EC 1.21.3.1) (IPNS) [1,2] is a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of penicillin and cephalosporin. In the presence of oxygen, it removes iron and ascorbate, four hydrogen atoms from L-(α-aminoadipyl)-L-cysteinyl-d-valine to form the azetidinone and thiazolidine rings of isopenicillin. IPNS is an enzyme of about 330 amino-acid residues. Two cysteines are conserved in fungal and bacterial IPNS sequences; these may be involved in iron-binding and/or substrate-binding.

Cephalosporium acremonium DAOCS/DACS [3] is a bifunctional enzyme involved in cephalosporin biosynthesis. The DAOCS domain, which is structurally related to IPNS, catalyzes the step from penicillin N to deacetoxy-cephalosporin C - used as a substrate by DACS to form deacetylcephalosporin C. Streptomyces clavuligerus possesses a monofunctional DAOCS enzyme (gene cefE) [4] also related to IPNS.

We derived two signature patterns for these enzymes, centered around the conserved cysteine residues.

Last update:

May 2004 / Text revised.

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Technical section

PROSITE methods (with tools and information) covered by this documentation:

IPNS_1, PS00185; Isopenicillin N synthase signature 1  (PATTERN)

IPNS_2, PS00186; Isopenicillin N synthase signature 2  (PATTERN)


References

1AuthorsMartin J.F.
SourceTrends Biotechnol. 5:306-308(1987).

2AuthorsChen G. Shiffman D. Mevarech M. Aharonowitz Y.
SourceTrends Biotechnol. 8:105-111(1990).

3AuthorsSamson S.M. Dotzlaf J.E. Slisz M.L. Becker G.W. van Frank R.M. Veal L.E. Yeh W.K. Miller J.R. Queener S.W. Ingolia T.D.
SourceBio/Technology 5:1207-1214(1987).

4AuthorsKovacevic S. Weigel B.J. Tobin M.B. Ingolia T.D. Miller J.R.
TitleCloning, characterization, and expression in Escherichia coli of the Streptomyces clavuligerus gene encoding deacetoxycephalosporin C synthetase.
SourceJ. Bacteriol. 171:754-760(1989).
PubMed ID2644235



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