Molecular Mechanism for Eliminylation, a Newly Discovered Post-Translational Modification

The newly discovered bacterial phosphothreonine lyases perform a post-translational modification of host cell signaling proteins employing a novel catalytic mechanism that irreversibly removes the phosphate group from a phosphorylated threonine via β-elimination. This “eliminylation” reaction is shown by ab initio QM/MM studies to proceed via the E1cB-like pathway, in which the carbanion intermediate is stabilized by an enzyme oxyanion hole provided by Lys104 and Tyr158 of SpvC.