In this minireview, we describe the radical S-adenosylmethionine enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of thiamin, menaquinone, molybdopterin, coenzyme F 420 , and heme. Our focus is on the remarkably complex organic rearrangements involved, many of which have no precedent in organic or biological chemistry. Radical S-adenosylmethionine (SAM)2 enzymes are among the most intriguing enzymes discovered over the past 15 years. In these enzymes, reduction of SAM by a 1ϩ cluster generates the adenosyl radical, which then abstracts a hydrogen atom from the substrate. The resulting substrate radical usually undergoes a rearrangement or fragmentation reaction to give the product radical (1). Sequence analysis suggests that a large number of enzymes use the radical SAM catalytic motif (2). We are still at an early stage of defining the catalytic mechanisms and the structural enzymology of this fascinating enzyme family.This minireview focuses on the organic chemistry of the radical SAM enzymes involved in cofactor biosynthesis: thiamin (1), F 0 (2), menaquinone (3), molybdopterin (4), and heme (5) (Fig. 1). (Biotin and lipoic biosynthesis also uses radical SAM enzymology and is covered separately in another minireview in this series (42).) In contrast to iron(IV)-oxo-derived radicals, where the dominant chemistry involves radical recombination with the iron-bound oxygen (P 450 rebound rate of Ͼ10 10 s Ϫ1 ) (3), radicals formed by hydrogen atom transfer to the 5Ј-deoxyadenosyl (5Ј-dA) radical are more persistent because the reverse reaction is relatively slow. This allows time for complex rearrangements to occur. Radical SAM enzymes catalyze a remarkable range of reactions due to the high intrinsic reactivity of organic radicals, which can undergo rapid hydrogen atom abstraction, double-bond addition, and fragmentation reactions as shown in Fig. 2. Prokaryotic Thiamin Pyrimidine Synthase (ThiC)Thiamin pyrophosphate (1) is an important cofactor in carbohydrate metabolism and branched chain amino acid biosynthesis, where it plays a key role in stabilization of the acyl carbanion biosynthon. The thiamin pyrimidine synthase (ThiC) catalyzes the conversion of aminoimidazole ribotide (AIR; 6) to hydroxymethylpyrimidine phosphate (HMP-P; 8) (Fig. 3A) (4, 5). The origin of all of the atoms of the product and the fate of all of the atoms of the substrate have been determined using isotope labeling studies (6 -8). This rearrangement, as far as we can tell, is the most complex unsolved rearrangement in primary metabolism.A mechanistic proposal for this reaction is shown in Fig. 3B (5). In this proposal, radical 7 abstracts a hydrogen atom from 6 to form 10. A ␤-scission followed by N-glycosyl bond cleavage gives 12. Electrophilic addition to the aminoimidazole followed by hydrogen atom transfer gives 14. The regenerated 5Ј-dA radical (7) abstracts a hydrogen atom from 14 to form 15. Radical addition to the imine followed by ␤-scission gives 17. A second ␤-scission followed by a diol dehydratase-like rearrangement gives 20 and 21. Ra...

Roseoflavin is a naturally occurring riboflavin analogue with antibiotic properties. It is biosynthesized from riboflavin in a reaction involving replacement of the C8 methyl with a dimethylamino group. Herein we report the identification of a flavin-dependent enzyme that converts flavin mononucleotide (FMN) and glutamate to 8-amino-FMN via the intermediacy of 8-formyl-FMN. A mechanistic proposal for this remarkable transformation is proposed.

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Chemoproteomic profiling is a powerful approach to define the selectivity of small molecules and endogenous metabolites with the human proteome. In addition to mechanistic studies, proteome specificity profiling also has the potential to identify new scaffolds for biomolecular sensing. Here, we report a chemoproteomics-inspired strategy for selective sensing of acetyl-CoA. First, we use chemoproteomic capture experiments to validate the N-terminal acetyltransferase NAA50 as a protein capable of differentiating acetyl-CoA and CoA. A Nanoluc-NAA50 fusion protein retains this specificity and can be used to generate a bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) signal in the presence of a CoA-linked fluorophore. This enables the development of a ligand displacement assay in which CoA metabolites are detected via their ability to bind the Nanoluc-NAA50 protein "host" and compete binding of the CoA-linked fluorophore "guest". We demonstrate that the specificity of ligand displacement reflects the molecular recognition of the NAA50 host, while the window of dynamic sensing can be controlled by tuning the binding affinity of the CoA-linked fluorophore guest. Finally, we show that the method's specificity for acetyl-CoA can be harnessed for gain-of-signal optical detection of enzyme activity and quantification of acetyl-CoA from cellular samples. Overall, our studies demonstrate the potential of harnessing insights from chemoproteomics for molecular sensing and provide a foundation for future applications in target engagement and selective metabolite detection.