Kinetic and structural analyses of 2-hydroxy-6-oxo-6-phenylhexa-2,4-dienoic acid (HOPDA) hydrolase from Burkholderia xenovorans LB400 (BphD LB400 ) provide insight into the catalytic mechanism of this unusual serine hydrolase. Single turnover stopped-flow analysis at 25 °C showed that the enzyme rapidly (1/τ 1 ∼ 500 s −1 ) transforms HOPDA (λ max = 434 nm) to a species with electronic absorption maxima at 473 and 492 nm. The absorbance of this enzyme-bound species (E:S) decayed in a biphasic manner (1/τ 2 = 54 s −1 , 1/τ 3 = 6 s −1 ∼ k cat ) with simultaneous biphasic appearance (48 and 8 s −1 ) of an absorbance band at 270 nm characteristic of one of the products, 2-hydroxypenta-2,4-dienoic acid (HPD). Increasing solution viscosity with glycerol slowed 1/τ 1 and 1/τ 2 , but affected neither 1/τ 3 nor k cat , suggesting that 1/τ 2 may reflect diffusive HPD dissociation, while 1/τ 3 represents an intramolecular event. Product inhibition studies suggested that the other product, benzoate, is released after HPD. Contrary to studies in a related hydrolase, we found no evidence that ketonized HOPDA is partially released prior to hydrolysis, and therefore postulate that the biphasic kinetics reflect one of two mechanisms, pending assignment of E:S (λ max = 492 nm). Crystal structures of wild type, the S112C variant, and S112C incubated with HOPDA were each determined to 1.6 Å resolution. The latter reveals interactions between conserved active site residues and the dienoate moiety of the substrate. Most notably, the catalytic residue His265 is hydrogenbonded to the 2-hydroxy/oxo substituent of HOPDA, consistent with a role in catalyzing ketonization. The data are more consistent with an acyl-enzyme mechanism than with the formation of a gem-diol intermediate.The microbial degradation of aromatic compounds is crucial to maintaining the global carbon cycle (1). Aerobic degradation typically involves oxygenation of the aromatic ring to produce a catechol followed by a dioxygenase-catalyzed ring-opening reaction. In one type of degradation pathway, ring-opening yields a meta-cleavage product (MCP) 1 . A serine hydrolase † This work was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Discovery Grant) and the National Institutes of Health (GM-52381).*To whom correspondence should be addressed: Lindsay D. Eltis, leltis@interchange.ubc.ca, Phone: (604) Fax: (604)822 −6041. § These authors contributed equally to this work. ¶ Present addresses: JK: University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA; SD: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, National Jewish Medical and Research Center, Denver, CO 80206; SS: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada 1 Abbreviations: MCP, meta-cleavage product; HPD, 2-hydroxy-penta-2,4-dienoic acid; PCB, polychlorinated biphenyl; HOPDA, 2-hydroxy-6-oxo-6-phenylhexa-2,4-dienoic acid; DHB, 2,3-dihydroxybiphenyl; DHBD, dihydroxybiphenyl dioxygenase; S k , ketonized substrate; E:S k , enzyme-bound ketonized substrate; P...