Fluorinase

The fluorinase catalyses an SN2-type nucleophilic substitution at the C-5' position of SAM, while L-methionine acts as a neutral leaving group. The fluorinase-catalysed reaction is estimated to be between 106 times faster than the uncatalysed reaction, a significant rate enhancement. Despite this, the fluorinase is still regarded as a slow enzyme, with a turnover number (kcat) of 0.06 min−1. The high kinetic barrier to reaction is attributed to the strong solvation of fluoride ion in water, resulting in a high activation energy associated with stripping solvating water molecules from aqueous fluoride ion, converting fluoride into a potent nucleophile within the active site. The reaction catalysed by the fluorinase is reversible, and upon incubation of 5'-fluoro-5'-deoxyadenosine and L-methionine with the fluorinase, SAM and fluoride ion are produced. Replacing L-methionine with L-selenomethionine results in a 6-fold rate enhancement of the reverse reaction, == Structural studies ==

As of late 2007, 9 structures have been solved for this class of enzymes, with PDB accession codes , , , , , , , , and . The names given to the enzyme come not from the structure, but from the function: 5-Fluoro-5-deoxyadenosine is the molecule synthesised. The structure is homologous to the duf-62 enzyme series. The enzyme is a dimer of trimers (2 molecules each with three subunits). The active sites are located between these subunits (subunit interfaces), each can bind to one SAM molecule at a time. == Fluorometabolite biosynthesis ==