Thymidylate Synthase ThyA (TS)

Thymidylate synthase ThyA catalyzes the reductive methylation of 2'-deoxyuridine-5'-monophosphate (dUMP) to 2'-deoxythymidine-5'-monophosphate (dTMP) while utilizing 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate (mTHF) as the methyl donor and reductant in the reaction, yielding dihydrofolate (DHF) as a by-product. This enzymatic reaction provides an intracellular de novo source of dTMP, an essential precursor for DNA biosynthesis. Conservation of function across families of orthologous enzymes is generally accompanied by conservation of their active site electrostatic potentials. Four residues in the vicinity of the active site of Escherichia coli TS were mutated individually and simultaneously to mimic the electrostatics of W.g.b TS. The measured activities of the E. coli TS mutants imply that conservation of electrostatics in the region of the active site is important for the activity of TS, and suggest that the W.g.b. TS has the minimal activity necessary to support replication of its reduced genome.