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Chips off the old block

Nature Structural Biology volume 9, pages 320–322 (2002)Cite this article

A lack of sequence similarity made it uncertain whether the four families of pseudouridine synthases arose by convergent or divergent evolution. The structures of three of these enzymes reveal that they are homologs, but a paucity of obvious catalytic residues in the active site reopens the question of a mechanism that seemed settled.

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Figure 1: The common fold of the Ψ synthases is revealed by superimposing the structures of TruA, green (PDB 1DJ0); TruB, red (PDB 1K8W); and RsuA, blue (PDB 1KSV).
Figure 2: Mechanisms proposed for the Ψ synthases.

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks C.J. Spedaliere and C. Ceccarelli for their help in preparing Fig. 1.

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  1. the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of Delaware, Newark, 19716, Delaware, USA

    Eugene G. Mueller

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Correspondence to Eugene G. Mueller.

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Mueller, E. Chips off the old block. Nat Struct Mol Biol 9, 320–322 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsb0502-320

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