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The biological functions of D-amino acids remain unclear, although D-phenylalanine has pharmacological activity at niacin receptor 2. [17] DL-Phenylalanine (DLPA) is marketed as a nutritional supplement for its purported analgesic and antidepressant activities, which have been supported by clinical trials.
Phenylalanine-tRNA synthetase (PheRS) is known to be among the most complex enzymes of the aaRS (Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase) family. Bacterial and mitochondrial PheRSs share a ferredoxin -fold anticodon binding (FDX-ACB) domain , which represents a canonical double split alpha+beta motif having no insertions.
Phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) (EC 1.14.16.1) is an enzyme that catalyzes the hydroxylation of the aromatic side-chain of phenylalanine to generate tyrosine.PAH is one of three members of the biopterin-dependent aromatic amino acid hydroxylases, a class of monooxygenase that uses tetrahydrobiopterin (BH 4, a pteridine cofactor) and a non-heme iron for catalysis.
It has been suggested that the AAAH enzymes each contain a conserved C-terminal catalytic (C) domain and an unrelated N-terminal regulatory (R) domain. It is possible that the R protein domains arose from genes that were recruited from different sources to combine with the common gene for the catalytic core.
The amino acids phenylalanine and tyrosine are precursors for catecholamines. Both amino acids are found in high concentrations in blood plasma and the brain. In mammals, tyrosine can be formed from dietary phenylalanine by the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase, found in large amounts in the liver.
If phenylalanine is in excess in the blood, it will saturate the transporter. Excessive levels of phenylalanine tend to decrease the levels of other LNAAs in the brain. As these amino acids are necessary for protein and neurotransmitter synthesis, Phe buildup hinders the development of the brain, causing intellectual disability. [26]
Phenylalanine is found to function as a competitive inhibitor of pyruvate kinase in the brain. Although the degree of phenylalanine inhibitory activity is similar in both fetal and adult cells, the enzymes in the fetal brain cells are significantly more vulnerable to inhibition than those in adult brain cells.
Protein domains allow protein classification by a combination of sequence, structure and function, and they can be combined in many ways. In an early study of 170,000 proteins, about two-thirds were assigned at least one domain, with larger proteins containing more domains (e.g. proteins larger than 600 amino acids having an average of more ...