Radical -Adenosyl-l-Methionine Enzyme PylB: A C-Centered Radical to Convert l-Lysine into (3)-3-Methyl-d-Ornithine.

PylB is a radical -adenosyl-l-methionine (SAM) enzyme predicted to convert l-lysine into (3)-3-methyl-d-ornithine, a precursor in the biosynthesis of the 22nd proteogenic amino acid pyrrolysine. This protein highly resembles that of the radical SAM tyrosine and tryptophan lyases, which activate their substrate by abstracting a H atom from the amino-nitrogen position. Here, combining assays, analytical methods, electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, and theoretical methods, we demonstrated that instead, PylB activates its substrate by abstracting a H atom from the Cγ position of l-lysine to afford the radical-based β-scission.