TrpB2 enzymes are O-phospho-l-serine dependent tryptophan synthases.

The rapid increase of the number of sequenced genomes asks for the functional annotation of the encoded enzymes. We used a combined computational-structural approach to determine the function of the TrpB2 subgroup of the tryptophan synthase β chain/β chain-like TrpB1-TrpB2 family (IPR023026). The results showed that TrpB2 enzymes are O-phospho-l-serine dependent tryptophan synthases, whereas TrpB1 enzymes catalyze the l-serine dependent synthesis of tryptophan. We found a single residue being responsible for the different substrate specificities of TrpB1 and TrpB2 and confirmed this finding by mutagenesis studies and crystallographic analysis of a TrpB2 enzyme with bound O-phospho-l-serine.