Alkylmercury lyase

alkylmercury lyase
Structure of the mercury-bound form of E.coli MerB. PDB 3f0p [1]
Identifiers
EC no.	4.99.1.2
CAS no.	72560-99-7
Databases
IntEnz	IntEnz view
BRENDA	BRENDA entry
ExPASy	NiceZyme view
KEGG	KEGG entry
MetaCyc	metabolic pathway
PRIAM	profile
PDB structures	RCSB PDB PDBe PDBsum
Gene Ontology	AmiGO / QuickGO
Search PMC articles PubMed articles NCBI proteins

The enzyme alkylmercury lyase (EC 4.99.1.2) catalyzes the reaction

an alkylmercury + H^+ ${\displaystyle \rightleftharpoons }$ an alkane + Hg^2+

This enzyme belongs to the family of lyases, specifically the "catch-all" class of lyases that do not fit into any other sub-class. The systematic name of this enzyme class is alkylmercury mercury(II)-lyase (alkane-forming). Other names in common use include organomercury lyase, organomercurial lyase, and alkylmercury mercuric-lyase.

The enzyme converts methyl mercury to the much less toxic elemental form of the metal.

References

1. Lafrance-Vanasse, J.; Lefebvre, M.; Di Lello, P.; Sygusch, J.; Omichinski, J. G. (2008). "Crystal Structures of the Organomercurial Lyase MerB in Its Free and Mercury-bound Forms: INSIGHTS INTO THE MECHANISM OF METHYLMERCURY DEGRADATION". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 284 (2): 938–944. doi:10.1074/jbc.M807143200. PMID 19004822.

• Tezuka T, Tonomura K (July 1976). "Purification and properties of an enzyme catalyzing the splitting of carbon-mercury linkages from mercury-resistant Pseudomonas K-62 strain. I. Splitting enzyme 1". J. Biochem. 80 (1). Tokyo: 79–87. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.jbchem.a131261. PMID 9382.