3-Methylornithine is an amino acid with the formula H2N(CH2)2CH(CH3)CH(NH2)CO2H. This amino acid contains two stereogenic centers, but only one stereoisomer (namely (3R)-3-methyl-D-ornithine) occurs in nature. It is produced from lysine by the action of the enzyme methylornithine synthase. The combination of lysine and 3-methylornithine, also mediated enzymatically, produces pyrrolysine, which, for a few organisms, is a "22nd" genetically coded amino acid.[1][2]

3-Methylornithine
Names
Other names
5-Aminoisoleucine
Identifiers
3D model (JSmol)
ChemSpider
KEGG
UNII
  • InChI=1S/C6H14N2O2/c1-4(2-3-7)5(8)6(9)10/h4-5H,2-3,7-8H2,1H3,(H,9,10)/t4-,5-/m1/s1
    Key: HYUPFEBCCJWDJX-RFZPGFLSSA-N
  • InChI=1/C6H14N2O2/c1-4(2-3-7)5(8)6(9)10/h4-5H,2-3,7-8H2,1H3,(H,9,10)/t4-,5-/m1/s1
    Key: HYUPFEBCCJWDJX-RFZPGFLSBQ
  • C[C@H](CCN)[C@H](C(=O)O)N
Properties
C6H14N2O2
Molar mass 146.190 g·mol−1
Appearance White solid
Density 1.121 g/cm3
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).
Structure of pyrrolysine, which is biosynthesized from methylornithine and lysine

References edit

  1. ^ Gaston, Marsha A.; Jiang, Ruisheng; Krzycki, Joseph A. "Functional Context, Biosynthesis, and Genetic Encoding of Pyrrolysine" Current Opinion in Microbiology 2011, vol. 14, pp. 342-349. doi:10.1016/j.mib.2011.04.001
  2. ^ Quitterer, F.; Beck, P.; Bacher, A.; Groll, M., "Structure and Reaction Mechanism of Pyrrolysine Synthase (PylD)", Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, volume 52, pp. 7033-7037. doi:10.1002/anie.201301164