Aristolochene synthase


In enzymology, an aristolochene synthase is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction
2-trans,6-trans-farnesyl diphosphate aristolochene + diphosphate

Hence, this enzyme has one substrate, 2-trans,6-trans-farnesyl diphosphate, and two products, aristolochene and diphosphate.
This enzyme belongs to the family of lyases, specifically those carbon-oxygen lyases acting on phosphates. The systematic name of this enzyme class is 2-trans,6-trans-farnesyl-diphosphate diphosphate-lyase . Other names in common use include sesquiterpene cyclase, trans,trans-farnesyl diphosphate aristolochene-lyase, trans,trans-farnesyl-diphosphate diphosphate-lyase . This enzyme participates in terpenoid biosynthesis.
This protein may use the morpheein model of allosteric regulation.

Structural studies

As of late 2007, two structures have been solved for this class of enzymes, with PDB accession codes and. They are both notable for the very high helix content of the structure.