Lipoic acid is essential for the activation of a number of
protein complexes involved in key metabolic processes. Growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis relies on a pathway in which the lipoate attachment group is synthesized from an endogenously produced
octanoic acid moiety. In patients with multiple-
drug-resistant M.
tuberculosis, expression of one gene from this pathway, lipB, encoding for octanoyl-[
acyl carrier protein]-
protein acyltransferase is considerably up-regulated, thus making it a potential target in the search for novel antiinfectives against
tuberculosis. Here we present the crystal structure of the M.
tuberculosis LipB
protein at atomic resolution, showing an unexpected
thioether-linked active-site complex with
decanoic acid. We provide evidence that the
transferase functions as a
cysteine/
lysine dyad
acyltransferase, in which two invariant residues (Lys-142 and Cys-176) are likely to function as
acid/base catalysts. Analysis by MS reveals that the LipB catalytic reaction proceeds by means of an internal thioesteracyl intermediate. Structural comparison of LipB with
lipoate protein ligase A indicates that, despite conserved structural and sequence active-site features in the two
enzymes, 4'-phosphopantetheine-bound
octanoic acid recognition is a specific property of LipB.