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Nitrilase 2 (Nit2) is a representative member of the nitrilase superfamily that catalyzes the hydrolysis of α-ketosuccinamate into oxaloacetate. It has been associated with the metabolism of rapidly dividing cells like cancer cells. The catalytic mechanism of Nit2 employs a catalytic triad formed by Cys191, Glu81 and Lys150. The Cys191 and Glu81 play an active role during the catalytic process while the Lys150 is shown to play only a secondary role. The results demonstrate that the catalytic mechanism of Nit2 involves four steps. The nucleophilic attack of Cys191 to the α-ketosuccinamate, the formation of two tetrahedral enzyme adducts and the hydrolysis of a thioacyl-enzyme intermediate, from which results the formation of oxaloacetate and enzymatic turnover. The rate limiting step of the catalytic process is the formation of the first tetrahedral intermediate with a calculated activation free energy of 18.4 kcal/mol, which agrees very well with the experimental kcat (17.67 kcal/mol).

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The synthesis of a 1,5-lactone 2,4- O-alkylidene-d-erythrose derivative was found to be a highly stereoselective template in Michael addition trough the reaction of a d-erythrosyl 1,5-lactone derivative with nitrogen and sulfur nucleophiles. The sulfur adducts formed are 1 (d-erythrose derivative):1 (nucleophile), and the nitrogen adducts are 1:2. Both were then treated under HCl to give 2,6-dideoxy-4-functionalized-d- ribono-hexono-1,4-lactone by a reaction cascade in high overall yield. Reaction's scale up even improves the yield. The theoretical and computational results clearly explain the origin of the stereoselectivity, and the energetic course of reactions starting with nitrogen and sulfide nucleophiles. Considering that the 1,4-lactones obtained in this work offer a new molecular scaffold for organic synthesis, these new results provide a solid theoretical platform that can be used to speed up synthesis of other derivatives in a stereo- and regioselective way.

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In this paper, computational means were used to explain and predict the interaction of several odorant molecules, including three haloanisoles, 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA), 2,4,6-tribromoanisole (TBA), and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP), with three olfactory receptors (ORs): OR1A1, OR1A2, and OR3A1. As the X-ray structure of these ORs is not known, the three-dimensional structure of each OR was modeled by homology modeling. The structures of these ORs were stabilized by molecular dynamic simulations and the complexes of the odorant molecules with each ORs were generated by molecular docking. The theoretical results have shown that each OR has distinct but well-defined binding regions for each type of odorant molecules (aldehydes and alcohols). In OR3A1, the aldehydes bind in the bottom region of the binding pocket nearby Ser257 and Thr249. In the paralogues OR1A1 and OR1A2, the aldehydes tend to interact in the top region of the binding pocket and close to a positively charged lysine. On the other hand, the alcohols interact in the bottom region of the active site and close to a negatively charged aspartate. These results indicate that when aldehydes and alcohols odorants compete in these two ORs, the aldehydes can block the access of the alcohols odorants to their specific binding site. This observation goes in line with the experimental data that reveals that when the odorant is an aldehyde, a lower quantity of ligand is needed to cause 50% of the maximum response (lower EC50), when compared with the alcohols. The theoretical results have also allowed to explain the differences in the activity of (S)-(-)-citronellol in the wild-type and mutated OR1A1. The theoretical results show that Asn109 has a preponderant role in this matter, since when it is mutated, it leads to a conformational rearrangement of the binding pocket that prevents the interaction of (S)-(-)-citronellol with Asp111 that was shown to be important for the OR activation. The good agreement between the theoretical and experimental results also lead us to study the potential interaction of the haloanisoles, TCA, TBA, and TCP with these ORs. The results have shown that these compounds can compete with other known agonists/antagonists for the access to the binding regions of ORs. These results may partially explain the capability of these compounds to give a musty odor to food and beverages at very low concentrations.

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Although neglected by science for a long time, the olfactory sense is now the focus of a panoply of studies that bring new insights and raises interesting questions regarding its functioning. The importance in the clarification of this process is of interest for science, but also motivated by the food and perfume industries boosted by a consumer society with increasingly demands for higher quality standards. In this review, a general overview of the state of art of science regarding the olfactory sense is presented with the main focus on the peripheral olfactory system. Special emphasis will be given to the deorphanization of the olfactory receptors (ORs), a critical issue because the specificity and functional properties of about 90% of human ORs remain unknown mainly due to the difficulties associated with the functional expression of ORs in high yields.

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