dadX

UniProt ID: Q88CB2
Organism: Pseudomonas putida (strain ATCC 47054 / DSM 6125 / CFBP 8728 / NCIMB 11950 / KT2440)
Review Status: DRAFT
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Gene Description

DadX is an alanine-specific, pyridoxal-phosphate-dependent racemase that reversibly interconverts L-alanine and D-alanine. It is encoded beside dadA in a conserved catabolic locus, where D-alanine is proposed to be oxidized to pyruvate. DadX is the leading candidate for cytoplasmic D-alanine supply in KT2440, but a direct contribution to peptidoglycan synthesis has not been demonstrated.

Existing Annotations Review

GO Term Evidence Action Reason
GO:0003824 catalytic activity
IEA
GO_REF:0000002
MARK AS OVER ANNOTATED
Summary: The generic catalytic term is superseded by alanine racemase activity.
Reason: GO:0008784 captures the experimentally established reaction.
Supporting Evidence:
PMID:23995642
Conversely, the putative catabolic alanine racemase DadX showed narrow substrate specificity, clearly preferring only the alanine stereoisomers as the substrates.
GO:0005829 cytosol
IEA
GO_REF:0000118
ACCEPT
Summary: Cytosolic localization is plausible and consistent with the protein record.
Reason: TreeGrafter supplies the annotation, and the mature protein record lacks the signal peptide that distinguishes the periplasmic KT2440 Alr/BSR. No direct fractionation experiment for DadX was identified.
GO:0008784 alanine racemase activity
IEA
GO_REF:0000120
ACCEPT
Summary: This is the exact, experimentally corroborated activity.
Reason: DadX reversibly and selectively racemizes alanine stereoisomers.
Supporting Evidence:
PMID:23995642
Conversely, the putative catabolic alanine racemase DadX showed narrow substrate specificity, clearly preferring only the alanine stereoisomers as the substrates.
GO:0030170 pyridoxal phosphate binding
IEA
GO_REF:0000120
KEEP AS NON CORE
Summary: PLP is a supported catalytic cofactor rather than the core function.
Reason: UniProt records the covalent PLP-linked lysine at residue 33.
Supporting Evidence:
file:PSEPK/dadX/dadX-uniprot.txt
N6-(pyridoxal phosphate)lysine
GO:0030632 D-alanine biosynthetic process
IEA
GO_REF:0000120
UNDECIDED
Summary: DadX forms D-alanine, but its physiological process assignment is unresolved.
Reason: The reversible chemistry can produce D-alanine, whereas the characterized locus and literature frame DadX as catabolic. No dadX genetic, flux, or peptidoglycan experiment establishes cell-wall D-alanine supply, so this process annotation is not promoted into the core function.
Supporting Evidence:
PMID:23995642
P. putida KT2440 catabolized the d-stereoisomers of lysine, phenylalanine, arginine, alanine, and hydroxyproline as the sole carbon and nitrogen sources.
PMID:23995642
However, DadX did show 6- and 9-fold higher k(cat)/K(m) values than Alr with l- and d-alanine, respectively.
GO:0008784 alanine racemase activity
EXP
PMID:23995642
Amino acid racemization in Pseudomonas putida KT2440.
ACCEPT
Summary: Direct biochemical characterization establishes alanine racemase activity.
Reason: The purified enzyme selectively catalyzed both directions of alanine racemization.
Supporting Evidence:
PMID:23995642
Conversely, the putative catabolic alanine racemase DadX showed narrow substrate specificity, clearly preferring only the alanine stereoisomers as the substrates.

Core Functions

Reversibly interconverts L-alanine and D-alanine with narrow substrate specificity. The role in the dadAX catabolic route is supported, while physiological supply of D-alanine to peptidoglycan remains unresolved.

Molecular Function:
alanine racemase activity
Supporting Evidence:
  • PMID:23995642
    Conversely, the putative catabolic alanine racemase DadX showed narrow substrate specificity, clearly preferring only the alanine stereoisomers as the substrates.

References

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Suggested Questions for Experts

Q: Does DadX provide the cytoplasmic D-alanine used for peptidoglycan synthesis in KT2440?

Suggested Experiments

Experiment: Deplete or delete dadX and measure growth, peptidoglycan composition, intracellular D-alanine, and rescue by exogenous D-alanine; include isotope tracing from L-alanine into the terminal D-Ala-D-Ala moiety.

Type: genetics, metabolite rescue, peptidoglycan analysis, and isotope tracing

Deep Research

OpenScientist

(dadX-deep-research-openscientist.md)

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πŸ“š Additional Documentation

Notes

(dadX-notes.md)

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