Regiospecificity assignment for the reaction of kanamycin nucleotidyltransferase from Staphylococcus aureus

Aminoglycoside nucleotidyltransferases catalyze the transfer of a nucleoside monophosphoryl group from a nucleotide to a hydroxyl group of an aminoglycoside antibiotic. Kanamycin nucleotidyltransferase [ANT (4',4 ")-I] from Staphylococcus aureus confers resistance to numerous aminoglycosides with a 4' or 4 " hydroxyl group in the equatorial position. The synthesis of m-nitrobenzyl triphosphate, a new substrate of kanamycin nucleotidyltransferase, is reported. The kanamycin nucleotidyltransferase catalyzed reaction of kanamycin A with m-nitrobenzyl triphosphate is 2 orders of magnitude slower than that with ATP. The MALDI-TOF spectra of the purified products of both reactions revealed that kanamycin A was modified only at one position. The regiospecificity of the reaction catalyzed by kanamycin nucleotidyltransferase of kanamycin A with either ATP or m-nitrobenzyl triphosphate was determined directly by one- and two-dimensional hetero- and homonuclear NMR techniques. The site of the modification was unambiguously assigned to the 4' hydroxyl of kanamycin A; thus, the products formed are 4'-(adenosine-5'-phosphoryl)-kanamycin A and 4'-(m-nitrobenzyl phosphoryl)-kanamycin A. This eliminates the uncertainty concerning the point of modification since this could not be determined from the crystal structure of the enzyme with bound MgAMPCPP and kanamycin A [Pedersen, L. C., Benninig, M. M., and Holden, H. M. (1995) Biochemistry 34, 13305-13311].