Identification of coenzyme M biosynthetic phosphosulfolactate synthase: a new family of sulfonate-biosynthesizing enzymes

The hyperthermophilic euryarchaeon Methanococcus jannaschii uses coenzyme M (2-mercaptoethanesulfonic acid) as the terminal methyl carrier in methanogenesis. We describe an enzyme from that organism, (2R)-phospho-3-sulfolactate synthase (ComA), that catalyzes the first step in coenzyme M biosynthesis. ComA catalyzed the stereospecific Michael addition of sulfite to phosphoenolpyruvate over a broad range of temperature and pH conditions. Substrate and product analogs moderately inhibited activity. This enzyme has no significant sequence similarity to previously characterized enzymes; however, its Mg(2+)-dependent enzyme reaction mechanism may be analogous to one proposed for enolase. A diverse group of microbes and plants have homologs of ComA that could have been recruited for sulfolactate or sulfolipid biosyntheses.