Identification of microbial dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase enzymes

Abstract

Arginine metabolism is an important source of energy and nitrogen in matly microbes. In this report, we present the sequence and activity of a novel microbial enzyme located in certain arginine-handling operons. The enzyme is homologous ·to mammalian dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolases (DDAH) and metabolizes asymmetric methylarginines to citrulline.