Abstract 1768 Putative RNA-de-capping Nudix Enzyme Substrate Specificities

“NUDIX” protein family comprises a widely distributed class of enzymes that hydrolyze nucleoside diphosphates linked to other compounds “X.” The nudix family was originally discovered when sequence alignments revealed conserved residues in the active site of the E. coli MutT protein. MutT prevents mutations by hydrolyzing mutagenic nucleoside triphosphates (NTPs). The “nudix” neologism was coined when a MutT-like enzyme was discovered to hydrolyze dinucleotides instead of NTPs. That protein, which is now called NudC, most efficiently hydrolyzes NADH.