Exposure to environmental arsenic is associated with serious of health issues such as cancer, diabetes and developmental delays in infants and children. In human liver, As(III) S-adenosylmethionine methyl transferase (hAS3MT) (EC 2.1.1.137) was proposed to be an detoxification process by methylation of inorganic arsenite into pentavalent methyl MAs(V) and dimethyl arsenite DMAs(V). More recently the first product was shown to be highly toxic and potentially carcinogenic trivalent methylarsenite (MAs(III)). Our studies are designed to elucidate the mechanism of AS3MT and its contribution to arsenic-related diseases. Here, we report the first crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of the human AS3MT enzyme. The crystals belong to the monoclinic 121 space group with unit cell parameters of = 135.03 Å, = 260.44 Å, = 279.03 Å, α = 90.00°, β = 93.36°, γ = 90.00°.

The roughly purified extract of proteins has been studied by cryoelectron microscopy, the class-sums containing 2D projections of two proteins (β-galactosidase and 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex catalytic domain (ODC-CD)), identified in an extract by tandem mass spectrometry, have been distinguished. The structures of these proteins have been solved at near-atomic resolution. simulation of the ODC-CD structure yielded an atomic model that revealed differences in the positions of some amino acid residues of the active center, in comparison with the known crystal structures.