Academic literature on the topic 'Phaseolotoxin'

ABSTRACT Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola synthesizes a non-host-specific toxin, phaseolotoxin, and also synthesizes a phaseolotoxin-resistant ornithine carbamoyltransferase (ROCT) to protect itself from its own toxin. ROCT is encoded by argK, which is expressed coordinately with phaseolotoxin synthesis at 18°C. To investigate the regulatory mechanisms of this system, null mutants were constructed for argK, argF (encoding the phaseolotoxin-sensitive OCTase [SOCT]), and amtA (encoding an amidinotransferase involved in phaseolotoxin synthesis). The argF mutant did not exhibit arginine auxotrophy when grown in M9 medium at 28°C, because under this condition SOCT was replaced by ROCT. This loss of thermoregulation of argK was apparently caused by accumulation of carbamoylphosphate, one of the substrates of SOCT. Carbamoylphosphate, which has a structure similar to that of the inorganic moiety of phaseolotoxin, was used in induction assays with wild-type P. syringae pv. phaseolicola and was shown to be able to induce argK expression in M9 medium at 28°C. These results indicate that argK expression is independent of temperature and is regulated directly by a compound resembling the inorganic moiety of phaseolotoxin.

The bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola NPS3121 synthesizes phaseolotoxin in a thermoregulated way, with optimum production at 18 °C. Gene PSPPH_4550 was previously shown to be thermoregulated and required for phaseolotoxin biosynthesis. Here, we established that PSPPH_4550 is part of a cluster of 16 genes, the Pbo cluster, included in a genomic island with a limited distribution in P. syringae and unrelated to the possession of the phaseolotoxin biosynthesis cluster. We identified typical non-ribosomal peptide synthetase, and polyketide synthetase domains in several of the pbo deduced products. RT-PCR and the analysis of polar mutants showed that the Pbo cluster is organized in four transcriptional units, including one monocistronic and three polycistronic. Operons pboA and pboO are both essential for phaseolotoxin biosynthesis, while pboK and pboJ only influence the amount of toxin produced. The three polycistronic units were transcribed at high levels at 18 °C but not at 28 °C, whereas gene pboJ was constitutively expressed. Together, our data suggest that the Pbo cluster synthesizes secondary metabolite(s), which could participate in the regulation of phaseolotoxin biosynthesis.

Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola is the causal agent of the “halo blight” disease of beans. A key component in the development of the disease is a nonhost-specific toxin, Nδ-(N'-sulphodiaminophosphinyl)-ornithyl-alanyl-homoarginine, known as phaseolotoxin. The homoarginine residue in this molecule has been suggested to be the product of Larginine:lysine amidinotransferase activity, previously detected in extracts of P. syringae pv. phaseolicola grown under conditions of phaseolotoxin production. We report the isolation and characterization of an amidinotransferase gene (amtA) from P. syringae pv. phaseolicola coding for a polypeptide of 362 residues (41.36 kDa) and showing approximately 40% sequence similarity to Larginine:inosamine-phosphate amidinotransferase from three species of Streptomyces spp. and 50.4% with an Larginine:glycine amidinotransferase from human mitochondria. The cysteine, histidine, and aspartic acid residues involved in substrate binding are conserved. Furthermore, expression of the amtA and argK genes and phaseolotoxin production occurs at 18°C but not at 28°C. An amidinotransferase insertion mutant was obtained that lost the capacity to synthesize homoarginine and phaseolotoxin. These results show that the amtA gene isolated is responsible for the amidinotransferase activity detected previously and that phaseolotoxin production depends upon the activity of this gene.

ABSTRACT In Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola the enzyme ornithine carbamoyltransferase (OCTase), encoded by argF, is negatively regulated by argR, similar to what has been reported for Pseudomonas aeruginosa. However, production of the phaseolotoxin-resistant OCTase encoded by argK, synthesis of phaseolotoxin, and infectivity for bean pods occur independently of the ArgR protein.

ABSTRACT The analysis of 46 isolates obtained directly from different and distant common bean fields from the northwestern part of Spain revealed that they do not produce phaseolotoxin. The isolates were classified as race 5, and their analysis revealed that they do not carry the argK-tox gene cluster involved in the biosynthesis of the phaseolotoxin.

Phaseolotoxin is a major virulence factor of the bean pathogen bacterium P. savastanoi pv. phaseolicola. This toxin plays a key role in the development of the halo blight disease in bean plants. So far, the signal transduction pathways involved in the synthesis of phaseolotoxin have not been elucidated. The influence of regulation mechanisms related to the oxidative stress response, in particular the OxyR protein, it has been suggested to be involved in this process.. In this study we evaluated the role of OxyR in P. savastanoi pv. phaseolicola, mainly compared to the synthesis of phaseolotoxin and the virulence of this phytopathogen. Generation of the oxyR-mutant, pathogenicity and virulence tests, and analyses of gene expression by RT-PCR assays were performed. The results showed that OxyR exerts an effect on the synthesis of phaseolotoxin and positively influences the expression of the Pht and Pbo cluster genes. Likewise, OxyR influences the production of pyoverdine by the control of the expression of the genes encoding the PvdS sigma factor, involved in the synthesis of this pigment. This study is the first report on members of the OxyR regulon of P. savastanoi pv. phaseolicola NPS3121.

ABSTRACT Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola is the causal agent of halo blight disease of beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), which is characterized by water-soaked lesions surrounded by a chlorotic halo resulting from the action of a non-host-specific toxin known as phaseolotoxin. This phytotoxin inhibits the enzyme ornithine carbamoyltransferase involved in arginine biosynthesis. Different evidence suggested that genes involved in phaseolotoxin production were clustered. Two genes had been previously identified in our laboratory within this cluster: argK, which is involved in the immunity of the bacterium to its own toxin, and amtA, which is involved in the synthesis of homoarginine. We sequenced the region around argK and amtA in P. syringae pv. phaseolicola NPS3121 to determine the limits of the putative phaseolotoxin gene cluster and to determine the transcriptional pattern of the genes comprising it. We report that the phaseolotoxin cluster (Pht cluster) is composed of 23 genes and is flanked by insertion sequences and transposases. The mutation of 14 of the genes within the cluster lead to a Tox− phenotype for 11 of them, while three mutants exhibited low levels of toxin production. The analysis of fusions of selected DNA fragments to uidA, Northern probing, and reverse transcription-PCR indicate the presence of five transcriptional units, two monocistronic and three polycistronic; one is internal to a larger operon. The site for transcription initiation has been determined for each promoter, and the putative promoter regions were identified. Preliminary results also indicate that the gene product of phtL is involved in the regulation of the synthesis of phaseolotoxin.

SUMMARY Coronatine, syringomycin, syringopeptin, tabtoxin, and phaseolotoxin are the most intensively studied phytotoxins of Pseudomonas syringae, and each contributes significantly to bacterial virulence in plants. Coronatine functions partly as a mimic of methyl jasmonate, a hormone synthesized by plants undergoing biological stress. Syringomycin and syringopeptin form pores in plasma membranes, a process that leads to electrolyte leakage. Tabtoxin and phaseolotoxin are strongly antimicrobial and function by inhibiting glutamine synthetase and ornithine carbamoyltransferase, respectively. Genetic analysis has revealed the mechanisms responsible for toxin biosynthesis. Coronatine biosynthesis requires the cooperation of polyketide and peptide synthetases for the assembly of the coronafacic and coronamic acid moieties, respectively. Tabtoxin is derived from the lysine biosynthetic pathway, whereas syringomycin, syringopeptin, and phaseolotoxin biosynthesis requires peptide synthetases. Activation of phytotoxin synthesis is controlled by diverse environmental factors including plant signal molecules and temperature. Genes involved in the regulation of phytotoxin synthesis have been located within the coronatine and syringomycin gene clusters; however, additional regulatory genes are required for the synthesis of these and other phytotoxins. Global regulatory genes such as gacS modulate phytotoxin production in certain pathovars, indicating the complexity of the regulatory circuits controlling phytotoxin synthesis. The coronatine and syringomycin gene clusters have been intensively characterized and show potential for constructing modified polyketides and peptides. Genetic reprogramming of peptide and polyketide synthetases has been successful, and portions of the coronatine and syringomycin gene clusters could be valuable resources in developing new antimicrobial agents.

Phaseolotoxin, a tripeptide inhibitor of ornithine transcarbamoylase, is a phytotoxin produced by Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola, the causal agent of halo-blight in beans. In vivo the toxin is cleaved to release N delta-(N'-sulpho-diaminophosphinyl)-L-ornithine, the major toxic chemical species present in diseased leaf tissue. This paper reports on the interaction between N delta-(N'-sulpho-diaminophosphinyl)-L-ornithine and ornithine transcarbamoylase. N delta-(N'-Sulpho-diaminophosphinyl)-L-ornithine was found to be a potent inactivator of the enzyme, in contrast with phaseolotoxin, which previously has been reported to inhibit the enzyme reversibly. Inactivation by N delta-(N'-[35S]sulpho-diaminophosphinyl)-L-ornithine resulted in the incorporation of 35S into ethanol-precipitated protein. The stoicheiometry of 35S incorporation was approximately 1 mol/mol of active sites. Inactivation was second-order and a rate constant of 10(6) M-1 X s-1 at 0 degree C in 50 mM-Tris/HCl, pH 9.0, was obtained. Carbamoyl phosphate, a substrate of ornithine transcarbamoylase, protected the enzyme from inactivation. A dissociation constant of 3 microM for the enzyme-carbamoyl phosphate complex was calculated. L-Ornithine, the second substrate for ornithine transcarbamoylase, protected the enzyme only at high concentrations. The results are consistent with N delta-(N'-sulpho-diaminophosphinyl)-L-ornithine being a potent affinity label that binds via the carbamoyl phosphate-binding site of ornithine transcarbamoylase. Cleavage of phaseolotoxin to N delta-(N'-sulpho-diaminophosphinyl)-L-ornithine in vivo appears to be an important function in the physiology of the disease.

The phaseolotoxin-resistant ornithine carbamoyltransferase (ROCT) and phaseolotoxin are produced by Pseudo-monas syringae pv. phaseolicola at 18°C but not at 28°C. At 28°C, the pathogen produces a protein(s) that binds (in vitro) to a 485-bp fragment (thermoregulatory region, TRR) from a heterologous clone from the pathogen genomic library, which in multiple copies overrides thermoregulation of phaseolotoxin production in wild-type cells (K. B. Rowley, D. E. Clements, M. Mandel, T. Humphreys, and S. S. Patil, Mol. Microbiol. 8:625-635, 1993). We report here that DNase I protection analysis of the 485-bp fragment shows that a single site is protected from cleavage by the protein in the 28°C extract and that this site contains two repeats of a core motif G/C AAAG separated by a 5-bp spacer. Partially purified binding protein forms specific complexes with a synthetic oligonucleotide containing four tandem repeats of this motif. A 492-bp upstream fragment from argK encoding ROCT also forms specific complexes with the protein in the 28°C crude extract, and a 260-bp subfragment from the TRR containing the binding site cross competes with the argk fragment, indicating that the same protein binds to nucleotides in both fragments. DNase I protection analysis of the fragment from argK revealed four separate protected sequence elements, with element III containing half of the core motif sequence (CTTTG), and the other elements containing similar sequences. Gel shift assays were done with DNA fragments from which one or all of the sites were removed as competitor DNAs against the argK probe. The results of these experiments confirmed that the binding sites (in argK) are necessary for the protein to bind to the argK fragment in a specific manner. Taken together, the results of studies presented here suggest that in cells of P. syringae pv. phaseolicola grown at high temperature argK may be negatively regulated by the protein produced at this temperature.

This thesis is concerned with a range of chemical problems which are amenable to theoretical investigation via the application of current methods of computational quantum chemistry. These problems include the calculation of accurate thermochemical data, the prediction of reaction kinetics, the study of molecular potential energy surfaces, and the investigation of molecular structures and binding. The heats of formation (from both atomisation energies and isodesmic schemes) of a set of approximately 120 C1 and C2 fluorocarbons and oxidised fluorocarbons (along with C3F6 and CF3CHFCF2) were calculated with the Gaussian-3 (G3) method (along with several approximations thereto). These molecules are of importance in the flame chemistry of 2-H-heptafluoropropane, which has been proposed as a potential fire retardant with which to replace chloro- and bromofluorocarbons (CFC�s and BFC�s). The calculation of the data reported here was carried out in parallel with the modelling studies of Hynes et al.1-3 of shock tube experiments on CF3CHFCF3 and on C3F6 with either hydrogen or oxygen atoms. G3 calculations were also employed in conjunction with the experimental work of Owens et al.4 to describe the pyrolysis of CFClBr2 (giving CFCl) at a radiation wavelength of 265 nm. The theoretical prediction of the dissociation energy of the two C-Br bonds was found to be consistent with the energy at which carbene production was first observed, thus supporting the hypothesis that the pyrolysis releases two bromine radicals (rather than a Br2 molecule). On the basis of this interpretation of the experiments, the heat of formation of CFClBr2 is predicted to be 184 � 5 kJ mol-1, in good agreement with the G3 value of 188 � 5 kJ mol-1. Accurate thermochemical data was computed for 18 small phosphorus containing molecules (P2, P4, PH, PH2, PH3, P2H2, P2H4, PO, PO2, PO3, P2O, P2O2, HPO, HPOH, H2POH, H3PO, HOPO and HOPO2), most of which are important in the reaction model introduced by Twarowski5 for the combustion of H2 and O2 in the presence of phosphine. Twarowski reported that the H + OH recombination reaction is catalysed by the combustion products of PH3 and proposed two catalytic cycles, involving PO2, HOPO and HOPO2, to explain this observation. Using our thermochemical data we computed the rate coefficients of the most important reactions in these cycles (using transition state and RRKM theories) and confirmed that at 2000K both cycles have comparable rates and are significantly faster than the uncatalysed H + OH recombination. The heats of formation used in this work on phosphorus compounds were calculated using the G2, G3, G3X and G3X2 methods along with the far more extensive CCSD(T)/CBS type scheme. The latter is based on the evaluation of coupled cluster energies using the correlation consistent triple-, quadruple- and pentuple-zeta basis sets and extrapolation to the complete basis set (CBS) limit along with core-valence correlation corrections (with counterpoise corrections for phosphorus atoms), scalar relativistic corrections and spin-orbit coupling effects. The CCSD(T)/CBS results are consistent with the available experimental data and therefore constitute a convenient set of benchmark values with which to compare the more approximate Gaussian-n results. The G2 and G3 methods were found to be of comparable accuracy, however both schemes consistently underestimated the benchmark atomisation energies. The performance of G3X is significantly better, having a mean absolute deviation (MAD) from the CBS results of 1.8 kcal mol-1, although the predicted atomisation energies are still consistently too low. G3X2 (including counterpoise corrections to the core-valence correlation energy for phosphorus) was found to give a slight improvement over G3X, resulting in a MAD of 1.5 kcal mol-1. Several molecules were also identified for which the approximations underlying the Gaussian-n methodologies appear to be unreliable; these include molecules with multiple or strained P-P bonds. The potential energy surface of the NNH + O system was investigated using density functional theory (B3LYP/6-31G(2df,p)) with the aim of determining the importance of this route in the production of NO in combustion reactions. In addition to the standard reaction channels, namely decomposition into NO + NH, N2 + OH and H + N2O via the ONNH intermediate, several new reaction pathways were also investigated. These include the direct abstraction of H by O and three product channels via the intermediate ONHN, giving N2 + OH, H + N2O and HNO + N. For each of the species corresponding to stationary points on the B3LYP surface, valence correlated CCSD(T) calculations were performed with the aug-cc-pVxZ (x = Q, 5) basis sets and the results extrapolated to the complete basis set limit. Core-valence correlation corrections, scalar relativistic corrections and spin orbit effects were also included in the resulting energetics and the subsequent calculation of thermochemical data. Heats of formation were also calculated using the G3X method. Variational transition state theory was used to determine the critical points for the barrierless reactions and the resulting B3LYP energetics were scaled to be compatible with the G3X and CCSD(T)/CBS values. As the results of modelling studies are critically dependent on the heat of formation of NNH, more extensive CCSD(T)/CBS calculations were performed for this molecule, predicting the heat of formation to be 60.6 � 0.5 kcal mol-1. Rate coefficients for the overall reaction processes were obtained by the application of multi-well RRKM theory. The thermochemical and kinetic results thus obtained were subsequently used in conjunction with the GRIMech 3.0 reaction data set in modelling studies of combustion systems, including methane / air and CO / H2 / air mixtures in completely stirred reactors. This study revealed that, contrary to common belief, the NNH + O channel is a relatively minor route for the production of NO. The structure of the inhibitor Nd-(N'-Sulfodiaminophosphinyl)-L-ornithine, PSOrn, and the nature of its binding to the OTCase enzyme was investigated using density functional (B3LYP) theory. The B3LYP/6-31G(d) calculations on the model compound, PSO, revealed that, while this molecule could be expected to exist in an amino form in the gas phase, on complexation in the active site of the enzyme it would be expected to lose two protons to form a dinegative imino tautomer. This species is shown to bind strongly to two H3CNHC(NH2)2+ moieties (model compounds for arginine residues), indicating that the strong binding observed between inhibitor and enzyme is partially due to electrostatic interactions as well as extensive hydrogen bonding (both model Arg+ residues form hydrogen bonds to two different sites on PSO). Population analysis and hydrogen bonding studies have revealed that the intramolecular bonding in this species consists of either single or semipolar bonds (that is, S and P are not hypervalent) and that terminal oxygens (which, being involved in semipolar bonds, carry negative charges) can be expected to form up to 4 hydrogen bonds with residues in the active site. In the course of this work several new G3 type methods were proposed, including G3MP4(SDQ) and G3[MP2(Full)], which are less expensive approximations to G3, and G3X2, which is an extension of G3X designed to incorporate additional electron correlation. As noted earlier, G3X2 shows a small improvement on G3X; G3MP4(SDQ) and G3[MP2(Full)], in turn, show good agreement with G3 results, with MAD�s of ~ 0.4 and ~ 0.5 kcal mol-1 respectively. 1. R. G. Hynes, J. C. Mackie and A. R. Masri, J. Phys. Chem. A, 1999, 103, 5967. 2. R. G. Hynes, J. C. Mackie and A. R. Masri, J. Phys. Chem. A, 1999, 103, 54. 3. R. G. Hynes, J. C. Mackie and A. R. Masri, Proc. Combust. Inst., 2000, 28, 1557. 4. N. L. Owens, Honours Thesis, School of Chemistry, University of Sydney, 2001. 5. A. Twarowski, Combustion and Flame, 1995, 102, 41.

This thesis is concerned with a range of chemical problems which are amenable to theoretical investigation via the application of current methods of computational quantum chemistry. These problems include the calculation of accurate thermochemical data, the prediction of reaction kinetics, the study of molecular potential energy surfaces, and the investigation of molecular structures and binding. The heats of formation (from both atomisation energies and isodesmic schemes) of a set of approximately 120 C1 and C2 fluorocarbons and oxidised fluorocarbons (along with C3F6 and CF3CHFCF2) were calculated with the Gaussian-3 (G3) method (along with several approximations thereto). These molecules are of importance in the flame chemistry of 2-H-heptafluoropropane, which has been proposed as a potential fire retardant with which to replace chloro- and bromofluorocarbons (CFC�s and BFC�s). The calculation of the data reported here was carried out in parallel with the modelling studies of Hynes et al.1-3 of shock tube experiments on CF3CHFCF3 and on C3F6 with either hydrogen or oxygen atoms. G3 calculations were also employed in conjunction with the experimental work of Owens et al.4 to describe the pyrolysis of CFClBr2 (giving CFCl) at a radiation wavelength of 265 nm. The theoretical prediction of the dissociation energy of the two C-Br bonds was found to be consistent with the energy at which carbene production was first observed, thus supporting the hypothesis that the pyrolysis releases two bromine radicals (rather than a Br2 molecule). On the basis of this interpretation of the experiments, the heat of formation of CFClBr2 is predicted to be 184 � 5 kJ mol-1, in good agreement with the G3 value of 188 � 5 kJ mol-1. Accurate thermochemical data was computed for 18 small phosphorus containing molecules (P2, P4, PH, PH2, PH3, P2H2, P2H4, PO, PO2, PO3, P2O, P2O2, HPO, HPOH, H2POH, H3PO, HOPO and HOPO2), most of which are important in the reaction model introduced by Twarowski5 for the combustion of H2 and O2 in the presence of phosphine. Twarowski reported that the H + OH recombination reaction is catalysed by the combustion products of PH3 and proposed two catalytic cycles, involving PO2, HOPO and HOPO2, to explain this observation. Using our thermochemical data we computed the rate coefficients of the most important reactions in these cycles (using transition state and RRKM theories) and confirmed that at 2000K both cycles have comparable rates and are significantly faster than the uncatalysed H + OH recombination. The heats of formation used in this work on phosphorus compounds were calculated using the G2, G3, G3X and G3X2 methods along with the far more extensive CCSD(T)/CBS type scheme. The latter is based on the evaluation of coupled cluster energies using the correlation consistent triple-, quadruple- and pentuple-zeta basis sets and extrapolation to the complete basis set (CBS) limit along with core-valence correlation corrections (with counterpoise corrections for phosphorus atoms), scalar relativistic corrections and spin-orbit coupling effects. The CCSD(T)/CBS results are consistent with the available experimental data and therefore constitute a convenient set of benchmark values with which to compare the more approximate Gaussian-n results. The G2 and G3 methods were found to be of comparable accuracy, however both schemes consistently underestimated the benchmark atomisation energies. The performance of G3X is significantly better, having a mean absolute deviation (MAD) from the CBS results of 1.8 kcal mol-1, although the predicted atomisation energies are still consistently too low. G3X2 (including counterpoise corrections to the core-valence correlation energy for phosphorus) was found to give a slight improvement over G3X, resulting in a MAD of 1.5 kcal mol-1. Several molecules were also identified for which the approximations underlying the Gaussian-n methodologies appear to be unreliable; these include molecules with multiple or strained P-P bonds. The potential energy surface of the NNH + O system was investigated using density functional theory (B3LYP/6-31G(2df,p)) with the aim of determining the importance of this route in the production of NO in combustion reactions. In addition to the standard reaction channels, namely decomposition into NO + NH, N2 + OH and H + N2O via the ONNH intermediate, several new reaction pathways were also investigated. These include the direct abstraction of H by O and three product channels via the intermediate ONHN, giving N2 + OH, H + N2O and HNO + N. For each of the species corresponding to stationary points on the B3LYP surface, valence correlated CCSD(T) calculations were performed with the aug-cc-pVxZ (x = Q, 5) basis sets and the results extrapolated to the complete basis set limit. Core-valence correlation corrections, scalar relativistic corrections and spin orbit effects were also included in the resulting energetics and the subsequent calculation of thermochemical data. Heats of formation were also calculated using the G3X method. Variational transition state theory was used to determine the critical points for the barrierless reactions and the resulting B3LYP energetics were scaled to be compatible with the G3X and CCSD(T)/CBS values. As the results of modelling studies are critically dependent on the heat of formation of NNH, more extensive CCSD(T)/CBS calculations were performed for this molecule, predicting the heat of formation to be 60.6 � 0.5 kcal mol-1. Rate coefficients for the overall reaction processes were obtained by the application of multi-well RRKM theory. The thermochemical and kinetic results thus obtained were subsequently used in conjunction with the GRIMech 3.0 reaction data set in modelling studies of combustion systems, including methane / air and CO / H2 / air mixtures in completely stirred reactors. This study revealed that, contrary to common belief, the NNH + O channel is a relatively minor route for the production of NO. The structure of the inhibitor Nd-(N'-Sulfodiaminophosphinyl)-L-ornithine, PSOrn, and the nature of its binding to the OTCase enzyme was investigated using density functional (B3LYP) theory. The B3LYP/6-31G(d) calculations on the model compound, PSO, revealed that, while this molecule could be expected to exist in an amino form in the gas phase, on complexation in the active site of the enzyme it would be expected to lose two protons to form a dinegative imino tautomer. This species is shown to bind strongly to two H3CNHC(NH2)2+ moieties (model compounds for arginine residues), indicating that the strong binding observed between inhibitor and enzyme is partially due to electrostatic interactions as well as extensive hydrogen bonding (both model Arg+ residues form hydrogen bonds to two different sites on PSO). Population analysis and hydrogen bonding studies have revealed that the intramolecular bonding in this species consists of either single or semipolar bonds (that is, S and P are not hypervalent) and that terminal oxygens (which, being involved in semipolar bonds, carry negative charges) can be expected to form up to 4 hydrogen bonds with residues in the active site. In the course of this work several new G3 type methods were proposed, including G3MP4(SDQ) and G3[MP2(Full)], which are less expensive approximations to G3, and G3X2, which is an extension of G3X designed to incorporate additional electron correlation. As noted earlier, G3X2 shows a small improvement on G3X; G3MP4(SDQ) and G3[MP2(Full)], in turn, show good agreement with G3 results, with MAD�s of ~ 0.4 and ~ 0.5 kcal mol-1 respectively. 1. R. G. Hynes, J. C. Mackie and A. R. Masri, J. Phys. Chem. A, 1999, 103, 5967. 2. R. G. Hynes, J. C. Mackie and A. R. Masri, J. Phys. Chem. A, 1999, 103, 54. 3. R. G. Hynes, J. C. Mackie and A. R. Masri, Proc. Combust. Inst., 2000, 28, 1557. 4. N. L. Owens, Honours Thesis, School of Chemistry, University of Sydney, 2001. 5. A. Twarowski, Combustion and Flame, 1995, 102, 41.