Function
Catechol O-methyltransferase (COMT) methylates catecholamines like dopamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine. The cofactor S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) serves as the methyl donor in the reaction and is converted to to S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine (SAH) by the reaction.[1] For more details see Student Projects for UMass Chemistry 423 Spring 2012-6.
Relevance
The Parkinson Disease drug levodopa is a substrate of COMT and COMT inhibitors like entacapone are used with levodopa in the disease treatment.[2]
Structural highlights
- (PDB entry 3a7e). Water molecule is shown as red sphere.
3D Structures of catechol O-methyltransferase
Catechol O-methyltransferase 3D structures
