Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42803367›Full record

ArticleeLife2026

Bifunctional architecture enables substrate catalysis and channeling in

Trung Thach, KanagaVijayan Dhanabalan, Shiwangi Maurya, Yu Han-Hallett, Senwei Quan, Jane Allison, Gurunath Ramanathan, Ramaswamy Subramanian

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in eLife, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Trung ThachDepartment of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, United States.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8395-0623
KanagaVijayan DhanabalanDepartment of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, United States.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8636-2616
Shiwangi MauryaDepartment of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, India.
Yu Han-HallettBindley Bioscience Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, United States.
Senwei QuanSchool of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Jane AllisonSchool of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Gurunath RamanathanDepartment of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, India.
Ramaswamy SubramanianDepartment of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, United States.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6709-190X

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Substrate channeling enhances efficiency and prevents toxicity by directing unstable intermediates between active sites. Trimethylamine N-oxide demethylase (TDM) degrades trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) to dimethylamine and formaldehyde (HCHO), but the fate of HCHO has remained unclear. We report cryo-EM structures of TDM in apo, substrate-, and product-bound states that reveal a previously unknown channeling pathway. Combined structural, biochemical, and target molecular dynamics analyses show that HCHO is generated in a catalytic core and guided through a tunnel to a remote tetrahydrofolate (THF)-binding site, where it forms methylene-THF. Thus, TDM emerges as a bifunctional enzyme that unites TMAO demethylation with one-carbon transfer, providing a mechanistic explanation for its role in metabolic efficiency and detoxification.

Indexed as

MethylaminesOxidoreductases, N-DemethylatingParacoccusCatalysisCatalytic DomainCryoelectron MicroscopyDimethylaminesFormaldehydeMolecular Dynamics SimulationProtein ConformationSubstrate SpecificityTetrahydrofolatesDimethylaminesFormaldehydeMethylaminesOxidoreductases, N-DemethylatingTetrahydrofolatestrimethyloxamineE. colimolecular biophysicsParacoccusParacoccus DMFstructural biology

Identifiers

PMID42803367
PMCPMC13619132

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.