Structure of active IspH Enzyme from escherichia coli provides mechanistic insights into substrate reduction

​The terminal step of the non-mevalonate pathway of terpene biosynthesis is catalyzed by IspH (see scheme). In the crystal structure of IspH from E. coli, a bound inorganic diphosphate ligand occupies the position of the diphosphate residue of the substrate. Together with mutation studies and theoretical calculations, these data support a mechanism which is analogous to the Birch reduction of allylic alcohols.