Glutathione synthase

In enzymology, a glutathione synthase is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction


 * ATP + gamma-L-glutamyl-L-cysteine + glycine $$\rightleftharpoons$$ ADP + phosphate + glutathione

The 3 substrates of this enzyme are ATP, gamma-L-glutamyl-L-cysteine, and glycine, whereas its 3 products are ADP, phosphate, and glutathione.

This enzyme belongs to the family of ligases, specifically those forming carbon-nitrogen bonds as acid-D-amino-acid ligases (peptide synthases). The systematic name of this enzyme class is gamma-L-glutamyl-L-cysteine:glycine ligase (ADP-forming). Other names in common use include glutathione synthetase, and GSH synthetase. This enzyme participates in glutamate metabolism and glutathione metabolism. At least one compound, Phosphinate is known to inhibit this enzyme.

Structural studies
As of late 2007, 7 structures have been solved for this class of enzymes, with PDB accession codes, , , , , , and.