Cyanate hydratase (also known as cyanate lyase) catalyses the reaction of cyanate with bicarbonate to produce ammonia and carbon dioxide, allowing the host organisms to overcome the toxicity of environmental cyanate [1-4]. It consists of an N-terminal five-helix bundle domain that shows structural similarity to DNA-binding HTH domains and a C-terminal catalytic domain, which has a unique fold [4].

1: Structure of cyanase reveals that a novel dimeric and decameric arrangement of subunits is required for formation of the enzyme active site. Walsh MA, Otwinowski Z, Perrakis A, Anderson PM, Joachimiak A; Structure Fold Des 2000;8:505-514. PMID:10801492

2: Serendipitous crystallization and structure determination of cyanase (CynS) from Serratia proteamaculans. Butryn A, Stoehr G, Linke-Winnebeck C, Hopfner KP; Acta Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun. 2015;71:471-476. PMID:25849512

3: Structural Characterization of a Eukaryotic Cyanase from Tetranychus urticae. Schlachter CR, Klapper V, Wybouw N, Radford T, Van Leeuwen T, Grbic M, Chruszcz M; J Agric Food Chem. 2017;65:5453-5462. PMID:28613863

4: Detecting the nature and solving the crystal structure of a contaminant protein from an opportunistic pathogen. Pederzoli R, Tarantino D, Gourlay LJ, Chaves-Sanjuan A, Bolognesi M; Acta Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun. 2020;76:392-397. PMID:32880586