which a loop from one subunit covers the active site from the other one. In Salmonella typhimurium, a new pair of antiparallel β-sheets is created and five new interatomic contacts are formed in the loop, between the loop and the rest of the protein and between the loop and the ligands. There are two possibilities as far as the loop movement is concerned: It could move in a rigid manner or it could come from a disordered structure that acquires order. The second scenario seems more likely to occur in OPRTase. There must be an energy balance between the peptide new order and hydrogen bond formation in the loop, between the loop and the rest of the protein, and between the loop and the ligands. There is a 30:1 equilibrium between the close and open structures in the enzyme-Mg-PRPP complex, which suggests that the close conformation is favored. Various roles have been proposed to the catalytic loop residues. First of all, there seems to be a correlation between the loop movement and the substrate catalysis positioning. In the biological reaction, a proton transference to the pyrophosphate (PPi) molecule could minimize negative charge accumulation even though the pKa for PPi is 9. Lys26, His105, and Lys103 are candidates for this transference to the α phosphate position. However, it might not be the case, since lateral chains and the metal ion could neutralize some of the negative charge from the produced PPi. Transition-state geometric stabilization could also be gained through loop participation. ODCase Callahan & Miller (2007) summarize ODCase mechanisms in three proposals. The first one is the substrate carboxyl activation through electrostatic stress. The phosphoryl group binding entails juxtaposition between the carboxylate group and a negatively charged Asp residue (namely Asp91 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae). Repulsion between the negative charges would raise the energy value near the transition state. Nonetheless, crystallographic analyses and the lack of S. cerevisiae enzyme affinity to substrate analogues where the carboxylate groups is replaced by a cationic substituent have shown some evidence against this theory. OMP protonation on O4 or O2 before decarboxylation, which entails and ylide formation on N1, has also been considered. Proton donor absence near O4 or O2 in crystallographic structures is evidence against it along with the ylide generation exclusion as a limiting step in 15N experiments. Moreover, doubts have aroused as to protonated intermediate viability due to electronic stabilizers absence. As a