TY - JOUR T1 - Lithium-ATP: structure characterization and lithium binding JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/637900 SP - 637900 AU - Anat Haimovich AU - Amir Goldbourt Y1 - 2019/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/05/16/637900.abstract N2 - Lithium is a leading drug for the treatment of bipolar disorder and affects many biochemical pathways via inhibition of phosphatases and kinases. Lithium can replace magnesium cations in enzymes and small molecules, among them ATP. Here we extract the binding environment of lithium in LiATP. Using a multi-nuclear solid-state NMR approach, we determine that lithium coordinates with the first (Pα) and second (Pβ) phosphates of one ATP molecule, and with the second (Pβ’) phosphate of a second ATP molecule in the unit cell. The Li-P distance is 3 Å. The fourth coordination is probably to water. We suggest that the phosphate chains are non-linear and that Pγ of one ATP molecule resides in between Pα’ and Pγ’ of a second ATP molecule. Despite the use of excess lithium in the preparations, sodium ions still remain bound to the sample, at distances of 4.3-5.5 Å from Li, and coordinate Pγ, Pγ’, and Pα. ER -