A pyridoxal-phosphate protein. Also acts on?N2-acetyl-L-ornithine and?L-ornithine, but more slowly [3]. In?Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the arginine-inducible succinylornithine transaminase, acetylornithine transaminase (EC?2.6.1.11) and ornithine aminotransferase (EC?2.6.1.13) activities are catalysed by the same enzyme, but this is not the case in all species [5]. This is the third enzyme in the arginine succinyltransferase (AST) pathway for the catabolism of arginine [1]. This pathway converts the carbon skeleton of arginine into glutamate, with the concomitant production of ammonia and conversion of succinyl-CoA into succinate and CoA. The five enzymes involved in this pathway are EC?2.3.1.109?(arginine?N-succinyltransferase), EC?3.5.3.23?(N-succinylarginine dihydrolase), EC?2.6.1.81?(succinylornithine transaminase), EC?1.2.1.71?(succinylglutamate-semialdehyde dehydrogenase) and EC?3.5.1.96?(succinylglutamate desuccinylase) [3, 6].
