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].
