Reconstructing the Electron Density of Intermediates of the Hydrolysis of N-Acetylaspartate by Aspartoacylase

The hydrolysis of N-acetylaspartate by human aspartoacylase shows that using promolecular electron density (superpositions of the densities of spherical atoms) is insufficient for describing intermediates of reactions of enzyme catalysis. The deformation of electron density caused by the formation of covalent and coordination bonds inside a system must be considered, creating the need to develop new approaches in protein crystallography for better interpretation of observed electron density and more precise determination of the geometrical parameters of reaction intermediates.