Diego Ignacio Bustamante

Mr. Diego Ignacio Bustamante


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

2Years (2025-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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18 November 2025 in Biomolecules
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Journal Article
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MRMaría-Belen Reyes
María-Belen Reyes
AFAllison Fuentes
Allison Fuentes
DBDiego Ignacio Bustamante
Diego Ignacio Bustamante
FRFernando Retamal
Fernando Retamal
ILIgnacia Belén Antonia Lillo
Ignacia Belén Antonia Lillo
EUElena Amparo Uribe
Elena Amparo Uribe
Agmatine is a biogenic amine that functions as a neurotransmitter and exhibits anticonvulsant, antineurotoxic, and antidepressant properties. It can be metabolized into putrescine and urea by canonical agmatinases or by the agmatinase-like protein (ALP), which corresponds to the C-terminal region of the LIMCH1 protein. The amino acid sequence of ALP/LIMCH1 diverges significantly from that of canonical agmatinases and lacks the conserved residues typically required for coordination with Mn2+, an essential cofactor for ureohydrolase activity. The three-dimensional structure of ALP/LIMCH1 remains unresolved, and predictive artificial intelligence algorithms such as AlphaFold have failed to model it reliably. As a result, the configuration of its active site and the identity of potential metal-coordinating ligands remain elusive. In this study, we purified recombinant full-length rat LIMCH1 (119.5 kDa) and a truncated ALP variant, ΔLIM-ALP (51 kDa), and analyzed their secondary structures using circular dichroism spectroscopy. Our results indicate that both proteins differ markedly from known ureohydrolases, exhibiting a high proportion of disordered regions (~60%) and β-structures (~30%). In contrast, Escherichia coli agmatinase displays a well-defined α/β/α sandwich fold. Despite these structural differences, ALP/LIMCH1 remain the only known mammalian proteins exhibiting agmatinase activity. To gain insight into the putative active site of ALP, we proposed candidate Mn2+-binding residues and generated single-point mutants (N213A, Q215A, D217A, E288A, K290A). Although these mutations did not significantly alter Mn2+ binding or its overall content in the protein samples, four mutants exhibited a decreased Km for agmatine and a reduced Vmax when normalized to protein concentration.