We observed that some catalytic activity of PL Perifosine kinase returns upon transfer of the tightly bound PLP to apo-eSHMT but is much less than the expected 50%. Future studies are focused on understanding in much more detail the mechanism of transfer of PLP and the reactivation of PL kinase. There are three known enzymes in living systems that catalyze the production of PLP: PNP oxidase, present in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms; PL kinase, which is also widely distributed in nature; and PLP synthase, which is found in plants and many microorganisms. Both PNP oxidase and PLP synthase have been shown to bind PLP tightly and to transfer the tightly bound PLP to an apo-B6 enzyme. This report is the first study on the properties of the formation and dissociation of a tightly bound PLP in ePL kinase. Classical competitive inhibitors act rapidly and show a high affinity for the active site of the ground state enzyme, whereas slow binding inhibitors show a high affinity for an intermediate state of the enzyme. Slow binding inhibition is characterized by an initial weak binding to the ground state enzyme, followed by tighter binding to the transition state structure. In general, this type of inhibition is considered more physiologically relevant since upstream accumulation of the substrate cannot relieve the inhibition brought about by this form of inhibition. The results presented here suggest that PLP is a slow tight binding inhibitor of ePL kinase. The mechanism of inhibition consists in the formation of a Schiff base between PLP and an active site lysine residue. The inactivation of the enzyme is faster when both PLP and MgADP are present, compared to when PLP is present alone or together with MgATP. Therefore, the inhibition occurs more rapidly during the catalytic turnover of the enzyme, in which the enzyme may go through an intermediate state whose Nutlin-3 conformation favors the covalent binding of PLP. It appears that during the catalytic cycle, or when both PLP and MgADP are bound, the active site of ePL kinase is in a conformation that places the e-amino group of K229 in a favorable position to form a covalent bond with C49 of PLP. The position of K229 in the active site structure of the unliganded ePL kinase is shown in Fig. 6B. Formation of an aldimine between PLP and the e-amino moiety of K229 is suggested by the absorption maximum at 420 nm and by the failure of PLP to bind tightly to K229Q ePL kinase and to inhibit its activity. The 336 nm absorbing band of the tightly bound PLP can be accounted for by several possible structures. One of the most probable is a carbinolamine intermediate, which occurs during the formation of the aldimine. In the carbinolamine structure, the C49 carbon of PLP is tetrahedral because of the addition of the e-amino moiety of K229 across the double bond to oxygen. Another possible structure is the enolimine tautomer of the PLP protonated aldimine also found at the active site of PLP-dependent enzymes. Our results raise questions about the role of ePL kinase in vivo. The observed inhibition mechanism and the transfer of PLP to apo-B6 enzymes may be a strategy to tune ePL kinase activity on the actual requirements of the PLP cofactor. Moreover, since PLP is such a reactive compound, having it bound tightly to ePL kinase would afford protection against unwanted side reactions,in whichit can be dephosphorylated 
or form aldimines with free amino acids or eamino groups on lysine residues in non-B6 proteins. We observed that the tightly bound PLP is protected from dephosphorylation by either a specific PLP phosphatase or alkaline phosphatase. But if protecting PLP from the unproductive side reactions is the purpose of its tight binding.