Figure 1: Chemical structure of pironetin and the reaction scheme with cysteine.
From: Pironetin reacts covalently with cysteine-316 of α-tubulin to destabilize microtubule
Cysteine as a thiol nucleophile undergoes a Michael-type addition to pironetin, in which a protonated base (denoted as B+) or solvent accepts the electron from enolate intermediate.
