The enzyme prephenate dehydrogenase catalyzes the oxidative decarboxylation of prephenate to 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate for the biosynthesis of tyrosine. Prephenate dehydrogenases exist as either monofunctional or bifunctional enzymes. The bifunctional enzymes are diverse, since the prephenate dehydrogenase domain is associated with other enzymes, such as chorismate mutase and 3-phosphoskimate 1-carboxyvinyltransferase. We report the first crystal structure of a monofunctional prephenate dehydrogenase enzyme from the hyperthermophile Aquifex aeolicus in complex with NAD ؉ . This protein consists of two structural domains, a modified nucleotide-binding domain and a novel helical prephenate binding domain. The active site of prephenate dehydrogenase is formed at the domain interface and is shared between the subunits of the dimer. We infer from the structure that access to the active site is regulated via a gated mechanism, which is modulated by an ionic network involving a conserved arginine, Arg 250 . In addition, the crystal structure reveals for the first time the positions of a number of key catalytic residues and the identity of other active site residues that may participate in the reaction mechanism; these residues include Ser 126 and Lys 246 and the catalytic histidine, His 147 . Analysis of the structure further reveals that two secondary structure elements, 3 and 7, are missing in the prephenate dehydrogenase domain of the bifunctional chorismate mutase-prephenate dehydrogenase enzymes. This observation suggests that the two functional domains of chorismate mutase-prephenate dehydrogenase are interdependent and explains why these domains cannot be separated.The biosynthesis of tyrosine is of critical importance for the growth and survival of enteric bacteria, yeasts, fungi, and plants. Like the other aromatic amino acids, tyrosine plays a dual role in the biochemistry of the organism, acting as both a product and a precursor. In the former case, tyrosine is required for protein synthesis, whereas, in the latter, it is a substrate for enzymes in downstream metabolic pathways. The aromatic metabolites derived from tyrosine include quinones (1, 2), cyanogenic glycosides (3), alkaloids (4, 5), flavonoids (6), and phenolic compounds derived from the phenylpropanoid pathway (6, 7). Since many of these compounds are involved in primary biological processes, they are essential for viability. In plants, for example, flavonoids are important for normal development, since they are involved in auxin transport (8 -10), pollen germination (8,11,12), and signaling to symbiotic microorganisms (8, 13).The first committed step in tyrosine biosynthesis involves the conversion of prephenate to either L-arogenate or 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate. Enzymes in the TyrA family of dehydrogenases, which are dedicated to L-tyrosine biosynthesis (14), are classified into one of three groups, depending on their substrate specificities. Prephenate dehydrogenases (PDHs) 5 accept prephenate, arogenate dehydrogenases utilize arogenate, and cyc...