The large subunit in bacterial CPSase has four structural domains: the carboxy phosphate domain 1, the oligomerisation domain, the carbamoyl phosphate domain 2 and the allosteric domain.[8] CPSase heterodimers from Escherichia coli contain two molecular tunnels: an ammonia tunnel and a carbamate tunnel. These inter-domain tunnels connect the three distinct active sites, and function as conduits for the transport of unstable reaction intermediates (ammonia and carbamate) between successive active sites.[9] The catalytic mechanism of CPSase involves the diffusion of carbamate through the interior of the enzyme from the site of synthesis within the N-terminal domain of the large subunit to the site of phosphorylation within the C-terminal domain.
^Raushel FM, Thoden JB, Holden HM (June 1999). "The amidotransferase family of enzymes: molecular machines for the production and delivery of ammonia". Biochemistry. 38 (25): 7891–9. doi:10.1021/bi990871p. PMID10387030.
^Stapleton MA, Javid-Majd F, Harmon MF, Hanks BA, Grahmann JL, Mullins LS, Raushel FM (November 1996). "Role of conserved residues within the carboxy phosphate domain of carbamoyl phosphate synthetase". Biochemistry. 35 (45): 14352–61. doi:10.1021/bi961183y. PMID8916922.
^Thoden JB, Raushel FM, Benning MM, Rayment I, Holden HM (January 1999). "The structure of carbamoyl phosphate synthetase determined to 2.1 A resolution". Acta Crystallographica. Section D, Biological Crystallography. 55 (Pt 1): 8–24. doi:10.1107/S0907444998006234. PMID10089390.
^Kim J, Howell S, Huang X, Raushel FM (October 2002). "Structural defects within the carbamate tunnel of carbamoyl phosphate synthetase". Biochemistry. 41 (42): 12575–81. doi:10.1021/bi020421o. PMID12379099.