Reaction Initiation in Enzyme Crystals by Diffusion of Substrate

By Marius Schmidt

University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

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Type

journal-article

Author

Marius Schmidt

Citation

Schmidt, M., 2020. Reaction Initiation in Enzyme Crystals by Diffusion of Substrate. Crystals, 10(2), p.116. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cryst10020116.

Abstract

Ever since the first structure of an enzyme, lysozyme, was solved, scientists have been eager to explore how these molecules perform their catalytic function. There has been an overwhelmingly large body of publications that report the X-ray structures of enzymes determined after substrate and ligand binding. None of them truly show the structures of an enzyme working freely through a sequence of events that range from the formation of the enzyme–substrate complex to the dissociation of the product. The technical difficulties were too severe. By 1969, Sluyterman and de Graaf had pointed out that there might be a way to start a reaction in an enzyme crystal by diffusion and following its catalytic cycle in its entirety with crystallographic methods. The crystal only has to be thin enough so that the diffusion is not rate limiting. Of course, the key questions are as follows: How thin should the crystal be? Will the existing X-ray sources be able to collect data from a thin enough crystal fast enough? This review shines light on these questions.

DOI

Funding

NSF-STC Biology with X-ray Lasers (NSF-1231306)