An Enzyme at Work

The preceding summary and Fig. 20 present a frame-by-frame account of the pathway for ribonuclease catalysis, based predominandy on knowledge of the structures of the various intermediates and transition states involved. The ability to carry out such a study is dependent on three critical features (1) crystals of the enzyme which diffract sufficiently well to permit structural resolution to at least 2 A (2) compatibility of the enzyme, its crystals, and its catalytic kinetic parameters with cryoenzymology so as to permit the accumulation and stabilization of enzyme-substrate complexes and intermediates at subzero temperatures in fluid cryosolvents with crystalline enzyme and (3) the availability of suitable transition state analogs to mimic the actual transition states which are, of course, inaccessible due to their very short lifetimes. The results from this investigation demonstrate that this approach is feasible and can provide unparalleled information about an enzyme at work. 

S.A. Sanchez, L.A. Bagatolli, E. Gratton, and T. L. Hazlett. A two-photon view of an enzyme at work Crotalus atrox venom PLA2 interaction with single-lipid and mixed-lipid giant unilamellar vesicles. Biophys. J., 2002, 82, 2232-2243. 

The ratio kcdt/Km is referred to as the specificity constant. Equation (29) indicates that the specificity constant provides a measure of how rapidly an enzyme can work at low [S]. Table 7.3 gives the values of the specificity constants for some particularly active enzymes. 

Third, acyl-CoA cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT) [EC 2.3.1.26], an enzyme that works after the formation of cholesterol, was considered a unique target of inhibition [32], ACAT catalyzes the synthesis of cholesteiyl esters from cholesterol and long-chain fatty acyl-CoA. ACAT plays important roles in the body, for example, in the absorption of dietary cholesterol from the intestines, production of lipoprotein in liver and formation of foam cells from macrophages in arterial walls. Therefore, ACAT inhibition is expected not only to lower plasma cholesterol levels but also to have a direct effect at the arterial wall. A number of synthetic ACAT inhibitors such as ureas, imidazoles, and acyl amides have been developed [33], Several groups have searched for novel ACAT inhibitors... 

It should be noted that a number of different enzyme preparations can now be purchased directly from manufacturing chemists. It must be emphasised that the activity of an enzyme, whether purchased or prepared in the laboratory, may vary between rather wide limits. The activity is dependent on the source of the enzyme, the presence of poisons and also on the temperature. It appears, for example, that the quality of horseradish peroxidase depends upon the season of the year at which the root is obtained from the ground. It cannot be expected therefore that all the experiments described below will work always with the precision characteristic of an organic reaction proceeding under accurately known conditions. 

Enzymes work by bringing reactant molecules together, holding them, in the orientation necessary for reaction, and providing any necessary acidic or basic sites to catalyze specific steps. As an example, let s look at citrate synthase, an enzyme that catalyzes the aldol-like addition of acetyl CoA to oxaloacetate to give citrate. The reaction is the first step in the citric acid cycle, in which acetyl groups produced by degradation of food molecules are metabolized to yield C02 and H20. We ll look at the details of the citric acid cycle in Section 29.7. 

When Murad, Furchgott, and Ignarro received their Nobel Prizes, however, scientists still did not know exactly how nitroglycerin was broken down by the body and converted into nitric oxide. In 2002, researchers at Duke University in North Carolina found an enzyme in mitochondria, the cell s powerhouse, that they believe is responsible for this process. This discovery also explained a phenomenon that doctors had long observed—over time, nitroglycerin stops working and no longer relieves the patient s chest pain. 

Alternative second-messenger pathways may be at work in olfactory transduction. The role of cAMP in olfactory transduction is well established. Are there alternative pathways, such as those involving phospholipids and Ca2+ Several groups have reported that certain odorants can elicit an increase in the phosphoinositde second messenger inositol 1,4,5,-trisphosphate (IP3) (Ch. 20). However, there is no clear evidence that IP3 directly mediates an electrical response in OSNs, nor is there a clear rationale for two parallel excitatory odor transduction cascades. However, more recent data support the idea that phos-phoinositides or enzymes related to their metabolism may play a modulatory role, shaping the OSN output by... 

The pioneering works of Hill and Eddows have opened the way to realize fast and efficient electron transfer of enzymes at the electrode surface. They modified a gold electrode with 4,4 -bipyrydyl, an electron promoter, not a mediator since it does not take part in electron transfer in the potential region of interest, to accomplish rapid electron transfer of cytochrome [1], Their work has triggered intensive investigation of electron transfer of enzymes using modified electrodes [2]. 

Concept "One of the great intellectual challenges presented to Science by Nature is a proper understanding of how enzymes work. At one level we can explain enzyme catalysis -what an enzyme does is bind, and thus stabilise, selectively the transition... 

The experimental objective of the study was to obtain a series of stop-action photographs of ribonuclease A at work at atomic resolution. The strategy for such a program has been considered in detail by Fink and Petsko (1981), who treat such subjects as diffusional constraints and turnover rates, and in the preceding sections of this article. The ribonuclease reaction has a series of well-characterized, stable species which can be purchased, and crystals of the enzyme are large, well ordered, catalyt-ically active (Fink et al, 1984), and have as their natural mother liquor a cryoprotective solvent (Petsko, 1975). RNase thus represents the ideal system for a step-by-step analysis of an enzymatic catalytic pathway by the methods outlined above. 

---