Related Experiment Videos
Extreme electric fields power catalysis in the active site of ketosteroid isomerase
Stephen D Fried1, Sayan Bagchi1, Steven G Boxer2
1Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-1052, USA.
Abstract:
Enzymes use protein architecture to impose specific electrostatic fields onto their bound substrates, but the magnitude and catalytic effect of these electric fields have proven difficult to quantify with standard experimental approaches. Using vibrational Stark effect spectroscopy, we found that the active site of the enzyme ketosteroid isomerase (KSI) exerts an extremely large electric field onto the C=O chemical bond that undergoes a charge rearrangement in KSI's rate-determining step. Moreover, we found that the magnitude of the electric field exerted by the active site strongly correlates with the enzyme's catalytic rate enhancement, enabling us to quantify the fraction of the catalytic effect that is electrostatic in origin. The measurements described here may help explain the role of electrostatics in many other enzymes and biomolecular systems.
Related Concept Videos
Introduction to Mechanisms of Enzyme Catalysis
Catalytically Perfect Enzymes
Most enzymes...
Enzymes
Enzyme deficiencies can often translate into life-threatening diseases. For example, a genetic abnormality resulting in the deficiency of the enzyme G6PD...
E1 Reaction: Stereochemistry and Regiochemistry
Radical Reactivity: Steric Effects
Along with electronic...
Allosteric Proteins-ATCase
Aspartate transcarbamoylase (ATCase) is a cytosolic enzyme that catalyzes the condensation of L-aspartate and carbamoyl phosphate to N-carbamoyl-L-aspartate. This reaction is the first step in pyrimidine biosynthesis. UTP and CTP, the end products of the pyrimidine synthesis...