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Related Experiment Videos

Electric Fields and Enzyme Catalysis.

Stephen D Fried1, Steven G Boxer2

  • 1Proteins and Nucleic Acid Chemistry Division, Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge CB2 0QH, United Kingdom;

Annual Review of Biochemistry
|April 5, 2017
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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Enzymes accelerate reactions using electric fields within their active sites. Recent vibrational Stark effect experiments confirm this electrostatic catalysis, unifying enzyme mechanism theories.

Area of Science:

  • Biochemistry
  • Chemical Physics
  • Molecular Biophysics

Background:

  • Enzymes dramatically accelerate biochemical reactions, a phenomenon studied for decades.
  • The role of electrostatic interactions in enzyme active sites has been hypothesized but experimentally challenging to verify.
  • Previous computational models suggested significant electrostatic contributions to enzymatic catalysis.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To experimentally investigate the role of electric fields in enzymatic catalysis.
  • To develop a unified model for electrostatic catalysis in enzymes.
  • To reconcile diverse theories of enzyme mechanisms through a focus on active site electric fields.

Main Methods:

  • Utilizing the vibrational Stark effect to measure electric fields experienced by substrates in enzyme active sites.
Keywords:
electric fieldsenzyme electrostaticsinfrared spectroscopypreorganizationprotein biophysicsvibrational Stark effect

Related Experiment Videos

  • Analyzing experimental data to quantify electrostatic contributions to catalysis.
  • Developing a theoretical model to integrate various enzyme mechanism concepts.

    • Main Results:

    • Direct experimental measurement of electric fields within enzyme active sites is now feasible.
    • Evidence strongly supports a significant contribution of electrostatics to enzymatic catalysis.
    • A unified model incorporating electric field importance has been proposed.

    Conclusions:

    • Enzymes employ powerful electric fields in their active sites to catalyze reactions.
    • The vibrational Stark effect provides a powerful tool for probing enzyme mechanisms.
    • A unified electrostatic model offers a new framework for understanding enzyme function.