A Noncovalent Photoswitch for Photochemical Regulation of Enzymatic Activity

Photochemical regulation provides a promising approach for controlling enzyme activity on demand owing to its high spatiotemporal resolution. However, reversible regulation of the enzyme activity by light usually requires genetic mutations and covalent modifications of the target enzymes, which may lead to irreversible changes in the enzyme structure and subsequent loss of the enzymatic activity. Herein, we have developed a novel strategy based on a polymeric inhibitor-encapsulated enzyme, which noncovalently anchors the azobenzene-modified inhibitors to the enzyme active site, thereby achieving reversible control of the activity of native enzymes using light. As neither genetic mutation nor chemical modification of enzymes is required for this method, negligible loss of the enzymatic activity was observed for the encapsulated enzymes compared to their native counterparts. Thus, this approach has demonstrated a promising strategy for achieving reversible regulation of the activity of native enzymes.