Reed Hutchinson/UCLA (Houk); UCLA (Tang)
The study, led by UCLA’s Kendall Houk (left) and Yi Tang, suggests that there could be many other naturally occurring enzymes that could be synthesized in similar ways.
A team of scientists and engineers from UCLA and Japan's University of Shizuoka has discovered a new mode of enzyme catalysis, the process that speeds up chemical reactions. The researchers also demonstrated that the enzyme, called LepI, can catalyze reactions that were not previously observed in nature. Through computational modeling, they found that the process happens in a unique way that can create two different molecules at once. "Mother Nature has amazing powers as a chemist in using enzymes to construct complex molecules in very efficient ways," said Yi Tang , a UCLA professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and a principal investigator on the study. "Our discovery showcased one naturally occurring enzyme and how it can be used as a tool to catalyze a very important and heavily studied synthetic reaction. This also suggests there could many more such enzymes waiting to be discovered and engineered." The study was published . In addition to Tang, the research was led by Kendall Houk , who holds UCLA's Saul Winstein Chair in Organic Chemistry, and Kenji Watanabe, a professor of pharmaceutical sciences at Shizuoka.
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