Enzyme studies for biocatalysis and other applications

酶引起我们研究小组的极大兴趣，不仅是因为它们与疾病有关，而且还因为它们无与伦比的催化性能。事实上，在温和条件下，酶在广泛的反应中通常具有对映体、化学和区域选择性。然而，我们对这些上级催化剂的了解只是表面的。例如，在生物系统中发挥重要作用的变构性和协同性，只是定义得很差。我们建议在这里研究不同的酶，并利用它们的催化能力，用于生物催化和其他应用。感兴趣的酶来自两组：1）一些乙酰基转移酶、磷酸基转移酶和腺苷酰转移酶，其显示新的变构行为;和2）P450酶，其显示复杂的协同行为并催化在失活的C-H键处的困难的氧化反应。

Enzymes are of great interest to our group, not only for their involvement in diseases but also for their unequalled catalytic properties. Indeed enzymes are often enantio-, chemo-, and regio-selective across a wide range of reactions under mild conditions. Yet our understanding of these superior catalysts is only superficial. For example, allostery and cooperativity, which play important roles in biological systems, are only poorly defined. We propose here to study different enzymes, and harness their catalytic abilities for biocatalyis and other applications. The enzymes of interest are from two groups: 1) some acetyltransferases, phosphoryltransferases and adenylyltransferases which show novel allosteric behavior; and 2) P450 enzymes which show complex cooperative behavior and catalyze difficult oxidation reactions at inactivated C-H bonds.