Structural investigation of reaction intermediates in glycolytic aldolases

我们的提案旨在了解被称为酶的生物催化剂如何加速活细胞中的化学反应。酶是生命所必需的；没有这些生物催化剂，生命是不可能存在的。尽管经过多年的研究，生化学家还没有成功地对酶如何完成催化提供一个全面的描述。我们缺少的是关于酶加速化学反应的内部机制的详细知识。我们将使用我们开创的一项技术——冻结酶内部的运动——这将使我们能够一步一步地跟踪它的内部工作。为了可视化这些微妙的机制，我们建议使用x射线衍射，它可以放大酶的内部原子结构。通过对其功能的详细研究，我们希望了解酶是如何完成这一惊人的催化壮举的。

Our proposal seeks to understand how the biological catalysts called enzymes speed up chemical reactions in living cells. Enzymes are essential to life; life without these biological catalysts is not possible. Despite years of research, biochemists have not yet succeeded in providing a comprehensive description of how enzymes accomplish catalysis. What is missing is a detailed knowledge about the internal mechanisms that an enzyme uses to speed up chemical reactions. We will use a technique that we pioneered - freezing the motion inside an enzyme - which will allow us to follow its inner workings step by step. To visualise these subtle mechanisms, we propose to use X-ray diffraction, which magnifies the internal atomic structures of enzymes. Through this detailed investigation into their function, we hope to learn how enzymes perform this amazing feat of catalysis.