A team of biochemistry researchers yesterday said they have produced 3D images of enzymes at atomic resolution, which was featured on the cover of Wednesday’s issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
National Central University Department of Life Sciences assistant professor Chen Chin-yu (陳青諭) worked with Academia Sinica members to study the attributes of enzymes by using the academy’s high-resolution cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) instruments.
Despite many failures in studying the structures of the enzyme ketol-acid reductoisomerase, she finally found changing pH levels was a key factor to studying their activity, Chen said in a press release by the academy.
Photo courtesy of Academia Sinica
After altering the pH levels of enzyme samples, the team instantly froze them in liquid nitrogen at minus-160oC to control their activity levels, said Academia Sinica Institute of Biological Chemistry distinguished research fellow Tsai Ming-daw (蔡明道), who is also the director of the academy’s Cryo-EM Center, which was founded last year.
The team used cryo-EM instruments to capture 2D images of enzymes at their atomic levels and used the data to construct their 3D models, whose colors were added subsequently to facilitate observation, Tsai said.
The team’s findings are detailed in a paper titled “Use of Cryo-EM to Uncover Structural Bases of pH Effect and Cofactor Bispecificity of Ketol-Acid Reductoisomerase,” published in the journal, with Chen being named its lead author.
It is the world’s first research paper on using high-resolution cryo-EM instruments to study enzymes, Tsai said, adding that the team submitted the paper to the journal in early February.
Introducing the center’s cryo-EM instruments yesterday, Tsai said that the high-resolution ones were purchased at a cost of more than NT$200 million (US$6.5 million) each, adding that they are bolstered with underground structures for resisting earthquake shocks.
An earthquake yesterday afternoon, whose epicenter was in Hualien County, but felt in Taipei, did not affect the instruments, which operate around the clock, Academia Sinica Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology associate research scientist Chang Yuan-chih (張淵智) said, but added that they are susceptible to sudden power and water supply interruptions.
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