Enzymes as double agents: New mechanism discovered in protein modification
Wednesday, July 8, 2020 - 10:00
in Biology & Nature
Proteins are the workers in a cell and, as the 'basic element of life," are responsible for the most widely varying metabolic processes. In plants, for example, they take on an important function in photosynthesis. In order to be able to work purposefully, proteins change their chemical form after they have been produced in a cell—for example, through protein acetylation, when an acetyl group is transferred to the protein. The role of the 'driver' is played by enzymes, so-called acetyltransferases. Not much is known, however, about the precise mechanisms underlying the process.