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Credit: Panagiotis Kastritis
A new method has enabled the natural structure of particularly large and complex enzymes to be revealed. Scientists at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and TU Berlin have published their findings in the journal
Cell Reports. They investigated a multi-enzyme complex that plays an essential role in metabolism and have discovered that it functions differently than previously thought. This will help scientists better understand certain diseases.
Enzymes are a cell s biocatalysts. They accelerate chemical reactions in the body or ensure that these reactions even take place at all. As a result, they play an extremely important role in metabolism. Individual enzymes frequently form a complex with many subunits, as in the case of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex. It occurs in all human, animal and plant cells, as well as in fungi and even in some bacteria. It is vital for energy production in cells, explains Dr Panagiotis Kastriti