Catalytic enzymes are active matter

Type I restriction endonucleases are true catalytic enzymes

Type I restriction endonucleases are intriguing, multifunctional complexes that restrict DNA randomly, at sites distant from the target sequence. Restriction at distant sites is facilitated by ATP hydrolysis-dependent, translocation of double-stranded DNA towards the stationary enzyme bound at the recognition sequence. Following restriction, the enzymes are thought to remain associated with the...

E2 superfamily of ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes: constitutively active or activated through phosphorylation in the catalytic cleft

Protein phosphorylation is a modification that offers a dynamic and reversible mechanism to regulate the majority of cellular processes. Numerous diseases are associated with aberrant regulation of phosphorylation-induced switches. Phosphorylation is emerging as a mechanism to modulate ubiquitination by regulating key enzymes in this pathway. The molecular mechanisms underpinning how phosphoryl...

Electrostatic origin of the catalytic power of enzymes and the role of preorganized active sites.

Enzymatic reactions are involved in most biological processes. Thus, there is a major practical and fundamental interest in finding out what makes enzymes so efficient. Many crucial pieces of this puzzle were provided by biochemical and structural studies (1). Yet, as will be shown below, the actual reason for the catalytic power of enzymes is not widely understood. It is clearly not explained ...

Active Matter

The term active matter describes diverse systems, spanning macroscopic (e.g. shoals of fish and flocks of birds) to microscopic scales (e.g. migrating cells, motile bacteria and gels formed through the interaction of nanoscale molecular motors with cytoskeletal filaments within cells). Such systems are often idealizable in terms of collections of individual units, referred to as active particle...

Dioxygenase enzymes: catalytic mechanisms and chemical models