NMR studies of biosynthesis and enzyme mechanism

Recent applications of high-field NMR spectroscopy in biosynthesis will be discussed. The emphasis of the lecture will be on the use of 1H, 3H, '3C and '5N-NMR to focus on individual steps of biochemical processes in the formation of natural products and related enzyme-catalyzed events. In the first set of experiments, pulse labelling and invivo studies are used to uncover biosynthetic sequences in the porphyrin-corrin pathway. In the second type of NMR experiment, the application of 1H and 3H-NMR spectroscopy has illuminated the course of certain key biosynthetic steps in the synthesis of porphyrins and -lactam antibiotics. These methods have quite general application in biochemical and biological systems. Thirdly, the full magnifying power of the NMR "lens" is used to decipher molecular events during enzyme-catalyzed reactions in solution at subzero temperature and in the solid state.