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Nature 454, 832-833 (14 August 2008) | doi:10.1038/454832a; Published online 13 August 2008

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Biochemistry: Fit for an enzyme

Shiven Kapur1 & Chaitan Khosla1

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Certain enzymes that synthesize antibiotics play a game of pass the parcel, handing biosynthetic intermediates from one active site to another. A study reveals the dynamic nature of interactions between the enzyme domains.

Although crystal structures provide vivid insights into the architecture of enzymes, they reinforce a static picture of the molecules, providing only a snapshot of what a protein looks like in one stable conformation. This can be misleading, because enzymes in solution are certainly not static.

  1. Shiven Kapur and Chaitan Khosla are in the Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
    Email: shiven@stanford.edu
    Email: khosla@stanford.edu

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