Access

News and Views

Nature 457, 392-393 (22 January 2009) | doi:10.1038/457392a; Published online 21 January 2009

Open Innovation Challenges

Molecular biology: Concealed enzyme coordination

Elio A. Abbondanzieri1 & Xiaowei Zhuang1

Top

Coordination between subunits is crucial for the proper functioning of multi-component molecular machines. A single-molecule study now allows glimpses into the mechanism used by subunits of one such machine.

Even 2,000 years ago, Aristotle had noted that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. This maxim also holds true in the cell, where enzymatic proteins frequently combine to form multimeric complexes that allow individual subunits to coordinate their activities and so perform more difficult tasks than they could alone.

  1. Elio A. Abbondanzieri and Xiaowei Zhuang are at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Harvard University, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
    Email: zhuang@chemistry.harvard.edu

MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS

These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.

RESEARCH

Intersubunit coordination in a homomeric ring ATPase

Nature Article (22 Jan 2009)

Substrate interactions and promiscuity in a viral DNA packaging motor

Nature Letters to Editor (01 Oct 2009)

Backtracking determines the force sensitivity of RNAP II in a factor-dependent manner

Nature Letters to Editor (12 Apr 2007)