Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Commentary
  • Published:

The far reaches of enzymology

Nature Chemical Biology volume 5, pages 516–520 (2009)Cite this article

The scope of enzymology has expanded rapidly over the last century, from an early focus on the chemical and catalytic mechanisms of individual enzymes to more recent efforts to understand enzyme action in the context of dynamic, functional biological systems consisting of many interacting enzymes and proteins. Continuing progress in probing the link between molecular structure and function now promises to pave the way for a deeper understanding of the evolution and behavior of the complex biological systems that govern cellular behavior.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Basic biological reactions.
Figure 2: Divergent reactivity in evolutionarily related enzymes.
Figure 3: Enzymology past, present and future.

Accession codes

Accessions

Protein Data Bank

References

  1. Bruice, T.C. & Benkovic, S.J. Bioorganic Mechanisms (W.A. Benjamin, Inc., New York, 1966).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Kornberg, A. Methods Enzymol. 182, 1–5 (1990).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Jencks, W.P. Catalysis in Chemistry and Enzymology (Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 1987).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Fersht, A. Structure and Mechanism in Protein Science (W.H. Freeman and Company, New York, 1999).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Bell, R.M. & Koshland, D.E. Science 172, 1253–1256 (1971).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Voet, J.G. & Abeles, R.H. J. Biol. Chem. 245, 1020–1031 (1970).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Fisher, H.F., Conn, E.E., Vennesland, B. & Westheimer, F.H. J. Biol. Chem. 202, 687–697 (1953).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Kokesh, F.C. & Westheimer, F.H. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 93, 7270–7274 (1971).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Polanyi, M. Z. Elektrochem. 27, 142–150 (1921).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Wolfenden, R. Annu. Rev. Biophys. Bioeng. 5, 271–306 (1976).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Pauling, L. Chem. Eng. News 24, 1375–1377 (1946).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Page, M.I. & Jencks, W.P. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 68, 1678–1683 (1971).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Jencks, W.P. Adv. Enzymol. Relat. Areas Mol. Biol. 43, 219–410 (1975).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Jencks, W.P. Methods Enzymol. 171, 145–164 (1989).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Storm, D.R. & Koshland, D.E. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 66, 445–452 (1970).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Bruice, T.C., Brown, A. & Harris, D.O. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 68, 658–661 (1971).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Tiselius, A. in Nobel Lectures, Chemistry 1942–1962 195–215 (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1964).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Benkovic, S.J., Valentine, A.M. & Salinas, F. Annu. Rev. Biochem. 70, 181–208 (2001).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Kuriyan, J. & O'Donnell, M. J. Mol. Biol. 234, 915–925 (1993).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Trahey, M. & McCormick, F. Science 238, 542–545 (1987).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Pollard, T.D. Annu. Rev. Biophys. Biomol. Struct. 36, 451–477 (2007).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Rust, M.J., Markson, J.S., Lane, W.S., Fisher, D.S. & O'Shea, E.K. Science 318, 809–812 (2007).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  23. Orgel, L.E. Crit. Rev. Biochem. Mol. Biol. 39, 99–123 (2004).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Lincoln, T.A. & Joyce, G.F. Science 323, 1229–1232 (2009).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  25. Narlikar, G.J. & Herschlag, D. Annu. Rev. Biochem. 66, 19–59 (1997).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. O'Brien, P.J. & Herschlag, D. Chem. Biol. 6, R91–R105 (1999).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Khersonsky, O., Roodveldt, C. & Tawfik, D.S. Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 10, 498–508 (2006).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Dean, A.M. & Thornton, J.W. Nat. Rev. Genet. 8, 675–688 (2007).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  29. Aharoni, A. et al. Nat. Genet. 37, 73–76 (2005).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Pettersen, E.F. et al. J. Comput. Chem. 25, 1605–1612 (2004).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank P. Sigala, J. Lassila, M. Good, W. Lim and G. Narlikar for their comments on this manuscript. The authors are grateful to the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation (J.G.Z.) and the US National Institutes of Health (D.H.) for support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jesse G. Zalatan is in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA,

    Jesse G Zalatan

  2. Daniel Herschlag is in the Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA.,

    Daniel Herschlag

Authors
  1. Jesse G Zalatan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Daniel Herschlag
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jesse G Zalatan or Daniel Herschlag.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Zalatan, J., Herschlag, D. The far reaches of enzymology. Nat Chem Biol 5, 516–520 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio0809-516

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio0809-516

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing