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The early history of lysozyme

Nature Structural Biology volume 5, pages 942–944 (1998)Cite this article

Lysozyme1 was the second protein and the first enzyme structure to be solved by X-ray diffraction methods. The team, led by David Phillips, included (in alphabetical order) Colin Blake, Win Browne, Ruth Fenn, Don Koenig, Gareth Mair, Tony North, Roberto Poljak and Raghupathy Sarma. The photograph records the first public presentation of the structure made by David Phillips at a Friday Evening discourse held at the Royal Institution, London, on the 5th of November, 1965. The Royal Institution was founded in 1799 in response to proposals of "an institution for relieving the distress of the lower classes by spreading practical scientific knowledge and introducing practical scientific improvements". Nevertheless, there had been some concern that "science and learning, if universally diffused, would speedily overturn the best constituted government on earth"2. The lecture theatre, specially constructed for the display of science, was built in 1801 and evening lectures were instituted in 1803. Throughout their existence and as promoted by Faraday, the lectures had been illustrated with many memorable experiments, aimed at capturing the imagination of the audience. This tradition is in evidence in David's lecture.

The photograph shows a model of lysozyme a hanging from the ceiling with its 129 amino acids in an extended conformation. Constructed from components on a scale of 2 cm to the Ångstrom, the chain was just over 10 m long. To the right of the speaker in the photograph is a model of the folded protein structure illustrating the remarkable property of proteins to fold into compact structures. During the lecture the model of the protein structure was lowered from the ceiling, the lecture lights dimmed and a light path traced the chain, composed of light bulbs sequentially lit for every amino acid, with blue and red for the ionizable groups and yellow and green for the polar and non-polar groups respectively. This was a magical moment.

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References

  1. Blake, C.C.F. et al. The structure of hen egg white lysozyme: a three dimensional Fourier synthesis at 2 Å resolution. Nature 196 , 1173–1176 (1965).

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  1. the Biochemistry Department, Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics, University of Oxford, Rex Richards Building, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QU, UK

    Louise N. Johnson

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  1. Louise N. Johnson
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Johnson, L. The early history of lysozyme. Nat Struct Mol Biol 5, 942–944 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/2917

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