The past decade has seen a debate grow on the possibility that the motions of enzymes could influence the contribution that quantum mechanical tunnelling makes to their activity. In this focus we highlight differing views on the significance that structural dynamics has on the reactivity of enzymes.
Good vibrations in enzyme-catalysed reactions - pp161 - 168
Sam Hay
&
Nigel S. Scrutton
doi:10.1038/nchem.1223
This Perspective discusses contemporary ideas for enzymatic reactions that invoke a role for fast 'promoting' (or 'compressive') motions or vibrations that, in principle, can facilitate enzyme-catalysed reactions. With an emphasis on hydrogen-transfer reactions, experimental, theoretical and computational approaches that have lent evidence to this controversial hypothesis are discussed.
Taking Ockham's razor to enzyme dynamics and catalysis - pp169 - 176
David R. Glowacki,
Jeremy N. Harvey
&
Adrian J. Mulholland
doi:10.1038/nchem.1244
Enzyme-catalysed reactions can involve significant quantum tunnelling and show kinetic isotope effects with complex temperature dependences. In this Perspective, reaction dynamics and enzyme catalysis are linked to transition-state-theory frameworks. It is shown that a multi-state model using standard transition-state theory can account for complex experimental data without invoking a role for enzyme dynamics.