One of the challenges in structural biology is to fully understand the mechanism of fast biological processes such as enzymatic reactions. We can use crystallography to visualize static ensemble average structures protein resting states and cryo-trapped reaction intermediates, often at atomic resolution, enhancing our understanding of protein function. However, if we want to directly observe an enzymatic reaction in motion we need to visualise it with high resolution both in space and time.<br/>Nowadays, we have a range of X-ray sources, software tools and data collection strategies to enable the time-resolved experiment, but a major bottleneck in time-resolved structural techniques remains the challenge of quickly and uniformly triggering protein function across an ensemble of molecules either in solution or <i>in crystallo</i>. The fastest and most accurate approach to achieve this is using intense light pulses, however, most biomolecules are not sensitive to light. To address this challenge, photoactive chemical compounds must be bound to either the protein or substrate to cage the reaction and allow it to be initiated by light. Our aim is to develop a library of light-activated compounds that will be of general use to the structural biology community.

Using light as a trigger to understand biological mechanisms

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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