Enzymology today and tomorrow

Enzymes catalyze the chemical reactions that power and control cells. Their concentrations, cellular locations and activity states are often finely regulated by complex networks of inputs that can adjust flux through the biochemical pathways in which they operate. Regulation of enzyme production at the level of transcription is a well-studied paradigm. An integrative understanding of the regulation of enzyme activities by control of translation, localization, post-translational modification (including engagement in larger complexes) and degradation is still emerging, and new approaches are affording deep insight into how these inputs control function in living cells, as two of the symposia in this session will highlight. From a biomedical standpoint, this growing understanding has identified levers to exploit in novel disease therapies (e.g., induced protein degradation). From a biotechnological perspective, the seemingly limitless reservoir of natural enzyme catalysts afforded by nucleic acid sequence databases, and our growing ability to evolve them to our own purposes (biocatalysis) could transform synthetic chemistry and underpin new bioprocesses to valuable chemicals. Here, our ability to find novel enzyme activities, intuit potential new reaction types, identify suitable natural enzymes as starting points for biocatalysis campaigns, and predict the impacts of enzyme modifications must be improved to streamline and accelerate development of new processes, as highlighted by the third symposium in this session.

Symposium 1, entitled "Modulating enzymes in protein homeostasis," will showcase the exciting field of enzymology, examining the highly coordinated dance by which proteins are expressed, folded and degraded. Presentations will highlight how the structures and functions of enzymes that regulate protein degradation pathways have been elegantly elucidated and exploited for groundbreaking therapeutic approaches in recent years.

In symposium 2, entitled "Spatiotemporal regulation of enzymes," presentations will explore how exquisite regulation of the cellular machinery is achieved through a network of highly dynamic signaling enzymes that are both spatially and temporally controlled. A particular goal will be to showcase recent discoveries of spatiotemporal regulation of these signaling enzymes in health and disease.

Symposium 3, entitled "Discovering and exploiting new enzymes in biotechnology and biocatalysis," will highlight recent examples of the discovery of new, natural enzyme activities, the analysis of the chemical mechanisms by which such activities emerge and their integration into new synthetic and synthetic–biological processes. A particular focus will be on exciting new approaches that promise to enable faster discovery and evolution of new enzyme reactions.

Organizers

J. Martin Bollinger Jr.
Penn State University

Michelle Arkin
University of California, San Francisco

Jin Zhang
University of California, San Diego