Extemporaneous musings, occasionally poetic, about life in its richly varied dimensions, especially as relates to history, theology, law, literature, science, by one who is an attorney, ordained minister, historian, writer, and African American.
Monday, October 27, 2014
OF MAN AND MICROBES
THIS QUOTATION SO REMINDS ME OF OF THE NATURE OF MAN: POSITIVE, NEGATIVE AND IMBUED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT'S PATTERNING. THE QUOTE IS FROM A SCIENCE ARTICLE BELOW ABOUT A BREAKTHROUGH DISCOVERY INTO HOW A POWERFUL ANTIBIOTIC IS MADE IN NATURE BY SCIENTISTS.
"They discovered that the dehydratase did two things," Nair said. "One is that it added glutamate (to the nisin peptide), and the second thing it did was it eliminated glutamate. But how does one enzyme have two different activities?"
To help answer this question, Yue Hao, a graduate student in Nair's lab, used X-ray crystallography to visualize how the dehydratase bound to the nisin peptide. She found that the enzyme interacted with the peptide in two ways: It grasped one part of the peptide and held it fast, while a different part of the dehydratase helped install the ring structures.
"There's a part of the nisin precursor peptide that is held steady, and there's a part that is flexible. And the flexible part is actually where the chemistry is carried out," Nair said.
Ortega also made another a surprising discovery: transfer-RNA, a molecule best known for its role in protein production, supplies the glutamate that allows the dehydratase to help shape the nisin into its final, active form."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141026195415.htm