Structural Biochemistry and Mechanisms

"Whole genome studies in recent years have enforced a view where most cellular components do not act in isolation, but in large assemblies. These assemblies, often referred to as macromolecular complexes and molecular machines, ensure cellular homeostasis. Prominent examples are the proteasome, the fatty acid synthase, the nucleosome, the ribosome, and the spliceosome. Recent developments in structural biology, most notably the improvements in the structure determination by single particle cryo- electron microscopy (cryo-EM), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), the availability of X-ray free electron lasers (XFELs), and diffraction-limited synchrotron light sources for X-ray crystallography, have moved the bottleneck in high-resolution structure determination to the biochemical preparation of high-quality samples. However, precisely the biochemical purification of such assemblies remains a formidable challenge. In this talk, I will first speak about methods we have developed in recent years to tackle this challenge. I will then report on structural insights which are attainable when working with optimized and stabilized samples. Finally, a biochemist´s dream is to directly visualize chemical reactions with high temporal and spatial resolution, while they are occurring within enzymes. I will speak about our ongoing technical developments in X-ray crystallography to make this dream come true.”