A molecular string phone at work
(PHYSorg.com Chemistry)

Researchers from the Department of Atomically Resolved Dynamics of the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) at the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science in Hamburg, the University of Potsdam (both in Germany) and the University of Toronto (Canada) have pieced together a detailed time-lapse movie revealing all the major steps during the catalytic cycle of an enzyme. Surprisingly, the communication between the protein units is accomplished via a water network akin to a string telephone. This communication is aligned with a `breathing` motion, that is the expansion and contraction of the protein. This time-lapse sequence of structures reveals dynamic motions as a fundamental element in the molecular foundations of biology.