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  • Seminars
    Date:
    13
    November, 2024
    Wednesday
    Hour: 13:15-14:30

    The Clore Center for Biological Physics

    Enzymes as sequence-encoded, viscoelastic catalytic machines

    Prof. Tsvi Tlusty   |   Center for Soft and Living Matter, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology.
    refreshments will be served at 12:45
    Protein function is the combined product of chemical and mechanical interactions encoded in the gene. Thus, the function of enzymes relies on finetuning the chemical groups at the active site, but also on large-scale mechanical motions, allowing enzymes to bind to substrates selectively, reach the transition state, and release products. We will discuss recent work aiming to probe directly the linkage between these collective internal motions and the functionality of enzymes, using nano-rheological measurements, AI-prediction of point mutation effects, and physical theory. This work proposes a physical view of enzymes as viscoelastic catalytic machines with sequence-encoded mechanical specifications, which are modulated via long-ranged force transduction.