Question: Is there something that you are currently working on? If so are there any signs of current progress and how do you test the enzymes?

Jo Sadler answered on 13 Mar 2015:

At the momemnt I’m working on understanding how a particular enzyme work. We know what reaction this enzyme catalyses (it transfers a methyl group from a donor molecule to a substrate molecule), but we don’t understnad exactly how it works. We have managed to crystallise the protein and have determined the structure by looking at the pattern of diffraction when you shine X-rays at it. I am now working on proving that the structure we have propsed is correct. I’m doing this by changing one amino acid at a time in the protein and testing it to see how it compares to the original.

So yes – we are making progress! We test the enzymes by carrying out the reaction it is meant to catalyse (the methyl transfer reaction). We can measure the amount of starting material and product, and from that we can work out the rate of reaction and so how well the enzyme is working.

Hope that helps – good question 🙂