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Immobilized enzymes as tools for the demonstration of metabolon formation. A short overview
Author(s) -
Beeckmans Sonia,
Van Driessche Edilbert,
Kanarek Louis
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of molecular recognition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.401
H-Index - 79
eISSN - 1099-1352
pISSN - 0952-3499
DOI - 10.1002/jmr.300060408
Subject(s) - metabolic pathway , enzyme , glyoxylate cycle , citric acid cycle , biochemistry , malate dehydrogenase , chemistry , aqueous solution , intracellular , glycolysis , immobilized enzyme , membrane , biophysics , biology , organic chemistry
In recent years it has become clear that a cell cannot be visualized as a ‘bag’ filled with enzymes dissolved in bulk water. The aqueous‐phase properties in the interior of a cell are, indeed, essentially different from those of an ordianry queous solutin. Large amounts of water are believed to be organized in layers at the surface of intracellular structural proteins and membranes. Such considerations prompt us to reconsider the operation and regulation of metabolic pathways. Enzymes of metabolic pathways are nowadays thought to be clustered and operate as ‘metabolons’. Very often interactions between enzymes of a pathway can exclusively be evidenced in Vitro in media which are known to reduce the water concentration in the vicinity of the proteins. Immobilized enzyme preparations have been shown to be excellent tools for this type of research. We describe here some recent studies where immobilized enzymes have been used in various applications to investigate associations among enzymes of a number of different metabolic pathways (glucolysis/gluconeogenesis, citric acid cycle and its connection to the electron transport chain, aspartate–malate shuttle, glyoxylate cycle). Advantages and disadvantages of the different techniques we also discussed.