Final Activity Report Summary - COMPUT. ALDOLASES (Computer aided investigation of aldolase reactivity and stereoselectivity. Modelling of new mutated enzymes)
The synthesis of new potential drugs is one of the key points in drug development. Traditional synthesis usually has had a hard time generating the complex biomolecules that drugs usually are. On the other hand, enzymes are natural catalysts that can achieve the synthesis of all the huge diversity of molecules found in living beings. The potential to use this ability to synthesise drug candidates is huge, but it is not free of difficulties. One of them is the need to be able to predict and rationalise how the enzymes will behave in front of molecules that are not their natural substrates.
The aim of this project was to study the mechanism of an enzyme (an aldolase) that is used by a collaborative group to synthesise potential drugs. By understanding the molecular tricks that the enzyme uses we will be able to predict when it will be more or less proficient when given different molecules. And even better, with the help of molecular biology tools, we can build modified or mutated enzymes that will excel in the synthesis of the particular family of molecules that we are interested in.
The aim of this project was to study the mechanism of an enzyme (an aldolase) that is used by a collaborative group to synthesise potential drugs. By understanding the molecular tricks that the enzyme uses we will be able to predict when it will be more or less proficient when given different molecules. And even better, with the help of molecular biology tools, we can build modified or mutated enzymes that will excel in the synthesis of the particular family of molecules that we are interested in.