Metabolic Reactions Reveal Early Enzyme Evolution (IMAGE)
Caption
Enzyme-gated network expansion models the evolution of enzyme complexity alongside increasing layers of metabolic reactions. Starting from simple organic molecules expected to have existed on a primitive Earth, this model shows that the earliest enzymes were likely to have ɑ/β structures. Enzymes were more likely to adapt existing fold structures to take on new metabolic functions than for entirely new enzymes to emerge.
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Institute of Science Tokyo
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