Scientists Draw Up Molecular Blueprint of Tiny Cellular ‘Nanomachine'

Scientists have drawn up molecular blueprints of a tiny cellular 'nanomachine', whose evolution is an extraordinary feat of nature, by using one of the brightest X-ray sources on Earth.

The scientists produced the structural map of this nanomachine - diacylglycerol kinase - by using a "hit and run" crystallography technique. In doing so, they have been able to understand how the tiny enzyme performs critical cellular duties - answering questions that have been on the table for over 50 years about this 'paradigmatic protein'.

Kinases are key players in metabolism, cell signalling, protein regulation, cellular transport, secretory processes, and many other cellular pathways that allow us to function healthily. They coordinate the transfer of energy from certain molecules to specific substrates, affecting their activity, reactivity, and ability to bind other molecules.

Diacylglycerol kinase, the focus of this study, plays a role in bacterial cell wall synthesis. It is a small, integral membrane enzyme that coordinates a particularly complex reaction: its lipid substrate is hydrophobic (repelled by water) and resides in cell membranes, while its co-substrate, ATP, is entirely water soluble.

How it does this had remained a mystery for decades, but the newly produced blueprints have answered these questions.