Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Case Studies Of The Hot Dog-Fold And Acyl-Adenylate-Forming Superfamilies: Characterizing The Importance Of Functional Divergence In Cellular Metabolism, Lucas Zimney

Chemistry and Chemical Biology ETDs

Some of the biggest contributors to cellular respiration (and cellular metabolism in general) are acyl-CoA derivatives, a subclass of biological thioesters. Known to function in a variety of pathways, the regulation of their formation and breakdown are critical, carried about by acyl-CoA synthetases and thioesterases, respectively. The work reported within this dissertation will focus on functional divergence within two enzyme superfamilies -- the hot dog-fold and acyl-adenylate-forming superfamilies — and can be broken down into two main parts. Part one will look at tracking the functional divergence within the hot dog-fold superfamily thioesterases. A highly evolved thioesterase, flK, has been …