Neutron scattering and selective deuteration for elucidating how lipids regulate metabolon formation

Plants biosynthesise valuable pharmaceutical compounds by a series of enzyme complexes (or metabolons) that work in a concerted action. Metabolons enhance substrate channeling and prevent leakage of toxic or labile intermediates and metabolic cross-talk. Extracting pure products from plats constitutes a great industrial and societal challenge, and bioengineering of moss and bacteria was come up as a very interesting way to produce these compounds. Here, we will dissect the mechanisms by which plants guide the assembly of multi-enzyme complexes. We will use synthetic biology and neutron scattering to map the lipid-protein interactions that control the formation of the dhurrin metabolon, as a model system. This will enable rational enzyme design for metabolons in heterologous hosts to boost the production of bioactive compounds. This experiment will provide the first basis for such studies