Peng Lin, Huyen Dinh, Yuki Morita, Eiji Nakata, and Takashi Morii*
Advanced Functional Materials 2023, 2215023

We demonstrate an artificial metabolic pathway that controls enzyme cascade reactions by changing the environment in which the enzymes are specifically arranged in three-dimensional (3D) space. A 3D dynamic DNA nanostructure that rapidly transforms its shape from an open state to a closed hexagonal prism was applied for a scaffold to locate xylose reductase (XR) and xylitol dehydrogenase (XDH) derived from D-xylose metabolic pathway. The metabolic cascade reactions of XR and XDH proceed more efficiently when the scaffold is closed into a hexagonal prism than in the open and planner state. By comparing the result with inter-enzyme distance dependence of XR/XDH cascade reactions on a 2D DNA nanostructure, it is likely that not only the proximity effects of the enzymes XR and XDH, but also the confined environment within hexagonal prism scaffold contribute to facilitate the cascade reactions. These results provide novel insights into how environmental factors surrounding the enzymes, not just the distance between them, affect the reaction of multi-enzyme metabolic complexes in the cells.

DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202215023
Publication date: 2023 January 17

Advanced Energy Utilization Division Biofunctional Chemistry Research Section