Multiple enzymes have long been known to form complexes, called metabolons, to combine sequential processes in metabolic pathways. But they’ve never been caught in the act – until now.
A team of researchers at Pennsylvania State University has used gas cluster ion beam secondary ion MS (GCIB-SIMS) to directly visualize de novo purine biosynthesis in the purinosomes of frozen HeLa cells (1). Purines – along with pyrimidines – are the building blocks of DNA and RNA.
Not only does the research offer an exciting glimpse into the little-explored world of metabolons, it also serves as an example of how high-resolution GCIB-SIMS could be applied to other biomolecular analyses at the single-cell level.
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References
- V Pareek et al., Science, 368, 283 (2020). DOI: 10.1126/science.aaz6465