Schedule
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Welcome and introductions
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Talks by Pioneer Fellows
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Keynote address: "Capturing One-Carbon Chemistry, One-Structural Snapshot at a Time," Catherine Drennan, Ph.D., Professor of Biology and Chemistry, MIT; Investigator and Professor, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
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Poster session
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Concluding remarks and reception
Abstract
Capturing One-Carbon Chemistry, One-Structural Snapshot at a Time
Ni-Fe-S-cluster containing carbon monoxide dehydrogenase (CODH) and acetyl-CoA synthase (ACS) play major roles in the global carbon cycle through the consumption of CO and CO2 gases, the production of acetate, and the breakdown of acetate for methane generation. In this presentation, I will describe my lab's journey to understand the structural basis of one-carbon chemistry at Ni-Fe-S clusters. Our work shows that to perform the biological equivalent of the water-gas shift reaction (CO + H2O ⇔ CO2 + H2) and of the Monsanto process ("syn gas" to acetic acid), CODH/ACS enzymes use internal gas channels and employ dramatic conformational rearrangements. Our goal is to capture structural snapshots of CODH/ACS enzymes in order to visualize how nature produces and consumes greenhouse gases CO2 and methane using organometallic chemistry.
