For the first time, silicon and carbon can be combined with natural enzymes to help develop new drugs

According to the British journal Nature, US scientists found that under the action of a natural enzyme, when living E.coli cells are "fed" with appropriate silicon-containing compounds, the internal carbon silicon bond can be formed This is the first time that scientists have shown that organic organisms can combine silicon and carbon In addition to helping to develop new drugs, the study also helps to answer the question of why silicon has been ignored in biological evolution The enzyme used by the researchers comes from a group of mesophilic bacteria living in the Icelandic undersea hot springs The photo comes from the official website of nature Silicon is only found in the inorganic compounds of organisms Organisms use many common metals, such as hemoglobin cells containing iron, chlorophyll containing magnesium, etc Although silicon is the second most abundant element on the earth, second only to oxygen, it is only found in inorganic compounds, such as silica shells of single celled diatoms, which never enter the carbon chain of organic life, which has always been a mystery Scientists have been using artificial catalysts to "marry" Silicon and carbon, but Francis Arnold of Caltech wants to find out whether natural enzymes can also act as "matchmaker" for silicon and carbon For the first time, the Arnold team of silicon and carbon combined with natural enzymes to comprehensively screen the protein database, and selected one of dozens of potential enzymes The enzyme is derived from a group of thermophilic bacteria, marine red thermophilic bacteria, which live in Icelandic undersea hot springs They inserted it into E coli It is not surprising that the enzyme can catalyze the synthesis of Si-C bond if appropriate silicon-containing compounds are added However, the efficiency of genetically modified E.coli in the production of organosilicon compounds is still not very high Therefore, the research team mutated the active region of this enzyme After several generations of evolution, the new natural enzyme is better than the artificial catalyst Next, Arnold said, they plan to study the benefits and costs of integrating silicon into life This chemical form helps to develop new drugs and catalysts, said rod Hoffman of Cornell University, the Nobel Laureate in chemistry "The latest research combines chemical methods and directed evolution to produce enzymes that form carbon silicon bonds This wonderful research creates new chemical forms." "The new research has opened up a new path in the field of drug research and development, which is conducive to the discovery and development of new drugs," said Itzhak aperoig, an organic chemistry expert at the University of technology in Israel