On January 7, 2025, Rachel Narehood Austin, Diana T. and P. Roy Vagelos Professor of Chemistry, co-authored new research in the Journal of the American Chemical Society alongside research assistant Lauren Hendricks (CU GS ’23) and collaborators Juliet A. Lee ’21, Tierani Green ’24, Lily Kunczynski ’25, August Jaunzarins Roberts ’25, Naomi Miller ’27, and Noga Rafalin ’27.
The paper, “No Bridge between Us: EXAFS and Computations Confirm Two Distant Iron Ions Comprise the Active Site of Alkane Monooxygenase (AlkB),” studies AlkB, an enzyme that helps break down oil and other pollutants in the environment. Advanced imaging and X-ray techniques confirmed that the structure of the two iron ions in the enzymes is unusual. The iron ions are not connected by a typical chemical bridge. By making changes to the enzyme’s structure and testing the effects of those changes, they found that the residue part (D190) is crucial for its function, while another (E281) is not. These insights could help improve pollution cleanup efforts in the future.