Metalloenzymology research in the Banerjee lab

Rahul Banerjee (Principal Investigator)

My love for enzymology was fostered during my doctoral studies in John D. Lipscomb’s laboratory at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. This research was focused on investigating the chemical mechanism of the soluble methane monooxygenase (sMMO) enzyme, which catalyzes the oxygen dependent oxidation of methane to methanol.  I came to appreciate how enzymes are masterful in catalyzing challenging chemical conversions. I also learnt an important lesson here that biochemical studies are only as good as the enzyme that is purified (homogeneous, highly-active preparations). This was a hard lesson to learn as I found myself in the fifth year of a Ph.D with no positive results to report. I hope that my journey in science shows graduate students who are struggling with challenging research problems that their research is just a few good ideas and experiments away from giving up its secrets. Close to the end of my doctoral research, I had gotten involved in a continuous-flow resonance Raman study of the photolabile, methane reactive intermediate in sMMO. Since this was a brute-force experiment that consumed thirty grams of purified protein, I decided to continue my sMMO research as a post-doctoral scholar in the same laboratory to ensure its success. During this post-doctoral research, I broadened my research training through a focus upon elucidating the mechanisms of catalytic regulation enforced by the protein structure and protein-protein interactions. These regulatory schemes ensure that methane is chosen as the native substrate (sMMO will oxidize any organic compound that enters its active site) and that high-valent iron intermediates are not aberrantly quenched by mis-timed electron transfer from an accessory reductase protein. This period of my research training taught me that in as much as the high-valent metal-oxygen intermediates capture the limelight, it is these mechanisms of regulation that truly showcase the catalytic prowess of enzymes. These two facets of enzyme catalysis, namely chemical reactivity and its regulation, are the focus of research in my laboratory.

Jahbo Love (Graduate student)

Jahbo is attempting to decipher the temporal regulation of electron transfer in the soluble methane monooxygenase enzyme system. He is also planning to study the sMMO reaction intermediate Q with various physical inorganic techniques alongside our collaborators.