Letter to the Editor

Vol.1, No.3, 37-38 (2013) Advances in Enzyme Research

http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/aer.2013.13004

Letter to the editor

Victor M. Bolanos-Garcia

Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, England;

E-mail: vbolanos-garcia@brookes.ac.uk

Received 22 May 2013; revised 1 August 2013; accepted 9 August 2013

cense, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

1. THE ORIGINS

It was exactly 180 years ago, when Anselme Payen, a

French chemist, discovered the first enzyme, diastase,

(nowadays amylase) and 136 years since Wilhelm Kühne

first coined the term enzyme. History tells us that it was

until 1926 when James B. Sumner purified and crystal-

lised the enzyme urease; few years later, Northrop and

Stanley achieved similar results for the digestive en-

zymes pepsin, trypsin and chymotrypsin and provided

irrefutable evidence that pure proteins can be active en-

zymes. The discovery that enzymes could be crystallised

eventually allowed the first structure of a protein en-

zyme, lysozyme, to be solved by X-ray crystallography

by David Chilton Phillips and collaborators. This high-

resolution structure of lysozyme marked the beginning of

the field of structural biology and the effort to understand

how enzymes work at an atomic level of detail.

2. ENZYMES TAKE CENTRE STAGE

These are heady days for those who study enzymes

from different standpoints. New genomes are being se-

quenced, the gene expression products identified and the

structures solved at an astonishing pace. Also, rapid ad-

vances in biophysical, biochemical, computational, cell

and molecular biology techniques have made possible a

deeper understanding into the biological roles played by

enzymes in health and disease. The choice of the title,

Advances in Enzyme Research (AER) reflects both the

consolidation of our subject and the recognition of fasci-

nating advances in the Biological and Biomedical Sci-

ences. For instance, the development of new technolo-

gies such as high-throughput strategies for the study of

genomes, definition of structures at atomic resolution

and their use for the development of novel drugs, me-

tabolomics and systems biology among other advances

have fuelled an exponential growth in the study of en-

zymes. A range of biophysical techniques such as iso-

thermal titration calorimetry, analytical ultracentrifuge-

tion, surface plasmon resonance, circular dichroism and

mass spectrometry have made possible the fine charac-

terisation of molecular interactions underpinning enzyme

function. Powerful molecular simulation techniques have

allowed data to be brought together to model the dynam-

ics of enzyme function and structure in space and time. It

is clear that in the coming years the study of enzymes

such as protein kinases, phosphatases, DNA polymerases

and ribozymes will continue to provide insights on dis-

ease mechanisms and therefore, will remain a central

aspect of cell function and regulation, medicinal chemis-

try, drug design and enzyme engineering. Single-mo-

lecule techniques like atomic force microscopy, voltage

and patch clamp, optical tweezers and FRET have per-

mitted the study of protein-protein and protein-ligand

interactions in individual systems to an unprecedented

level of detail and yet, many aspects of enzyme research

remains challenging: the molecular understanding of

protein-folding and the underlying thermodynamics and

kinetics of the process; molecular details of the stability

of proteins in extreme environments and the use of

modified enzymes for energy production, food security

and industrial biotechnology processes.

3. WHY AER?

In this exciting era of fast-moving advances in re-

search and technology, it is our desire that Advances in

Enzyme Research (AER) will allow the readers to keep

abreast of the most recent developments in the field. The

original provisional division of topics into analytical

themes provides a robust framework to identify topical

areas. Also, the widespread concern about the appropri-

ate assessment of scientific research, lately expressed in

the form of The San Francisco Declaration on Research

Assessment (DORA), represents a valuable opportunity

for AER: a rigorous peer-review process of full report,

short paper and book reviews should ensure that Ad-

vances in Enzyme Research (AER) will soon become an

obligated reference in the vast field of enzymology and

that misused metrics such as journal’s impact factors

cease to be an unnecessary hurdle for assessing the qual-

V. M. Bolanos-Garcia / Advances in Enzyme Research 1 (2013) 37-38

ity and relevance of newer, more specialized journals.

Therefore, maintaining Advances in Enzyme Research

(AER) as an openly accessible journal is very important

to provide an effective platform for the world-wide com-

munity of scientists, industry experts and academics in

which new developments on enzyme research can be

promoted, shared, and discussed. The commissioning of

special issues on carefully selected topics to guest editors

may deserve some consideration as it may bring new

ideas and fresh approaches and contribute to consolidate

the reputation of the journal.

I look forward to seeing the visibility and influence of

our journal growing over the coming years!

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