Reconstruction of ancestral enzymes

We present several examples of ASR and the subsequent experimental characterization of enzymes as old as four billion years. The results show that most ancestral enzymes were highly thermostable and catalytically active. Moreover, they adopted three-dimensional structures similar to those of extant enzymes. These findings suggest that sophisticated enzymes were invented at a very early stage of biological evolution.

Source: Perspectives in Science - August 26, 2016 Category: Science Source Type: research