Official Project Description
This project studies the E240D mutant of Tem-1 β-Lactmase β-Lactmases are enzymes which break down penicillin-like antibiotics.
This is the most common method by which bacteria become resistant to such antibiotics.
This project is simulating the most probable common ancestor (dating back to around 2 billion years ago) of modern day Gram Negative beta-lactamases.
We hope to understand the funtional significance of various cryptic pockets found in these enzymes by comparing these results to simulations of modern beta-lactamases.
Finding such functional pockets could enable us to target these enzymes with drugs that might combat this form of antibiotic resistance.