Metabolon Catalysts: An Efficient Model for Multi-enzyme Cascades at Electrode Surfaces

The existence of interactions between sequential enzymes of metabolic pathways has been explored extensively throughout the field of biochemistry. These closely coupled pathways, termed metabolons, have been demonstrated to induce substrate channeling that results in increased efficiency by enhancing local substrate concentrations, protecting liable intermediates, and limiting distance between enzyme active sites. This phenomenon may have direct implication in the advancement of multi-enzyme enzymatic biofuel cells through the use of super-complex formations as bioanode catalysts. This will result in an efficient means of a more complete oxidation of a fuel, while optimizing the flux of the system through the recreation of a phenomenon that is conserved throughout biology.