this is boring as hell but it has a lot of implications for biochemistry. among other things because enzymes in your body operate in three dimensions, typically only one version of a molecule will be produced in a given enzymatic reaction
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this is why for example it would be very difficult for me to synthesize cocaine in my crawlspace. cocaine is not a complicated molecule but its super-chiral and unless I used enzymes to make it most of the cocaine produced wouldnt actually work in my bodypic.twitter.com/ZDF15oMIvI
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but because the cocoa plant uses enzymes to make cocaine in a specific 3D way all of the cocaine in its leaves is "bioactive", ie when you take a line off a strippers ass 100% of it will match up with various 3D receptors in your brain
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so why is building an enzyme that copies mirror DNA a big deal well as i mentioned before enzymes typically only work on one specific mirror version (one "isomer") of a molecule because they have a three dimensional operating mechanism and the wrong isomer doesnt fit it
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take a moment to ponder how ugly complicated this enzyme is. I am reemphasizing that this is a representation of DNA polymerase (most colors) working on copying some DNA (purple bits)pic.twitter.com/fY9t1y61JP
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keep in mind that the enzyme itself isnt "bulky" exactly. its a long fused thread of amino acids with different areas of chemical sensitivity, and to the extent that the amino acid thread is holding itself together it is often by incredibly tenuous bonds
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in order to get a protein to even work as intended it has to be printed off of DNA (LONG STORY) and then typically folded into the correct shape by other proteins if the folding goes badly usually it just doesnt work as an enzyme and gets chopped up
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(occasionally for certain enzymes if the folding goes very badly it turns itself into an enzyme whose function is to turn working enzymes into misfolded enzymes and oh shit now you are going to die)https://science.sciencemag.org/content/373/6554/475 …
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all of this is to say that the sons of bitches who published this have managed to take an unfathomably complex and incredibly delicate molecular machine developed over god knows how many millions of years such that its orientation is the same in all known life,
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fuck that would have been a better summary
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