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Science 13 November 1998:
Vol. 282. no. 5392, p. 1225
DOI: 10.1126/science.282.5392.1225m
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This Week in Science

Various fatty acids differ by hydroxylation state and location of double bonds. Broun et al. (p. 1315), in analyzing some of the enzymes that synthesize fatty acids, identified six specific amino acids that determine which sort of chemical reaction an enzyme will catalyze. Changes in no single amino acid determine specificity, but combined changes in these various amino acids can switch the function of the enzyme from hydroxylase to desaturase. The identity of these critical amino acids suggests that the enzyme's specificity is determined by the geometry of its active site.




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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)