Figure 1. Photo-activated switch for controlling enzymatic
reactions.
A. Illustration of a model enzymatic reaction.Substrates (S) can be converted to product (P) by enzymes (E), during
which light emission (yellow) by non-stable intermediates directly
reflects reaction rate. B. Enzymatic reaction organized
by subcellular compartments. Under the same overall concentration of
enzymes and substrates, a reaction will be accelerated if enzymes and
substrates are co-localized in a limited space, resulting in increasing
local substrates concentration, thus increasing effective collision
between substrates and enzymes (right). On the other hand, if enzymes
are isolated from substrates, the reaction rate will decrease (left).C. General design of rearranging enzymes distribution
by light. Each member in a light-responsive protein pair is fused with
either phase separating protein or an enzyme of interest (EOI) to form
phase module or light-responsive module. The phase module can phase
separate into a membraneless compartment. Upon light induction, these
two modules will bind to each other, and thus EOI can entry the
compartment. D. General principle of concentrating
chemicals into the compartment. Substrates will be enriched in the
compartment if the substrate-protein interactions are similar to
protein-protein interactions promoting phase separation (e.g., pi-pi
interaction).