Natural Product Biosynthesis: Growth Of SAM Superfamily Enzymes
Introduction
In their article, Wang (2018) discusses the burst in chemical reactions within the radical S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) superfamily. The inspiration for this discussion came from a substantial increase in the total number of radical SAM sequences and enzymes from ~114, 000 to 255, 000 in November of 2017. This significant increase in the number of SAM superfamily enzymes is assumed by Wang to mean that these enzymes will continue to grow much faster than laboratories and researchers can evaluate them. For the rest of the article, Wang uses the results of multiple studies over the past eight years to further the discussion of SAM superfamily enzymes’ growth and the diversity of these enzymes’ chemical reactions when radical SAM and Cbi-dependent enzymes are coupled together.
Materials and Methods
Wang’s (2018) methodology for this article involves reviewing and discussing numerous studies that have already been done on the enzymes that surround the SAM superfamily, Cbl-dependent enzymes, and the developments in literature, research, and science that have led to the boom in date and SAM superfamily enzymes that is referenced in Wang’s introduction. In lieu of an explicit body or methodology section, Wang labels each section of the body of their paper with the name of an enzyme and/or a function that is relevant to the overall topic of the article. So, sections of the article’s body include: P-Methyl transfer, c-methyl transfer, multiple methylations upon a single substrate, and non-methylases. Since Wang (2018) states in the introduction of their article that the data being presented is a summary of past studies that have been done on the SAM superfamily of enzymes, it is assumed that the materials used to draft this article were a computer, a word processor, an internet browser, and a research engine or database that allowed Wang access to the multiple articles and studies that were referenced and summarized within their article. While it is not important to the data presented in the article, Wang also received support from the National Science Foundation while completing this review of literature.
Results and Discussion
After summarizing all the compiled data, Wang (2018) finds that a significant amount of previously published literature discusses the overall topic of this article and the various sub-topics that can be discussed within it. While summarizing all the information that has been found on the SAM superfamily and other enzymes related to it, Wang makes sure to recommend that the reader of this article goes back to read other releases on this topic, as a new enzyme may have been discovered by now. After doing this, Wang labels the Cbl-dependent radical SAM methylation as the most studied reaction class out of any that are currently known. Wang also goes on to write that there is no way that the current amounts of funding and manpower will be able examine and analyze every enzyme that is out there and discover new ones at the rate they are growing. The findings of Wang (2018) are interesting as there are few authors who discover a sub-topic of study that has such a rich base of knowledge and history behind it.
In the advanced sciences, there are often a few experts who decide to develop a sub-field of study from scratch and their papers on the subject are the foundation that other scientists use. Wang makes known that the SAM superfamily has been studied by a wide body of researchers and makes sure to thank them for their exceptional contributions at the end of their article. Hopefully, Wang’s concerns about academic funding and manpower can be addressed in time for this sub-topic’s community to continue making strides in this area.
