PREVIOUSLY unknown plant enzyme properties uncovered by University of Adelaide researchers could lead to advances in cereal production, and in medical and pharmaceutical industries.

The research – published last week on Nature Communications https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-33180-5 - has the potential to be applied to the design of chemicals, drugs, herbicides and pesticides where enzymes are a cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternative to current methods.

“We discovered these enzymes are not rigid, as often seen in crystal structures, but are flexible and prone to remarkable changes in shape,” said project leader Emerita Professor Maria Hrmova from

The University of Adelaide’s School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, and the Waite Research Institute.

“This was achieved by examining the binding behaviour of sugars in the enzyme at ultra-fast time scales.

“We solved 25 new crystal structures and combined the structural data with powerful multi-scale modelling, which revealed unexpected dynamic processes in a plant enzyme.

“Our study provides a blueprint on enzyme dynamics, which was inaccessible before.

“This means we could potentially improve the properties of the enzyme that are critical to germination and the way the roots grow, leading to higher barley yields, which is crucial in cereal production.

“There are also a variety of other fields that this research could apply across multiple industries and products.

“This work is the result of eight years of research, not only from the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine and the Waite Research Institute, but other institutions in Australia, and also in China, France, Spain and Thailand.

“It has truly been a collaborative effort and one we are extremely proud of, especially when food scarcity is such a critical and important issue around the world. The possibilities that stem from this work are endless.”