α-amylase

The site, not the fold. 1OSE, porcine pancreatic, 2.3 Å. Drag to orbit, wheel to zoom.

Acarbose is a separate molecule, not part of the enzyme: a diabetes drug that lies in the trough where a starch chain would and jams it. Four subsites, six rings, and a nitrogen where one glycosidic oxygen belongs — which is why the enzyme cannot cut it, why it works as a drug, and why it stays put long enough to be crystallised.

render

skin opacity0.80

paint the contact residues

mark the catalytic three

acarbose (drug)

Ca²⁺ and Cl⁻

spin

substrate

–

camera

–

Orbit to the view you want and paste that line into Stage.create. It is the live camera, so what it prints is what is on screen.

measured, not typed

loading…

the three that do the chemistry

–

the contact residues

–