Iga Kuta

2003-pres  Ph.D. (in progress) University of Louisville

B₁₂ created in PyMol

Contact Iga

Iga is currently working with B₁₂.  She is using a computational approach for geometrical and energy correlations to experimental data.  She has recently started modeling reactions catalyzed by B₁₂ dependent enzymes.  Enzymes employing cobalt corrinoids (B12 derivatives) as a cofactor carry out unusual molecular transformations with the aid of organometallic chemistry. There are two classes of B12 dependent enzymes: those using 5'-deoxy-5'-adenosyl-cobalamin [AdoCbl] catalyze carbon-skeleton rearrangements, while those using methyl-cobalamin [CH3Cbl] catalyze methyl transfer reactions. One of the central mechanistic questions in the bioinorganic chemistry of coenzyme B12 is how enzymes activate the cobalt-carbon bond cleavage. Despite the great effort that had been devoted to this problem, the mechanism of the catalytic activation is poorly understood.