Research

Establishment of a New and Viable Assay to Characterize Wheat Germ Acid Phosphatase Using 31P NMR Spectroscopy

Establishment of a New and Viable Assay to Characterize Wheat Germ Acid Phosphatase Using 31P NMR Spectroscopy

Performing enzyme assays is a fundamental skill that students in our lab learn as they are introduced to the subject of biochemistry. In the typical undergraduate biochemistry curriculum, students usually only learn one method to evaluate enzyme kinetics, that is, spectrophotometrically. Little do they realize that catalytic activity can be examined through a diverse range of methods. Therefore, to familiarize our students with advanced chemical equipment and alternative enzyme analysis techniques, we attempted to design and implement a novel enzyme activity assay experiment using 31P NMR spectroscopy. We wanted to explore how using a different technique might impact the ability to evaluate enzyme activity accurately and consistently. By demonstrating the validity of using 31P NMR to measure acid phosphatase activity, we believe our project contributes to the expansion of the applications of NMR spectroscopy beyond structural determination.