Our work on fungal β-1,3-glucan synthase, in close collaboration with Seok-Yong Lee’s lab, has been published in Nature. Using cryo-EM, we reveal how the clinically important antifungal caspofungin inhibits β-1,3-glucan synthase, how resistance mutations arise, and how enzyme activity is regulated. Unexpectedly, caspofungin binds the enzyme through the nascent polysaccharide product, overturning the prevailing model of direct enzyme binding. Together, these results provide a structural framework for future antifungal drug design. 
Department of Biochemistry, Duke University School of Medicine
