enzyme
Sign in to savethumb|400px|The enzyme glucosidase converts the sugar [[maltose into two glucose sugars. Active site residues in red, maltose substrate in black, and NAD cofactor in yellow. ()|alt=Ribbon diagram of glycosidase with an arrow showing the cleavage of the maltose sugar substrate into two glucose products.]]
AI overview
An enzyme is a protein that speeds up chemical reactions in living things by helping break down or transform molecules, like how the enzyme glucosidase splits the sugar maltose into two glucose sugars. Enzymes matter because they make these reactions happen fast enough to sustain life, allowing cells to digest food, produce energy, and carry out countless other processes efficiently.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Article
40 sectionsContents
- Etymology and history
- Classification and nomenclature
- Structure
- Mechanism
- Substrate binding
- "Lock and key" model
- Induced fit model
- Catalysis
- Dynamics
- Substrate presentation
- Allosteric modulation
- Cofactors
- Coenzymes
- Thermodynamics
- Kinetics
- Inhibition
- Types of inhibition
- Competitive
- Non-competitive
- Uncompetitive
- Mixed
- Irreversible
- Functions of inhibitors
- Factors affecting enzyme activity
- Biological function
- Metabolism
- Control of activity
- Regulation
- Post-translational modification
- Quantity
- Subcellular distribution
- Organ specialization
- Involvement in disease
- Evolution
- Industrial applications
- See also
- Enzyme databases
- References
- Further reading
- External links
thumb|400px|The enzyme glucosidase converts the sugar [[maltose into two glucose sugars. Active site residues in red, maltose substrate in black, and NAD cofactor in yellow. ()|alt=Ribbon diagram of glycosidase with an arrow showing the cleavage of the maltose sugar substrate into two glucose products.]]
An enzyme is a biological macromolecule, usually a protein, that acts as a biological catalyst, accelerating chemical reactions without being consumed in the process. The molecules on which enzymes act are called substrates, which are converted into products. Nearly all metabolic processes within a cell depend on enzyme catalysis to occur at biologically relevant rates. A metabolic pathway is typically composed of a series of enzyme-catalyzed steps. The study of enzymes is known as enzymology, and a related field focuses on pseudoenzymes—proteins that have lost catalytic activity but may retain regulatory or scaffolding functions, often indicated by alterations in their amino acid sequences or unusual 'pseudocatalytic' behavior.