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24-Feb-2021

Enzymes Have a Wide Range of Functions in Organisms

Summary

Digestion, absorption, respiration, exercise and reproduction in life activities are all enzymatic reactions. Enzymes are the basis for cells to survive. Almost all chemical reactions involved in cell metabolism are carried out under the catalysis of enzymes.
Editor: Fiona Bingly Last Updated: 24-Feb-2021

Enzyme, early refers to "in yeast", refers to a biological catalyst produced by living cells in the organism. Most are composed of protein (a few are RNA), which can efficiently catalyze various biochemical reactions and promote the metabolism of organisms under very mild conditions in the body. Digestion, absorption, respiration, exercise and reproduction in life activities are all enzymatic reactions. Enzymes are the basis for cells to survive. Almost all chemical reactions involved in cell metabolism are carried out under the catalysis of enzymes. The protein, RNA or their complexes that catalyze specific chemical reactions can speed up the reaction speed by reducing the activation energy of the reaction, but does not change the equilibrium point of the reaction. It has the characteristics of high catalytic efficiency, strong specificity, and mild operating conditions.

 

Organisms are composed of cells, and each cell exhibits various life activities due to the existence of enzymes, and the metabolism in the body can proceed. Enzymes are the catalysts of metabolism in the human body. Enzymes enable the human body to carry out various biochemical reactions. Most human diseases are related to enzyme deficiency or synthesis disorders.

 

Enzymes have many properties:

High efficiency: The catalytic efficiency of enzymes is higher than that of inorganic catalysts, which makes the reaction rate faster.

Specificity: An enzyme can only catalyze one or one type of substrate, for example, a protease can only catalyze the hydrolysis of proteins into polypeptides.

Diversity: There are many kinds of enzymes, about 4000 kinds.

Mildness: It means that the chemical reaction catalyzed by the enzyme is generally carried out under milder conditions.

Adjustability of activity: including inhibitor and activator regulation, feedback inhibition regulation, covalent modification regulation and allosteric regulation, etc. The catalytic activity of some enzymes is related to cofactors.

Vulnerability: Since most enzymes are proteins, they will be destroyed by high temperature, strong acid, strong alkali, heavy metal salts, etc.

 

Enzymes play a very wide range of functions in organisms. Enzymes, especially kinases and phosphatases, are inseparable from the regulation of signal transduction and cell activities. Enzymes can also produce movement, produce muscle contraction by catalyzing the hydrolysis of ATP on myosin, and can participate in the transport of intracellular substances as part of the cytoskeleton. Some ATPases located on the cell membrane act as ion pumps to participate in active transport, and some strange functions in organisms also involve enzymes.

 

A very important function of enzymes is to participate in the work of animal digestive systems. Some enzymes represented by amylase and protease can degrade the large molecules (starch and protein) entering the digestive tract into small molecules to facilitate intestinal absorption. In the metabolic pathway, multiple enzymes function in a specific order: the product of the former enzyme is the substrate of the latter enzyme; after each enzyme catalyzes the reaction, the product is passed to another enzyme. In some cases, different enzymes can catalyze the same reaction in parallel, allowing more complex regulation.

 

There are a large number of enzymes in the human body, with complex structures and various types. So far, more than 3000 kinds of hydrolytic enzymes have been discovered, such as pepsin and trypsin in the human body. The protein that the human body takes in from food must be hydrolyzed into amino acids under the action of pepsin. Then, under the action of other enzymes, more than 20 kinds of amino acids required by the human body are selected, and various proteins required by the human body are recombined in a certain order. Many complex chemical reactions have occurred in this. It can be said that without enzymes, there would be no biological metabolism, and there would be no various and colorful biological worlds in nature. As a reliable supplier, Creative Enzymes supplies the products with high quality and competitive cost-effectiveness. The company cooperates with a large number of satisfied customers in corresponding fields all over the world.