16 Facts About Enzymes

Enzymes are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions.

Enzymes differ from most other catalysts by being much more specific.

Enzymes named the enzyme that brought about the fermentation of sucrose "zymase".

Enzymes can be classified by two main criteria: either amino acid sequence similarity or enzymatic activity.

Enzymes are generally globular proteins, acting alone or in larger complexes.

Enzymes must bind their substrates before they can catalyse any chemical reaction.

Enzymes are usually very specific as to what substrates they bind and then the chemical reaction catalysed.

Enzymes can accelerate reactions in several ways, all of which lower the activation energy .

Enzymes are not rigid, static structures; instead they have complex internal dynamic motions – that is, movements of parts of the enzyme's structure such as individual amino acid residues, groups of residues forming a protein loop or unit of secondary structure, or even an entire protein domain.

Enzymes can be sequestered to the plasma membrane away from a substrate in the nucleus or cytosol.

Enzymes that require a cofactor but do not have one bound are called apoenzymes or apoproteins.

Enzymes serve a wide variety of functions inside living organisms.

Enzymes are involved in more exotic functions, such as luciferase generating light in fireflies.

Enzymes can be either activated or inhibited by other molecules.

Enzymes can be compartmentalized, with different metabolic pathways occurring in different cellular compartments.

Enzymes are used in the chemical industry and other industrial applications when extremely specific catalysts are required.