Enzymatic Proteins

The most varied and most highly specialized proteins are those with catalytic activity--the enzymes.

The word enzymes comes from the Greek root ‘enzymos’, which means “to cause change.”

There are hundreds of chemical reactions take place in human body every seconds. Nearly all of these reactions catalyzed by enzymes, which are large molecules that increase the rates of chemicals reactions without themselves undergoing any change.

What is enzyme? Enzyme is a protein that speeds up or catalyzes a chemical reaction. It is a protein catalyst employed by a cell to speed up metabolic reactions

Chemically, enzymes are like any catalyst and are not consumed in chemical reactions nor do they alter the equilibrium of a reaction.

That is enzymes cannot make a reaction take place that could not occur without them. Instead, they increase the reaction rate, sometimes making it many millions of times faster.
They cause reactions to take place faster by lowering the activation energy.

In general, enzymes function by lowering transition state energies and energetic intermediates and by raising the ground state energy.

Many thousands of different enzymes, each capable of catalyzing a different kind of chemical reaction, have been discovered in different organisms. Digestive enzymes hydrolyze the polymers in food.

As with any protein, each protein is actually produced as a long, linear chain of amino acids, which folds in a particular fashion to produce a three-dimensional product with a tertiary structure.

Each amino acid sequence produces a unique structure, which can have unique properties. Individual protein chains may sometimes group together to form a protein complex.

Enzymes are distributed according to the body’s need to catalyst specific reactions. A large number of protein-splitting enzymes are in the blood, ready to promote clotting.

Digestive enzymes, which also catalyst the hydrolysis of protein, are located in the secretions of the stomach and pancreas.
Enzymatic Proteins