Enzyme

Characteristics; Properties;
Significance of enzyme
 Content
• Historical resume of enzyme
• Characteristics and properties of enzyme
• Significance/application of enzyme
Introduction: Enzymes and Life
Processes
 Historical resume
Inventors

Theodor Schwann

1810 – 1882
 Inventors

Louis Pasteur (1822 -- 1895).

Wilhelm Friedrich Kühne (1837 – 1900)
Inventors

Edward Buchner(1860-- 1917).

 Invention
•Trypsin—beef pancreas -Northrop and kunitz—1936
•Catalase—beef liver—Sumner andDounce—1937
•RNase—beef pancreas—Kunitz—1940
•Pepsin-- swine stomach—Northrop—1946
•DNase—beef pancreas—Kunitz—1950
General Characteristics of enzymes
Evidences to prove protein nature of
enzyme
Comparison with Inorganic catalysts
SIMILRITIES/DIFFERENCES
Difference from vitamins
Exo and endo enzymes
 Physico-chemical properties of
enzymes
• Colloidal nature.
• Chemical nature
• Catalytic nature of effectiveness
• Specificity of enzyme actions
• Thermolability
• pH sensitivity
• Reversibilty of the reaction
 Colloidal nature
•Molecular weight of some enzymes:

Enzyme Molecular n
weight
Pepsin 35,500 2
Catalase 250,000 14
Urease 480,000 27
Chemical nature
 Catalytic nature of effectiveness
•Virtual absence of any side products
•Catalyses the in vivo reactions
•Without qualitative or quantitative changes
•Small amount is capable to convert substrates
•Turnover number or molecular activity-catalytic potential
•Catalytic potency of enzymes are exceedingly great
Specificity of enzyme reaction:
Absolute specificity
 Types of specificity
• Reaction specificity
• Substrate specificity
Reaction specificity

Hydrolase reaction

Dehydrogenase reaction
 Substrate specificity
• Group specificity
• Chain length specificity
• Optical specificity
• Geometrical specificity
Group specificity:
Chain length specificity
Optical D/L stero-specificity
Geometric/cis-trans specificity
Alteration of enzyme specificity
Reversibility of the reactions
Thermolability
Characteristics
Temperature effects:
Temperature optima
pH dependence:
pH effects:
pH optima
 pH depends on some factors
• The nature of buffer system
• The presence of activator/inhibitor
• The age of cell/tissue
• The nature ofsubstrate
• Near at the pI-though trypsin has pI 10.1- pH
optima-7-9.
pH optima of some enzymes
Some exceptions
Significance of enzymes

Role
Importance
Application
Role
 Importance of enzymes
• Industrial importance/application
• Biological importance/function
• Medical importance—Involvement in disease
 Industrial importance
• Wine manufacturing—Papain
• Cheese making—Renin—Lipase adds flavor
• Candy making—Invertase
• Clarifying fruit juice—Pectinase
• Tenderizing meat—Papain
• Bread whitening--lipooxygenase
• Desizing fabrics
 Industrial importance
• Dehairing hide—in leather manufacture—
trypsin
• Destain fabrics—alcalase
• Recovering silver—Pepsin
• Correcting digestion—Amylase
• Wound healing—Proteolytic enzymes—trypsin
• Analyzing biochemicals— Uricase and urease
• Dissolving blood clots—urokinase
 Industrial importance
• Chaniging blood type-glycosidase/protease
• Diagnosis hypertension-rennin-angiotensin
• Augmenting surgery—Trypsin
• Breaking down chemicals—Monoamine
oxidase
• α-amylase —starch breakdown
• Destryoing acids—Phytic acid breaking
enzyme
• Rubber industry—catalase-turns latex to foam
 Biological importance/function
• Kinases and phosphatases –signalling
• muscle contraction—ATPases
• Active transport— sodium-potassium ATPase-I
• Generate light— luciferase by firefly.
• Virus—for infecting cells—HIV integrase
• Viral release from cells-nuraminidase in
influenza virus.
• Digestive systems— amylase, protease
• Control Metabolism— Hexokinase
Medical importance—Involvement in
disease

xeroderma pigmentosum
 Application
• Industrial
• Medical/Clinical
• Analytical
• Manipulative/research
 Industrial applications
Enzyme Reaction Source of Application
enzymes
α amylase Breaks down bacteria Converts
starch starch→ Glucose
in food industry
Glucose Converts Fungi High frustose
isomerase glucose→Fructo syrup production
se
proteases Digests proteins Bacteria Washing powder
rennin Clots milk Animal stomach Cheese making
protein
catalase H2O2→H2+ O2 Animal livers Latex→foam
rubber
β-galactosidase Hydrolyse Fungi In dairy industry
 Medical applications
Enzyme Reaction Source of Application
enzyme
L-Asparaginase Remove Bacteria E.coli Chemotherapy
fromtissue for in leukemia
avoiding tumor
growth

Urokinase Breaks down Human urine Remove blood

blood clots clots of heart
disease patients
 Clinical application
• Therapeutics—streptokinase in MI
• Clinical analysis—Cholesterol oxidase for
cholesterol assay
• Disease diagnosis—isozyme LDH
 Analytical applications

Enzyme Reaction Source of Application

enzyme
Glucose oxidase Oxidises glucse fungi Test for blood
glucose

Luciferase Produces light fireflies Used to detect

bacterial
contamination
in food
 Manipulative application

Enzyme Reaction Source of Application

enzyme
Lysozyme Breaks 1-4 Hen egg white Disrupts
glycosidic bacterial cell
bonds wall
Endonucleases Breaks DNA to Bcateria Used in RDT-
fragments gene
manipulation,
DNA
fingerprinting
Multi-enzyme system
Subunit association