Nature of Enzymes,

Nomenclature and Classification.

Dr Aderibigbe A. A.
 Definition

• An enzyme may be defined as a complex

biological catalyst that is produced by a living
organism in its cells to regulate the various
physiological processes of the body. Enzymes
functional outside the living cells are called
exoenzymes e.g lysozyme in tears while those
functional inside living cells are called
endozymes e.g enzymes of glycolysis
• Enzymes are protein in nature with large
molecular weight except ribozymes which are
few RNA molecules with enzymatic activity.
• Few enzymes are simple proteins while some
are conjugated proteins.
• In such enzymes, the non protein part is called
prosthetic group or coenzyme and the protein
part is called apo-enzyme.
• The complete structure of apo-enzyme and
prosthetic group is called holo-enzyme.

• Holo-enzyme= Apo-enzyme + coenzyme.

• Coenzymes are thermostable , low mol. Wt,
non protein organic substances.
 Nomenclature

• Enzymes are generally named after adding the

suffix –ase to the name of the substrate, e.g
enzymes acting on nucleic acids are known as
nucleases. Eventhough few exceptions such as
trypsin , pepsin , and chymotrypsin are still in
use. Further , few enzymes exist in their
inactive forms and are called as proenzymes
or zymogens, e.g. pepsin has pepsinogen as its
zymogen.
• Many times the active form of enzyme acts
on zymogen and catalyses its conversion into
active form and this process is called
autocatalysis
 Classification of Enzymes
• In order to have a uniformity and unambiguity
in identification of enzymes , International
Union of Biochemistry( IUB) adopted a
nomenclature system based on chemical
reaction type and reaction mechanism.
According to this system, enzymes are
grouped into 6 main classes
• Each Enzyme is characterized by a code
number(enzyme code No. or E C No)
comprising 4 digits separated by points. The
first being that of the main class( one of the
six).
• The second digit indicates the type of group
involved in the reaction.
• Third digit denotes the rxn more precisely
indicating substrate on which the group acts.
• The fourth digit is the serial number of the
enzyme.
• Briefly, the four digits characterize class, sub-
class, sub-sub-class and serial number of a
particular enzyme.
 Six classes
• 1. Oxidoreductase: Enzymes involved in
oxidations and reductions of their substrates, e.g.
Lactate dehydrogenase, xanthine oxidase,
glutathione reductase, glucose-6-phosphate
dehydrogenase.
• 2. Transferases: Enzymes that catalyze transfer of
a particular group from one substrate to another
e.g. aspartate and alanine transaminase(AST &
ALT) , hexokinase, aminotranferase
• 3. Hydrolases: Enzymes that bring about
hydrolysis, e.g. glucose-6-phosphatase,
pepsin, trypsin, esterases
• 4. Lyases: Enzymes that facilitate removal of
small molecule from a large substrate, e.g.
fumarase , argino-succinase, histidine
decarboxylase.
• 5. Isomerase: Enzymes involved in
isomerization of substrate, e.g. epimerase,
triosephosphate isomerase
• 6. Ligase: Enzymes involved in joining together
two substrates, e.g. DNA ligase, glutamine
synthetase
• Many times the word “OTHLIL” is used to
remember the six classes.