Environmental change Enzymes

Prosthetic groups and cofactors, whether organic or metallic, may be removed from a protein to create an inactive apo protein or enzyme. Loss of these groups may occur through environmental changes, such as removing metal ions from solution or adding denaturants to unfold... 

The diversity of functions within a microbial population is important for the multiple functions of a soil. The functional diversity of microbial communities has been found to be very sensitive to environmental changes (Zak et al. 1994 Kandeler et al. 1996,1999). However, the methods used mainly indicate the potential in vitro functionality. Functional diversity of microbial populations in soil may be determined by either expression of different enzymes (carbon utilization patterns, extracellular enzyme patterns) or diversity of nucleic acids (mRNA, rRNA) within cells, the latter also reflecting the specific enzymatic processes operating in the cells. Indicators of functional diversity are also indicators of microbial activity and thereby integrate diversity and function. 

Electronic structure of paramagnetic centers in enzymes and the response to chemical, redox, and environmental changes... 

Sidell, B. D. (1983). Cellular acclimatisation to environmental change by quantitative alterations in enzymes and organelles. In Cellular Acclimatisation to Environmental Change (Cossins, A., Sheterline, P., eds.), pp. 103-120, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 

The activity of many enzymes alters under the influence of environmental change. There are good reasons for many of these changes in terms of adaptive mechanisms. However, it is not always clear whether the alterations observed in enzyme activities are adaptations to or merely consequences of environmental change. 

As mentioned above, units are defined for particular assay conditions. There are many conditions which must be controlled, including temperature, pH, ionic strength, specific ion concentrations, substrate concentrations, presence of activators, stabilizers, and inhibitors. The role of these factors will be illustrated for various enzymes in later sections. At this point it will merely be mentioned that there are no generalities that describe the effect of varying any of these conditions. Each enzyme must be studied as an individual case some are indifferent to conditions that effect others profoundly, and some environmental changes, as temperature, influence competing phenomena, as rate of catalyzed reaction and rate of enzyme destruction. 

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