Enzymes, simple

Dixon N, Gazzola C, Blakeley RL, Zemer B (1975) Metallo-enzymes simple biological role for nickel. J Am Chem Soc 97 4131 135... 

Oscillatory enzymes simple periodic behaviour in an allosteric model for glycolytic oscillations... 

Isolated enzymes Simple apparatus Simple work-up Specific for selected reaction Co-solvents better tolerated Expensive Addition of enzyme co-factors required or enzyme cofactor recycling necessary... 

Enzyme titration Vary the enzyme activity through titration with purified enzymes Simple and straightforward procedure, but it can only be applied for pathway segments that are completely decoupled from the rest of the cell... 

Pt(II) complex which would react with DNA in a different way from diat of cisplatin. We have looked for an intrastrand crosslink, and at die same time a quite small distortion of the double helix, to reduce recognition chances by repair enzymes. Simple modeling already made clear that a rigid azole bridge (pyrazole, triazole) would generate a base-to-base contact of some 350 pm. The compound used as prototype is redrawn in Figure 10... 

In the following pages an account is given of some of the more simple reactions which enzymes catalyse. The reactions have been selected partly because they are of particular interest to the organic chemist, and partly because they are capable of simple and ready demonstration in the laboratory. 

If RCOOH is a comparatively simple organic acid and R OH a monohydric alcohol then the enzyme is called an esterase. Examples of such esters are ethyl butyrate, C3H7COOC2H5, and ethyl mandelate, CeHjCH(OH)COOC2Hj. 

The so-called "trypsin," obtainable from pancreatic juice and from fresh extracts of the pancreas, is not a simple enzyme but a mixture of trypsin proper (which hydrolyses proteins to proteoses and peptones) and a series of enzymes which hydrolyse these breakdown products to their constituent amino-acids. The term trypsin," when used below, refers to this mixture. 

This enzyme, sometimes also called the Schardinger enzyme, occurs in milk. It is capable of " oxidising" acetaldehyde to acetic acid, and also the purine bases xanthine and hypoxanthine to uric acid. The former reaction is not a simple direct oxidation and is assumed to take place as follows. The enzyme activates the hydrated form of the aldehyde so that it readily parts w ith two hydrogen atoms in the presence of a suitable hydrogen acceptor such as methylene-blue the latter being reduced to the colourless leuco-compound. The oxidation of certain substrates will not take place in the absence of such a hydrogen acceptor. 

Part V, on Simple Enzyme Reactions, is rather a new departure in practical books of this type. The importance of... 

Phenylpyruvic acid can cause mental retardation m infants who are deficient m the enzymes necessary to convert l phenylalanine to l tyrosine This disorder is called phenylketonuria, or PKU disease PKU disease can be detected by a simple test rou tmely administered to newborns It cannot be cured but is controlled by restricting the dietary intake of l phenylalanine In practice this means avoiding foods such as meat that are rich m l phenylalanine... 

Enzyme-Catalyzed Reactions Enzymes are highly specific catalysts for biochemical reactions, with each enzyme showing a selectivity for a single reactant, or substrate. For example, acetylcholinesterase is an enzyme that catalyzes the decomposition of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine to choline and acetic acid. Many enzyme-substrate reactions follow a simple mechanism consisting of the initial formation of an enzyme-substrate complex, ES, which subsequently decomposes to form product, releasing the enzyme to react again. 

Chemiluminescence. Chemiluminescence (262—265) is the emission of light duting an exothermic chemical reaction, generaUy as fluorescence. It often occurs ia oxidation processes, and enzyme-mediated bioluminescence has important analytical appHcations (241,262). Chemiluminescence analysis is highly specific and can reach ppb detection limits with relatively simple iastmmentation. Nitric oxide has been so analyzed from reaction with ozone (266—268), and ozone can be detected by the emission at 585 nm from reaction with ethylene. 

Proteins may consist exclusively of a polymeric chain of amino acids these are the simple proteins. Quite often some other chemical component is covalendy bonded to the amino acid chain. Glycoproteins and Hpoproteins contain sugar and Hpid components, respectively. Porphyrins are frequently associated with proteins, eg, in hemoglobin. Proteins bound to other chemical components are called conjugated proteins. Most enzymes are conjugated proteins. 

The simple cases where one enzyme is employed afford a limited scope of potential targets. Usually two or more enzyme reactions are coupled, as exemplified by the development of a piezoelectricaHy-transduced biocatalytic biosensor that couples two enzyme reactions to detect glucose [492-62-6] ... 

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