"Enzymes are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions."
Proteins that catalyze chemical reactions in food, such as ripening or fermentation.
Overview of Enzymes: An introduction to enzymes, their functions, structure, and classification.
Enzyme Kinetics: Understanding enzyme activity, the rate of reactions, enzyme-substrate concentration, and Michaelis-Menten kinetics.
Enzyme Inhibition: Types of enzyme inhibition, reversible and irreversible inhibition, and their mechanisms.
Enzyme Regulation: The factors that affect enzyme activity, such as pH, temperature, cofactors, and coenzymes.
Enzymes in Food Processing: The role of enzymes in food processing, including their significance in food flavor, texture, and nutritional value.
Enzymes in Food Preservation: The use of enzymes in food preservation, including enzymatic browning and enzymatic inhibition.
Enzymes in Food Analysis: Methods for detecting and measuring enzymes in food, including enzyme assay techniques.
Enzymes in Biotechnology: The use of enzymes in biotechnological applications, such as enzyme engineering, enzyme immobilization, and biocatalysis.
Enzymes in Medical Diagnosis: The use of enzymes in medical diagnosis, including enzymes as biomarkers and diagnostic enzymes.
Enzymes in Drug Design: The use of enzymes in drug design, including enzyme inhibitors and enzyme activators.
Amylase: An enzyme that breaks down starch into smaller molecules like glucose, maltose, and dextrin.
Protease: An enzyme that breaks down proteins into smaller molecules like amino acids.
Lipase: An enzyme that breaks down fats and oils into smaller molecules like fatty acids and glycerol.
Pectinase: An enzyme that breaks down pectin, a complex polysaccharide found in fruits, into simpler sugars.
Cellulase: An enzyme that breaks down cellulose, a complex carbohydrate found in plant cell walls, into simpler sugars.
Lactase: An enzyme that breaks down lactose, a sugar found in milk, into glucose and galactose.
Glucose oxidase: An enzyme that converts glucose into gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide.
Invertase: An enzyme that converts sucrose into glucose and fructose.
Catalase: An enzyme that breaks down hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen.
Alpha-galactosidase: An enzyme that breaks down complex carbohydrates like raffinose and stachyose found in beans and lentils into simpler sugars.
"The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates."
"The enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products."
"Almost all metabolic processes in the cell need enzyme catalysis in order to occur at rates fast enough to sustain life."
"The study of enzymes is called enzymology."
"The field of pseudoenzyme analysis recognizes that during evolution, some enzymes have lost the ability to carry out biological catalysis."
"Enzymes are known to catalyze more than 5,000 biochemical reaction types."
"Other biocatalysts are catalytic RNA molecules, called ribozymes."
"Like all catalysts, enzymes increase the reaction rate by lowering its activation energy."
"An extreme example is orotidine 5'-phosphate decarboxylase, which allows a reaction that would otherwise take millions of years to occur in milliseconds."
"Chemically, enzymes are like any catalyst and are not consumed in chemical reactions, nor do they alter the equilibrium of a reaction."
"Enzyme activity can be affected by other molecules: inhibitors are molecules that decrease enzyme activity, and activators are molecules that increase activity."
"An enzyme's activity decreases markedly outside its optimal temperature and pH."
"Many enzymes are (permanently) denatured when exposed to excessive heat, losing their structure and catalytic properties."
"Some enzymes are used commercially, for example, in the synthesis of antibiotics."
"Enzymes in biological washing powders break down protein, starch or fat stains on clothes."
"Enzymes in meat tenderizer break down proteins into smaller molecules, making the meat easier to chew."
"Enzymes' specificity comes from their unique three-dimensional structures."
"Inhibitors are molecules that decrease enzyme activity, and activators are molecules that increase activity."
"Enzymes differ from most other catalysts by being much more specific."