HISTORY of Enzymes

As early as the late 1700s and early 1800s, the

digestion of meat by stomach secretions and
the conversion of starch to sugars by plant
extracts and saliva were known. However, the
mechanism by which this occurred had not
been identified.
In the 19th century, when studying the
fermentation of sugar to alcohol by yeast,
Louis Pasteur came to the conclusion that this
fermentation was catalyzed by a vital force
contained within the yeast cells called
"ferments", which were thought to function
only within living organisms. He wrote that
"alcoholic fermentation is an act correlated
with the life and organization of the yeast
cells, not with the death or putrefaction of the
cells.
• In 1878 German physiologist Wilhelm Kühne (1837–1900) first
used the term enzyme, which comes from Greek ενζυμον "in
leaven", to describe this process. The word enzyme was used later
to refer to nonliving substances such as pepsin, and the word
ferment used to refer to chemical activity produced by living
organisms.
• In 1897 Eduard Buchner began to study the ability of yeast
extracts that lacked any living yeast cells to ferment sugar. In a
series of experiments at the University of Berlin, he found that the
sugar was fermented even when there were no living yeast cells in
the mixture.
• He named the enzyme that brought about the fermentation of
sucrose "zymase". In 1907 he received the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry“ for his biochemical research and his discovery of cell-
free fermentation". Following Buchner's example;
 Enzymes
Enzymes are Biomolecules that catalyze, increase the rates of
chemical Reactions.
Almost all enzymes are proteins.
In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the
process are called substrates, and the enzyme converts them
into different molecules, the products.
Almost all processes in a biological cell need
enzymes in order to occur at significant rates.
Since enzymes are extremely selective for their
substrates and speed up only a few reactions
from among many possibilities, the set of
enzymes made in a cell determines which
metabolic pathways occur in that cell.
• Most enzyme reaction rates are millions of
times faster than those of comparable un
catalyzed reactions.
• As with all catalysts, enzymes are not
consumed by the reactions they catalyze, nor
do they alter the equilibrium of these reactions.
• However, enzymes do differ from most other
catalysts by being much more specific.
Enzyme activity can be affected by other
molecules.
Inhibitors are molecules that decrease enzyme
activity.
 activators are molecules that increase activity.
Many drugs and poisons are enzyme
inhibitors.
 Activity is also affected by temperature,
chemical environment (e.g. pH),
 the concentration of substrate.
Some enzymes are used commercially, for
example, in the synthesis of antibiotics.
In addition, some household products use
enzymes to speed up biochemical reactions
(e.g., enzymes in biological washing powders
break down protein or fat stains on clothes;
 Naming of Enzymes
enzymes are usually named according to the
reaction they carry out. Typically the suffix -
ase is added to the name of the substrate (e.g.,
lactase is the enzyme that cleaves lactose) or
the type of reaction (e.g., DNA polymerase
forms DNA polymers).
 Structures and mechanisms

Enzymes are generally globular proteins and range

from just 62 amino acid residues in size, to over
2,500 residues in the animal fatty acid synthase.
The activities of enzymes are determined by their
three-dimensional structure
Most enzymes are much larger than the substrates
they act on, and only a small portion of the
enzyme (around 3–4 amino acids) is directly
involved in catalysis.
 The region that contains these catalytic residues,
binds the substrate, and then carries out the
reaction is known as the active site.
Enzymes can also contain sites that bind
cofactors, which are needed for catalysis.
Some enzymes also have binding sites for small
molecules, which are often direct or indirect
products or substrates of the reaction catalyzed.
This binding can serve to increase or decrease
the enzyme's activity, providing a means for
feedback regulation.
Most enzymes can be denatured—that is,
unfolded and inactivated—by heating, which
destroys the three-dimensional structure of the
protein.
Depending on the enzyme, denaturation may be
reversible or irreversible.
 Specificity

Enzymes are usually very specific as to which

reactions they catalyze and the substrates that
are involved in these reactions.
Complementary shape, charge and
hydrophilic/hydrophobic characteristics of
enzymes and substrates are responsible for this
specificity.
 "Lock and key" model

Enzymes are very specific, because both the

enzyme and the substrate possess specific
complementary geometric shapes that fit
exactly into one another. This is often referred
to as "the lock and key" model.
However, while this model explains enzyme
specificity, it fails to explain the stabilization
of the transition state that enzymes achieve.
 Induced fit model

Diagrams to show the induced fit hypothesis of

enzyme action.
since enzymes are rather flexible structures, the
active site is continually reshaped by
interactions with the substrate as the substrate
interacts with the enzyme.
As a result, the substrate does not simply bind to
a rigid active site.
In some cases, such as glycosidases, the
substrate molecule also changes shape slightly
as it enters the active site.
 Cofactors and coenzymes
Cofactors
• Some enzymes do not need any additional
components to show full activity.
• However, others require non-protein molecules
called cofactors to be bound for activity.
• Cofactors can be either inorganic (e.g., metal
ions and iron-sulfur clusters) or organic
compounds, (e.g., flavin and heme).
Organic cofactors can be either:
prosthetic groups, which are tightly bound to
an enzyme, or coenzymes, which are released
from the enzyme's active site during the
reaction. Coenzymes include NADH, NADPH
and adenosine triphosphate. These molecules
act to transfer chemical groups between
enzymes. carbonic anhydrase, with a zinc
cofactor bound as part of its active site. These
tightly-bound molecules are usually found in
the active site and are involved in catalysis.
 For example, flavin and heme cofactors are often
involved in redox reactions.
Enzymes that require a cofactor but do not have
one bound are called apoenzymes.
An apoenzyme together with its cofactor(s) is called
a holoenzyme (this is the active form).
Most cofactors are not covalently attached to an
enzyme, but are very tightly bound. However,
organic prosthetic groups can be covalently bound.
Coenzymes
Coenzymes are small organic molecules that
transport chemical groups from one enzyme to
another.
Some of these chemicals such as riboflavin,
thiamine and folic acid are vitamins, (acquired).
The chemical groups carried include the hydride
ion (H-) carried by NAD or NADP+, the acetyl
group carried by coenzyme A, … etc.
 Since coenzymes are chemically changed as a
consequence of enzyme action, it is useful to
consider coenzymes to be a special class of
substrates, or second substrates, which are
common to many different enzymes. For
example, about 700 enzymes are known to use the
coenzyme NADH.
 Coenzymes are usually regenerated and their
concentrations maintained at a steady level inside
the cell: for example, NADPH is regenerated
through the pentose phosphate pathway and S-
adenosylmethionine by methionine
adenosyltransferase.
Thermodynamics
 The energies of various stages of a
chemical reaction. Substrates need a large
amount of energy to reach a transition state,
which then decays into products.
The enzyme stabilizes the transition state,
reducing the energy needed to form products.
As all catalysts, enzymes do not alter the
position of the chemical equilibrium of the
reaction. Usually, in the presence of an
enzyme, the reaction runs in the same direction
as it would without the enzyme, just more
quickly.
 For example, carbonic anhydrase catalyzes
its reaction in either direction depending on the
concentration of its reactants.
(in tissues; high
CO2 concentration)

in lungs; low
CO2 concentration).
 Kinetics
Enzyme kinetics is the investigation of how
enzymes bind substrates and turn them into
products.
The enzyme (E) binds a substrate (S) and
produces a product (P).
 In 1902 Victor Henri contribute was to
think of enzyme reactions in two stages. In the
first, the substrate binds reversibly to the
enzyme, forming the enzyme-substrate
complex.
This is sometimes called the Michaelis
complex.
The enzyme then catalyzes the chemical
step in the reaction and releases the product.
 Saturation curve for an enzyme reaction
showing the relation between the substrate
concentration (S) and rate (v).
 Enzyme rates depend on solution conditions
and substrate concentration.
Conditions that denature the protein abolish
enzyme activity, such as high temperatures,
extremes of pH or high salt concentrations.
while raising substrate concentration tends
to increase activity. Saturation happens
because, as substrate concentration increases,
more and more of the free enzyme is converted
into the substrate-bound ES form.
 At the maximum velocity (Vmax) of the
enzyme, all the enzyme active sites are bound
to substrate, and the amount of ES complex is
the same as the total amount of enzyme.
However, Vmax is only one kinetic constant of
enzymes.
Km, : is the substrate concentration required
for an enzyme to reach one-half its maximum
velocity. Each enzyme has a characteristic Km
for a given substrate.
kcat : is the number of substrate molecules
handled by one active site per second.
 So The efficiency of an enzyme = kcat/Km.
This is also called the specificity constant
and incorporates the rate constants for all steps
in the reaction (affinity and catalytic ability).
 Inhibition

Competitive inhibitors bind reversibly to the

enzyme.
Competitive inhibition
In competitive inhibition, the inhibitor and
substrate compete for the enzyme (they can not
bind at the same time). These inhibitors strongly
resemble the real substrate of the
enzyme(dihydrofolate to tetrahydrofolate).
Uncompetitive inhibition
In uncompetitive inhibition the inhibitor can not
bind to the free enzyme, but only to the ES-
complex.
The EIS-complex thus formed is enzymatically
inactive. This type of inhibition is rare, but may
occur.
Non-competitive inhibition
Non-competitive inhibitors can bind to the
enzyme at the same time as the substrate, i.e.
they never bind to the active site. Both the EI
and EIS complexes are enzymatically inactive.
Because the inhibitor can not be driven from
the enzyme by higher substrate concentration
(in contrast to competitive inhibition), the
apparent Vmax changes.
Because the substrate can still bind to the
enzyme, the Km stays the same.
Mixed inhibition
This type of inhibition resembles the non-
competitive, except that the EIS-complex has
residual enzymatic activity.

The coenzyme folic acid (left) and the anti-

cancer drug methotrexate (right) are very similar
in structure.
Types of inhibition. This classification was introduced by W.W. Cleland
Irreversible inhibitors : react with the enzyme
and form a covalent with the protein. The
inactivation is irreversible.
Uses of inactivators
Inhibitors are often used as drugs, but they
can also act as poisons.
 Naming conventions
The International Union of Biochemistry and
Molecular Biology have developed a
nomenclature for enzymes, the EC numbers;
each enzyme is described by a sequence of
four numbers preceded by "EC". The first
number classifies the enzyme based on its
mechanism.
The top-level classification is:
 EC 1 Oxidoreductases: catalyze oxidation/
reduction reactions .
 EC 2 Transferases: transfer a functional group
(e.g. a methyl or phosphate group).
 EC 3 Hydrolases: catalyze the hydrolysis of
various bonds .
 EC 4 Lyases: cleave various bonds by means
other than hydrolysis and oxidation.
 EC 5 Isomerases: catalyze isomerization changes
within a single molecule.
 EC 6 Ligases: join two molecules with covalent
bonds.
 Enzyme Deficiency

A variety of metabolic diseases are now

known to be caused by deficiencies or
malfunctions of enzymes.
Albinism, for example, is often caused by the
absence of tyrosinase, an enzyme essential for the
production of cellular pigments.
The hereditary lack of phenylalanine
hydroxylase results in the disease phenylketonuria
(PKU) which, if untreated, leads to severe mental
retardation in children.