Enzymes, also known as enzymes, are specific proteins that function as biological catalysts in organisms. They speed up the course of various chemical reactions, which allows the body to function effectively. Enzymes are present in all living cells and catalyze all life processes without exception.
Functions of enzymes in the body
Enzymes play a key role in many important processes in the body. They are involved in respiration and heart function, cell growth and division, muscle contraction, digestion and absorption of food, synthesis and breakdown of all biological substances, including the enzymes themselves. Enzymes catalyze reactions that occur in cells and organs, which constitute the molecular basis of the life of the body.
Specificity of enzyme action
One of the main differences between enzymes and chemical catalysts is the high specificity of their action. Each enzyme acts on a very specific substance or chemical bond of a certain type. For example, the enzyme lactase breaks down only milk sugar - lactose - to form glucose and galactose, and amylase acts only on polysaccharides - glycogen and starch.
The high specificity of enzymes plays an important biological role, since thanks to this property, enzymes in the body consistently break down complex substances into simpler ones, which are either absorbed in the intestines or excreted from the body. For example, food proteins are first broken down by proteolytic enzymes - pepsin, trypsin and chymotrypsin - into large fragments of a polypeptide nature. These polypeptides in the intestine, under the action of peptidase enzymes, are broken down into amino acids, which are absorbed into the blood and carried by the bloodstream to various organs, where they are used for the synthesis of proteins specific to a given organism.
History of enzyme discovery
The first enzyme preparation was obtained in 1814 by Academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences K. S. Kirchhoff. This extract from barley sprouts promoted the conversion of starch into sugar and was called the enzyme diastase or amylase. For a long time, it was not possible to isolate enzymes in the form of individual substances, so their chemical nature was unknown. In 1897, German biochemist Eduard Büchner was able to isolate an enzyme from yeast that could catalyze the fermentation process. He called it "zymaza" and showed that it can work outside a living organism, that is, it does not require living cells to work. This discovery led to the understanding that enzymes are proteins and that they can catalyze chemical reactions outside living cells.
Since then, many different enzymes have been discovered and their chemical nature has been studied in detail. Today, enzymes are widely used in biotechnology and industry to produce food, drugs and other chemical compounds. Enzymes are also used in medicine for the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases associated with impaired functioning of enzymes in the body.