5 examples of enzymes in the body - scientific trends (2023)

Enzymesinhumanbodythey serve a number of different functions. Forexample, different categories of enzymes include digestive enzymes, metabolic enzymes, liver enzymes, nucleases, and receptor enzymes. By examining these five categories of enzymes in detail, the many important roles of enzymes in the human body will become clearer.

Defining enzymes

Before we discuss the various typesdifficultin the body, let's take a moment todefine enzymes. Enzymes are biological molecules that increase the speed of chemical reactions inside cells. Enzymes are usually proteins, although enzymes can be other types of molecules. Enzymes help with processes such as metabolism and digestion and are essential for life on planet Earth. Enzymes can perform many different functions, such as breaking large molecules into smaller pieces so that they can be more easily absorbed by the body, or creating new molecules by linking other molecules together. However, these reactions will only be carried out by certain enzymes, since they are extremely selective catalysts, only the right reaction will be potentiated by the enzyme.

Enzymes that manipulate molecules are called substrates and are attached to specific regions of the enzyme called active sites. There are two different models of enzyme action: the induced fit model and the lock and key model. In the first model, both the substrate and the active sites change their basic shape to stick together, while in the second model, the active site of the enzyme cannot change and will therefore only accept certain substrates. In both cases, enzymes can accelerate the rate of reaction more than a million times after the substrate binds to the active site of the enzyme. Chemical reactions resulting from the combination of substrate and enzyme create new molecules or products, which then branch off from the enzyme and can initiate other reactions.

The total atomic weight of enzymes ranges from approximately 10,000 to over 1 million units. Although most enzymes are proteins, this is not true for all enzymes. Some enzymes actually have small RNA molecules that act as catalysts, rather than the catalytic proteins found in other enzymes. Some enzymes are also composed of multiprotein complexes linked by many individual protein subunits. Although many enzymes are capable of catalyzing reactions on their own, additional enzyme cofactors or non-protein components are sometimes required to capitalize the reaction. Inorganic ions such as Mn2+, Zn2+, Fe2+ or Mg2+ can serve as cofactors, or organometallic compounds called coenzymes can serve as cofactors.

different types of enzymes

Enzymes are macromolecules that catalyze biochemical reactions, and inhibitors are molecules that reduce enzyme activity, while activators increase enzyme activity. Enzymology is the study of enzymes. Enzymes can generally be divided into five different classes:

• Hydrolases cut or cleave part of the substrate through the process of hydrolysis or through the absorption of water molecules.
• Oxidoreductases are enzymes involved in the electron transfer process.
• Isomerases are enzymes that form isomers by transferring groups in a molecule.
• Ligases create new chemical bonds by breaking the pyrophosphate bonds in the nucleotide.
• Transferases are those that transfer chemical groups from one molecule to another.

There are more than 5,000 biochemical reactions that are catalyzed by enzymes. These enzymes are used in many different products, both in household and industrial products, to create new molecules. Enzymes are often used to produce food products such as cheese, wine and beer. Meanwhile, some diseases are caused by the lack of certain enzymes, such as albinism and phenylketonuria. Some of the more common enzymes are listed below:

DNAPolymerase is an enzyme that initiates the chemical reactions that occur when DNA is copied and prepared for cell division. DNA polymerase ensures that the correct number of bases is used to build DNA.

Many different enzymes are found in cleaning chemicals such as stain removers and laundry detergent. These enzymes help remove oils and stains from fabrics by having the enzymes break down these chemicals, allowing the stains to come out of the fabric.

Papain is a type of enzyme found in meat tenderizers. The enzyme is used to break the bonds between the protein molecules, and it is this reaction that makes the meat more tender.

Amylase is an example of an enzyme in the human body. Amylase is found in our saliva and is part of the initial process of digesting food, starting the breakdown of carbohydrates.

Types of enzymes in the body

There are at least five different classes of enzymes that can be foundinside the body: digestive enzymes, metabolic enzymes, liver enzymes, nucleases and receptor enzymes. Let's look at these different categories of enzymes andconcrete exampleseach of them.

Digestive enzymes participate in the breakdown of food in animals and humans. Examples of digestive enzymes include amylase, pepsin, lipase, nucleases and lysozymes.

Amylase is a type of enzyme that helps break down/digest carbohydrates. Most amylase breaks down carbohydrates into glucose, and the real process begins in the mouth, where salivary amylase, an enzyme found in our saliva, begins to break down food as we chew it. Salivary amylase begins to break down starch into glucose, while the remaining food will be formed and absorbed as it travels through the stomach and intestines.lysosomesthey are also found in saliva and their task is to kill microbes in the mouth.

Pepsin or peptidases are enzymes that break down various proteinsamino acids, which can then be used to form the molecules needed for the cell to function. Most of the breakdown of complex molecules takes place in the small intestine, although some of it takes place in the stomach.

Lipase is a type of enzyme responsible for breaking down oils and fats into alcohols and fatty acids. Lipase happens to be one of the enzymes found in the pancreas or pancreatic enzymes.

Receptor enzymes are those involved in receiving different biomolecules. Receptor enzymes help activate or deactivate biomolecules such as glucose and glycogen. Receptor enzymes can assist in dephosphorylation or phosphorylation, with dephosphorylation enzymes called phosphatases and phosphorylation enzymes called kinases. Only a few enzymes are also receptors.

Metabolic enzymes, as the name implies, are involved in cell metabolism and detoxification of substances found in the body. There are many different metabolic enzymes that specialize in breaking down different substances. For example, oxidases are enzymes that convert various substances into ketones, while hydrolases break down materials when water is involved.

Reductases are enzymes that introduce hydrogen into substrates during a reaction, while lyases are enzymes associated with the breakdown of molecules without oxidation or hydrolysis. Ligases are enzymes that join two or more molecules. Isomerase can convert molecules into different forms, it is capable of taking one molecule and changing it into a similar but different form, and vice versa. Glucuronic acid is introduced into substances that are not soluble in water by glucuronidase, which makes the molecules soluble in water and therefore can be excreted in the urine from the body. Transannons are enzymes that remove or add amino acids to compounds.

Glycogen synthase is a type of enzyme involved in glycogen production, taking glycogen from glucose and allowing it to be stored in the liver. Lactate dehydrogenase is an enzyme that produces pyruvic acid from lactate. Aminoacyl tRNA (translationRNA) synthetase is a type of enzyme responsible for attaching different amino acids to tRNA, which will help reproduce the genetic information of the cell.

The liver is the organ responsible for detoxifying substances, allowing the body to get rid of waste through urine. The liver has many different enzymes to break down toxic compounds, some of the most important enzymes being aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT). Alanine transaminase (ALT) can also be called serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT), while aspartate aminotransferase (AST) can be called serum glutamic oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT). These two enzymes act on amino acids to capitalize them. Along with AST and ALT, there is a family of enzymes called cytochrome p450, which are responsible for managing the breakdown of various drugs.

There are also many enzymes in the nervous system that help metabolize neurotransmitters. For example, acetylcholinesterase is responsible for breaking down acetylcholine, while monoamine oxidase breaks down many substances such as noradrenaline, adrenaline and dopamine.

In addition to enzymes that are related to different systems in the body, there are also special enzymes within the body, enzymes that perform functions that are not related to the aforementioned systems. Urokinase is an enzyme that breaks down clots, while endonucleases are enzymes that separate DNA strands. There are subtypes of endonucleases called restriction endonucleases that cleave DNA strands at a specific site. Hyaluronidase is a sperm-borne enzyme that is released into the female reproductive tract and is intended to help sperm penetrate the egg wall and fuse with the egg. An enzyme that specializes in cutting and sealing DNA is DNA topoisomerase-II, while DNA-dependent RNA polymerase is an enzyme that helps make mRNA. Finally, cyclooxygenase enzymes come in two forms CO X1 and COX-2 and are responsible for controlling the production of prostaglandins, chemicals involved in gastric mucus production and inflammation.