• Question: what are the diffrent emzymes

    Asked by 758furk43 to Chris, Joanne, Kathryn, Kieran, Sarah on 8 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Kathryn Schoenrock

      Kathryn Schoenrock answered on 8 Nov 2017:

      Enzymes are unique to each chemical reaction they are involved in! But there are specific classes which are based on the reaction they are involved in:

      Oxidoreductases: These catalyze the transfer of ions in oxidation/reduction reactions
      Transferases: These transfer a functional group (a specific part of a molecule)
      Hydrolases: Hydrolyse bonds- breaks the bond in a molecule resulting in 2 molecule and one H2O (water)
      Lyases: break bonds without hydrolysing or oxidizing
      Isomerases: causes isomerisation- meaning it changes the shape of the molecule as though you became a reflection of you.
      Ligases: joins two molecules using a covalent bond- so atoms that each have one free space for an electron in their outer ring/shell bond together so they have full outer shells.

    • Photo: Sarah Guerin

      Sarah Guerin answered on 8 Nov 2017:

      There are so so many enzymes in the body- that’s why they are put into the categories that Kathryn listed. Enzymes speed up reactions in your body, like digesting food when you swallow it. People who can’t eat dairy products have less of the enzyme lactase for example, so they can’t digest foods with milk (lactose) and it makes them sick.

    • Photo: Chris Werner

      Chris Werner answered on 8 Nov 2017:

      Great description by the others!

      Enzymes are molecules of protein that are made from amino acid chains (which themselves make up proteins). There’s three main ones that maintain living organisms.

      Metabolic – primarily in charge of energy production in the body

      Digestive – assisting the body break down and assimilate food into nutrients

      Food – these primarily come from plants. Our body does not make these enzymes, but they are contained in the food we are eating so our body can break down the food. Which is why we need to eat our greens!

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