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View synonyms for enzyme

enzyme

[ en-zahym ]

noun

, Biochemistry.
  1. any of various proteins, as pepsin, originating from living cells and capable of producing certain chemical changes in organic substances by catalytic action, as in digestion.


enzyme

/ -ˈzɪm-; ɛnˈzaɪmɪk; ˈɛnzaɪm; ˌɛnzaɪˈmætɪk; -zɪ- /

noun

  1. any of a group of complex proteins or conjugated proteins that are produced by living cells and act as catalysts in specific biochemical reactions


enzyme

/ ĕnzīm /

  1. Any of numerous proteins produced in living cells that accelerate or catalyze the metabolic processes of an organism. Enzymes are usually very selective in the molecules that they act upon, called substrates , often reacting with only a single substrate. The substrate binds to the enzyme at a location called the active site just before the reaction catalyzed by the enzyme takes place. Enzymes can speed up chemical reactions by up to a millionfold, but only function within a narrow temperature and pH range, outside of which they can lose their structure and become denatured. Enzymes are involved in such processes as the breaking down of the large protein, starch, and fat molecules in food into smaller molecules during digestion, the joining together of nucleotides into strands of DNA, and the addition of a phosphate group to ADP to form ATP. The names of enzymes usually end in the suffix –ase.


enzyme

  1. A protein molecule that helps other organic molecules (see also organic molecule ) enter into chemical reactions with one another but is itself unaffected by these reactions. In other words, enzymes act as catalysts for organic biochemical reactions.


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Derived Forms

  • enzymatic, adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of enzyme1

First recorded in 1880–85; from Medieval Greek énzymos “leavened,” from Greek en- en- 2 + zȳ́m(ē) “leaven” + -os, adjective suffix

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Word History and Origins

Origin of enzyme1

C19: from Medieval Greek enzumos leavened, from Greek en- ² + zumē leaven

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Example Sentences

A good spray combines enzymes and ingredients that are safe for humans to tackle any unexpected excrement.

The end result is a high-quality and flavorful juice packed with all the enzymes, antioxidants, and vitamins of the original ingredients.

Unlike most biotech drugs, RNA is not made in fermenters or living cells—it’s produced inside plastic bags of chemicals and enzymes.

After some time teaching, she turned her research —developing the use of radioactive isotopes for precise measurements of biological chemicals in the body — from hormones and enzymes to vitamins and viruses.

Scientists then set about breeding wheat that was lower in these enzymes.

Women also make less of an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase, which breaks down alcohol before it hits the bloodstream.

In particular, “prolonged fasting reduced the enzyme PKA,” explains the USC announcement.

That life-giving source is the enzyme telomerase, which can actually lengthen telomeres.

It has nothing to do with aroma; the word refers to the enzyme aromatase.

The answer lies in polyphenol oxidase, an enzyme that combines with oxygen to speed up cellular decomposition.

Stevens obtained a nitrogenous oxidizing enzyme from Rhus vernicifera.

You will remember that starch in the growing corn grain was changed to grape sugar by an enzyme called diastase.

The digestion or change of starch to grape sugar is caused by the presence in the saliva of an enzyme, or digestive ferment.

By adding the enzyme maltase from yeast to a forty per cent.

Even the color of our hair and eyes depends on an enzyme which manufactures the coloring matter.

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enzymaticenzyme-linked immunosorbent assay