enzyme

en·zyme

enzyme

noun

The definition of an enzyme is a protein created by an organism that increases the rate at which chemical reactions occur.

Facts About Enzymes

There are three different types of enzymes - digestive, metabolic, and food enzymes.
Enzymes have a part in digestion, in the breaking down of vitamins or nutrients that you ingest, in building cells, and in reactions that transform energy into a usable source for the body.
Some of the enzymes that are vital to the digestive process include pepsin, and trypsin which help break down proteins in the digestive track, and convert them into amino acids.
Enzymes are organic compounds that are composed of amino acids.

An example of an enzyme is a digestive enzyme such as pepsin.

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"enzyme." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 17 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/enzyme>.

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enzyme. (n.d.). Retrieved December 17th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/enzyme

enzyme

any of various proteins, formed in plant and animal cells or made synthetically, that act as organic catalysts in initiating or speeding up specific chemical reactions and that usually become inactive or unstable above c. 50°C (122°F)

Origin of enzyme

German enzym from Late Greek enzymos, leavened from Classical Greek en-, in + zym?, leaven (see zyme)

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"enzyme." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 17 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/enzyme>.

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enzyme. (n.d.). Retrieved December 17th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/enzyme

enzyme

noun

Any of numerous compounds that are produced by living organisms and function as biochemical catalysts. Some enzymes are simple proteins, and others consist of a protein linked to one or more nonprotein groups.

Origin of enzyme

German Enzym from Medieval Greek enzūmos leavened Greek en- in ; see en- ². Greek zūmē leaven, yeast

Related Forms:

en′zy·mat′ic en·zy′mic
adjective

en′zy·mat′i·cal·ly en·zy′mi·cal·ly
adverb

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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"enzyme." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 17 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/enzyme>.

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enzyme. (n.d.). Retrieved December 17th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/enzyme

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.

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"enzyme." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 17 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/enzyme>.

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enzyme. (n.d.). Retrieved December 17th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/enzyme

Noun

(plural enzymes)

(biochemistry) A globular protein that catalyses a biological chemical reaction.

Origin

From German Enzym, created in 1878, by the German physiologist Wilhelm Kühne from Ancient Greek ἐν (en, “in”) and ζύμη (zýmē, “sourdough”).

English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.

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"enzyme." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 17 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/enzyme>.

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enzyme. (n.d.). Retrieved December 17th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/enzyme

enzyme - Medical Definition

n.

Any of numerous compounds that are produced by living organisms and function as biochemical catalysts. Some enzymes are simple proteins, and others consist of a protein linked to one or more nonprotein groups.

Related Forms:

en′zy·mat′ic (-zə-măt′ĭk) en·zy′mic (-zī′mĭk, -zĭm′ĭk)
adj.

en′zy·mat′i·cal·ly en·zy′mi·cal·ly
adv.

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MLA Style

"enzyme." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 17 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/enzyme>.

APA Style

enzyme. (n.d.). Retrieved December 17th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/enzyme

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enzyme

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enzyme

enzyme

enzyme - Medical Definition

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enzyme

Facts About Enzymes

enzyme

enzyme

enzyme - Medical Definition

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Words near enzyme in the dictionary

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