enzyme
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.
Origin of enzyme
1- Compare -ase.
Words Nearby enzyme
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use enzyme in a sentence
A good spray combines enzymes and ingredients that are safe for humans to tackle any unexpected excrement.
Pet Stain & Odor Removers That Get The Job Done | PopSci Commerce Team | February 9, 2021 | Popular-ScienceThe end result is a high-quality and flavorful juice packed with all the enzymes, antioxidants, and vitamins of the original ingredients.
The best, most practical Valentine’s Day gifts for any kind of partner | PopSci Commerce Team | February 8, 2021 | Popular-ScienceUnlike most biotech drugs, RNA is not made in fermenters or living cells—it’s produced inside plastic bags of chemicals and enzymes.
The next act for messenger RNA could be bigger than covid vaccines | David Rotman | February 5, 2021 | MIT Technology ReviewAfter 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.
Elizabeth Peña and the Truth About Alcoholic Women | Gabrielle Glaser | October 24, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIn 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.
Some Constituents of the Poison Ivy Plant: (Rhus Toxicodendron) | William Anderson SymeYou will remember that starch in the growing corn grain was changed to grape sugar by an enzyme called diastase.
A Civic Biology | George William HunterThe digestion or change of starch to grape sugar is caused by the presence in the saliva of an enzyme, or digestive ferment.
A Civic Biology | George William HunterBy adding the enzyme maltase from yeast to a forty per cent.
The Organism as a Whole | Jacques LoebEven the color of our hair and eyes depends on an enzyme which manufactures the coloring matter.
Natural Wonders | Edwin Tenney Brewster
British Dictionary definitions for enzyme
/ (ˈɛnzaɪm) /
any of a group of complex proteins or conjugated proteins that are produced by living cells and act as catalysts in specific biochemical reactions
Origin of enzyme
1Derived forms of enzyme
- enzymatic (ˌɛnzaɪˈmætɪk, -zɪ-) or enzymic (ɛnˈzaɪmɪk, -ˈzɪm-), adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for enzyme
[ ĕn′zīm ]
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.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for enzyme
[ (en-zeyem) ]
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.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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