Seven Wonders of the World of Enzymes

Abstract

The enzymes in our cells perform a bewildering variety of tasks. Some of these tasks, such as the cleavage reaction performed by lysozyme, are simple enough that a standard protein, composed of the normal 20 amino acids, will suffice. In other cases, however, the reaction may be too difficult, or too sensitive to the surrounding environment, or too dangerous to the cell to be performed by a typical enzyme, and cells have evolved many wondrous specializations in their enzymes to perform these tasks as needed. In this chapter, I have selected seven aspects of enzyme action that I find most amazing. But you only need to look to Nature to find many additional wonders.