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Enzymes are also involved in more exotic functions, such as luciferase generating light in fireflies. [86] Viruses can also contain enzymes for infecting cells, such as the HIV integrase and reverse transcriptase, or for viral release from cells, like the influenza virus neuraminidase. [87]
Enzymes act on small molecules called substrates, which an enzyme converts into products. Almost all metabolic processes in the cell need enzyme catalysis in order to occur at rates fast enough to sustain life. The study of how fast an enzyme can transform a substrate into a product is called enzyme kinetics.
All cells contain the enzyme hexokinase, which catalyzes the conversion of glucose that has entered the cell into glucose-6-phosphate (G6P). Since the cell membrane is impervious to G6P, hexokinase essentially acts to transport glucose into the cells from which it can then no longer escape. Hexokinase is inhibited by high levels of G6P in the cell.
The study of enzyme kinetics is important for two basic reasons. Firstly, it helps explain how enzymes work, and secondly, it helps predict how enzymes behave in living organisms. The kinetic constants defined above, K M and V max, are critical to attempts to understand how enzymes work together to control metabolism.
Depending on the substrate and enzyme involved, P450 enzymes can catalyze any of a wide variety of reactions. A hypothetical hydroxylation is illustrated. After the hydroxylated product has been released from the active site, the enzyme returns to its original state, with a water molecule returning to occupy the distal coordination position of ...
The Golgi apparatus (/ ˈ ɡ ɒ l dʒ i /), also known as the Golgi complex, Golgi body, or simply the Golgi, is an organelle found in most eukaryotic cells. [1] Part of the endomembrane system in the cytoplasm, it packages proteins into membrane-bound vesicles inside the cell before the vesicles are sent to their destination.
Modelling biological systems is a significant task of systems biology and mathematical biology. [a] Computational systems biology [b] [1] aims to develop and use efficient algorithms, data structures, visualization and communication tools with the goal of computer modelling of biological systems.
The cryo-EM model of ATP synthase suggests that the peripheral stalk is a flexible structure that wraps around the complex as it joins F 1 to F O. Under the right conditions, the enzyme reaction can also be carried out in reverse, with ATP hydrolysis driving proton pumping across the membrane.