Detailed Introduction to Research Process of Enzyme

In 1752, the French physiologist Leoma discovered that the meat stuffed in the metal tube had dissolved, but he did not know why.

In 1785, the Italian scientist Lazzalo Sparanzoni put the pieces of meat in an empty metal tube with holes to feed the eagle. Soon after, the metal tube was taken out and the meat inside was dissolved. But he did not know why the meat dissolved, so he continued to experiment for decades. Later, a substance with a meat-dissolving effect was discovered and named pepsin. He was the original discoverer of proteolytic enzymes.

In 1833, France's Peian and Pelori applied the liquid of ground malt to starch, and it was found that the starch was broken down. So he named this starch-decomposing substance Diastase, which is now called amylase. Later, Diastase became the name used to represent all enzymes in France.

In 1836, a professor at the University of Leuven in Germany discovered that there was a substance that had a meat-dissolving effect in the gastric juice. This substance will lose its effect once it is exposed to heat, and it will only work under a strong acid state.

This substance that can dissolve meat in gastric juice is named pepsin, and many enzymes have been discovered. A small amount of enzyme can act on a large number of substances. The reaction is activated in water. The reaction is most activated when the pH is near neutral, around 37 degrees Celsius (except for pepsin, which works under strong acids).

The use of the name "enzyme" began in the second half of the nineteenth century. In Greek, enzyme means "something in yeast."

There are microorganisms in yeast that are used for fermentation when making wine, which is also called enzyme. Even if crushed yeast is used instead of live yeast, alcohol can still be fermented. This was the first discovery by the Bufner brothers, but he did not know what the enzyme is made of.

In 1926, the American biochemist Summer (J.B. Sumner, 1887-1955) successfully extracted urease crystals from concanava. In fact, this crystal is a protein. Sumner extracted the protein-decomposing enzyme and named it pepsin. And the enzyme that breaks down the protein of pancreatic juice is named trypsin.

The entity of the enzyme is a protein. In 1946, Summer and the American biochemist Northrop (J.H. Northrop, 1891-1987) won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Another winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in the same year was Stanley, an American biochemist and virologist (M. Stanley, 1904-1971).

In addition, the molecules of proteins are huge molecules formed by a series of amino acids with a molecular weight ranging from 10,000 to millions, and the number of amino acids is linked from one hundred to tens of thousands.

Protein is the entity of the enzyme, but it is not the essence, just the skeleton of the enzyme. The wrong idea of "enzymes are proteins" has made research on enzyme nutrition slow. Sumner believed that "enzymes are proteins" and won the Nobel Prize, but the result was a misunderstanding that "enzymes can be taken by ingesting protein." Based on this, enzymes are not included in the six nutrients.