What does Baby food, detergents, sugar syrup, fructose syrup and cheese have in common?
They all created using enzymes.
Baby foods use the enzyme Protease to pre-digest the proteins in the food.
When it comes to biological detergents, they need to be able to break down food, blood and sweat stains. Some of these contain Protease and Lipase to help breakdown the materials into smaller, water soluble substances.
When it comes to cheese, a mixture of enzymes called rennet are used. We can get these from animals, fungi, plants or even from genetically modified bacteria.
These enzymes help to separate the mixture into solid and liquid parts.
Enzymes play an important role within us. Have you ever heard of Nerve gas?
Some nerve gases inhibit the enzyme acetylocholinesterase. This enzyme is responsible for the termination of nerve singles between neurons.
If the signal isn’t cleaned up, then the neurons continue to fire, eventually leading to blurred vision, excessive, sweating, stimulation of smooth muscles, paralysis, emptying of the bowls and eventually death.
