Enzyme Helpers: Metals and Vitamins

Enzyme helpers include cofactors and coenzymes. Enzymes are proteins made of amino acids, and the functional groups on those amino acids can drive many chemical reactions through ionic interactions or acid-base reactions. But amino acids alone cannot handle oxidation-reduction and group transfer reactions, so they need non-p...

Some enzymes associate with non-protein molecules or cofactors to enhance their catalytic activity.

The chemically active enzyme-cofactor complex is called a holoenzyme and the enzyme alone is called an apoenzyme.

Cofactors can be present as inorganic metal ions such as the zinc ion in carbonic anhydrase or as organic molecules cal...