Mechanisms of Enzymes
- The mysterious and extraordinary nature of enzymes has been gradually revealed through a series of
great discoveries in the 20th century
- Kinetics studies enabled the quantification and analysis of binding and reaction rates
- X-ray crystallography and other 3D structural techniques provided the precise arrangement of
residues in space
- Finally, radioactive isotopes helped to reveal the 'final' mystery: the detailed reaction mechanisms
of enzyme catalysis
- A reaction mechanism is a detailed description of the molecular, atomic and electronic events
that occur during a reaction