Epimerase and racemase
Epimerases and racemases are isomerase enzymes that catalyze the inversion of stereochemistry in biological molecules.[1] Racemases catalyze the stereochemical inversion around the asymmetric carbon atom in a substrate having only one center of asymmetry. Epimerases catalyze the stereochemical inversion of the configuration about an asymmetric carbon atom in a substrate having more than one center of asymmetry, thus interconverting epimers.
Human epimerases include methylmalonyl-CoA epimerase, involved in the metabolic breakdown of the amino acids alanine, isoleucine, methionine and valine[2], and UDP-glucose 4-epimerase, which is used in the final step of galactose metabolism - catalyzing the reversible conversion of UDP-galactose to UDP-glucose.
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.britannica.com/science/isomerase
External links
- http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/racemase
- http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/epimerase
- Entry Term Epimerases at the US National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
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