Question

The word -ase added to enzyme name is
A) Suffix
B) Prefix
C) Interpolation
D) Conjugation

Answer 1

Thousands of chemical reactions are occurring in the body of living organisms that are mediated by the enzymes while operating at optimal biological temperatures. Enzymes are defined as the biocatalysts that are used to increase the rate of the reaction.

Complete answer:
Enzymes are defined as the proteinaceous substances that are involved in catalysing chemical reactions that are carried in the living organisms without themselves undergoing any change and thus they are called biocatalysts. Whenever required enzymes are synthesized by the living cells and are used in the required reaction.

In 1961, the International Union of Biochemistry (IUB) proposed the modern system of enzyme classification that grouped enzymes into the following six classes -
i) Oxidoreductases - This class includes the enzymes that are used in oxidation and reduction reactions. Based on the action of enzymes these can be compartalised as oxidases, dehydrogenases, or reductases. Examples of this class of enzymes include - cytochrome oxidase. succinate dehydrogenase, nitrate reductase, etc.
ii) Transferases : they are needed to transfer a group from one molecule to another. An example of such an enzyme includes - glutamate-pyruvate transaminase.
iii) Hydrolases - they are needed to break up large molecules into smaller ones with the help of hydrogen and hydroxyl groups of water molecules. Examples of these include: amylase, sucrase, lactase, etc.
iv) Lyases : these enzymes are known to cause cleavage or removal of groups without hydrolysis. Histidine, decarboxylase and aldolase are examples of these kinds of enzymes.
v) Isomerases : these enzymes are needed to cause rearrangement of molecular structure to effect isomeric changes. Mutases and epimerases are examples of these classes of enzymes.
vi) Ligases : these are required to catalyse bonding of two chemicals with the help of energy obtained from ATP. Pyruvate carboxylase is an example of such an enzyme. As in every class of enzyme -ase is used in the last so it is used as a suffix.

Hence the correct answer is option ‘A’ i.e, Suffix.

Note: In the ancestral times of classification of enzymes, there were only two classes of enzymes - hydrolysing and desmolysing. Due to a variety of reactions taking place in the body of living organisms, the function of the enzyme was not clear from those two groups.