Question

When glucose is converted into ethyl alcohol, the enzyme involved is:
(A) Zymase
(B) Invertase
(C) Maltase
(D) Diastase

Answer 1

Hint: We already know that the process of converting glucose to ethanol is called fermentation. This involves conversion with the help of a particular enzyme obtained from yeast.

Complete step by step answer:
The enzyme Zymase found in yeast and other anaerobic organisms convert glucose to ethanol. This enzyme is also used for preparation of alcoholic beverages in a large scale. The chemical reaction of the same is provided below:
${C_6}{H_{12}}{O_6} + Zymase \to 2{C_2}{H_5}OH + 2C{O_2}$
We can see that 1 mole of glucose is converted to 2 moles of ethanol and 2 moles of carbon dioxide is also produced in the process.
Now that we have our answer, let us look into the other enzymes provided as options:

• Invertase: It helps in hydrolysis of sucrose. This means it enables glucose to break down to simpler components such as fructose and glucose. This is used in the candy industry to prevent crystallization.
• Maltase: It helps is hydrolysis of disaccharide sugar such as maltose to simpler sugar like glucose. It is essential for digestion of starch.
• Diastase: It is a complex enzyme which breaks starch to maltose and then further to dextrose. It is a perfect catalyst since it speeds up digestion without itself taking part.
  Hence, the correct answer is Option (A) Zymase.

Additional information:
Alcoholic fermentation is the basis for the manufacturing of alcoholic beverages such as wine and beer.

Note: For alcoholic fermentation, sugar must first be converted into molasses with the help of enzyme Invertase which is then converted to ethanol with Zymase.