Conclusion

At the end of this article, the general foundations of experimental enzymology have been covered. Enzymes of interest in the functioning of living organisms can then be studied in vitro.

Enzymes are mainly studied in the pharmaceutical field. Inhibiting the catalysts of infectious pathogens or those of disease-causing, abnormally-functioning organisms is one of the mainstays of drug therapy. Activation of these catalysts is also possible, but much less common in therapy.

To characterize enzyme inhibition and activation, the main experimental technique is kinetic monitoring of the transformation of substrates into products. These data can be supplemented by experiments monitoring binding between an enzyme and its effector (inhibitor or activator).