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Reductase

Reductase

Overview
A reductase is an enzyme
Enzyme
Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process are called substrates, and the enzyme converts them into different molecules, called the products. Almost all processes in a biological cell need enzymes to occur at...

 that lowers the activation energy
Activation energy
In chemistry, activation energy is a term introduced in 1889 by the Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius, that is defined as the energy that must be overcome in order for a chemical reaction to occur. Arrhenius' research was a follow up of the theories of reaction rate by Serbian physicist Nebojsa...

 for a reduction reaction
Redox
Redox describes all chemical reactions in which atoms have their oxidation number changed....

.
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Encyclopedia
A reductase is an enzyme
Enzyme
Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process are called substrates, and the enzyme converts them into different molecules, called the products. Almost all processes in a biological cell need enzymes to occur at...

 that lowers the activation energy
Activation energy
In chemistry, activation energy is a term introduced in 1889 by the Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius, that is defined as the energy that must be overcome in order for a chemical reaction to occur. Arrhenius' research was a follow up of the theories of reaction rate by Serbian physicist Nebojsa...

 for a reduction reaction
Redox
Redox describes all chemical reactions in which atoms have their oxidation number changed....

.

Examples

  • 5-alpha reductase
    5-alpha reductase
    5-Alpha reductase is an enzyme involved in steroid metabolism.-Function:It converts testosterone, the male sex hormone, into the more potent dihydrotestosterone:Note the major difference — the Δ4,5 double-bond on the A ring...

  • Dihydrofolate reductase
    Dihydrofolate reductase
    Dihydrofolate reductase, or DHFR, is an enzyme that reduces dihydrofolic acid to tetrahydrofolic acid, using NADPH as electron donor, which can be converted to the kinds of tetrahydrofolate cofactors used in 1-carbon transfer chemistry...

  • HMG-CoA reductase
    HMG-CoA reductase
    HMG-CoA reductase is the rate-controlling enzyme of the mevalonate pathway, the metabolic pathway that produces cholesterol and other isoprenoids. This enzyme is the target of the widely available cholesterol-lowering drugs known collectively as the statins...

  • Methemoglobin reductase
    Methemoglobin reductase
    Methemoglobin reductase is a NADH-dependent enzyme that converts methemoglobin to hemoglobin....

  • Ribonucleotide reductase
    Ribonucleotide reductase
    Ribonucleotide reductase is an enzyme that catalyzes the formation of deoxyribonucleotides from ribonucleotides. Deoxyribonucleotides in turn are used in the synthesis of DNA. The reaction catalyzed by RNR is strictly conserved in all living organisms...

  • Thioredoxin reductase
    Thioredoxin reductase
    Thioredoxin Reductases are the only known enzymes to reduce thioredoxin . Thioredoxin reductase is a homodimer of 316-residue subuints that catalyzes the reduction of thioredoxin using NADPH as a reducing agent...

  • E. coli nitroreductase
    E. coli nitroreductase
    E. coli nitroreductase is a flavoprotein found in the bacteria Escherichia coli. It catalyses the reduction of nitro groups in a wide range of substrates, to produce the corresponding hydroxylamine. Although its role in vivo is unclear, it has been identified as useful in the metabolism of a number...

  • Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase
    Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase
    Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase is an enzyme that exists in the cytoplasm of cells.- Biochemistry :MTHFR irreversibly reduces 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate to 5-methyltetrahydrofolate...