(biochemistry) The amount of an enzyme that will catalyze the transformation of 10-6 mole of substrate per minute or, when more than one bond of each substrate is attacked, 10-6 of 1 gram equivalent of the group concerned, under specified conditions of temperature, substrate concentration, and pH number.
Enzyme unit
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(′en′zīm ′yü·nət)
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International Union of Biochemistry unit
biochemistry The amount of an enzyme that catalyses the transformation of 1 micromole of substrate per minute (under defined conditions of pH, concentration, and temperature) interpreted as one microequivalent for catalysis involving multiple bonds. If the enzyme is identically the substrate compound, the appropriate amount is two micromoles. 14.28 enzyme units = 1 Sumner unit.
| Wikipedia: Enzyme unit |
The enzyme unit (U) is a unit for the amount of a particular enzyme.[1]
One U is defined as that amount of the enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of 1 micro mole of substrate per minute. The conditions also have to be specified: one usually takes a temperature of 30°C and the pH value and substrate concentration that yield the maximal substrate conversion rate.
The enzyme unit was adopted by the International Union of Biochemistry in 1964. Since the minute is not an SI unit, the enzyme unit is discouraged in favour of the katal, the unit recommended by the General Conference on Weights and Measures in 1978 and officially adopted in 1999. One katal is the amount of enzyme that converts 1 mole of substrate per second, so
- 1 U = 1/60 micro katal = 16.67 nano katal.
The enzyme unit should not be confused with the International Unit (IU), an unrelated measure of biologically active substances.
See also
References
- ^ Nomenclature Committee of the International Union of Biochemistry (NC-IUB) (1979). "Units of Enzyme Activity". Eur. J. Biochem. 97: 319–20. doi:. http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1432-1033.1979.tb13116.x.
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