active site


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active site

n.
The part of an enzyme at which catalysis of the substrate occurs.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ac·tive site

(ăk′tĭv)
The part of an enzyme where the substance that the enzyme acts upon (called the substrate) is catalyzed. See more at enzyme.
The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.active site - the part of an enzyme or antibody where the chemical reaction occurs
site, situation - physical position in relation to the surroundings; "the sites are determined by highly specific sequences of nucleotides"
enzyme - any of several complex proteins that are produced by cells and act as catalysts in specific biochemical reactions
antibody - any of a large variety of proteins normally present in the body or produced in response to an antigen which it neutralizes, thus producing an immune response
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in periodicals archive ?
MECHANISM OF ACTION OF NEWER ANTICOAGULANTS: Thrombin-inhibiting drugs can block the action of thrombin by binding to three domains: the active site or catalytic site and two exosites.
* The DNA polymerase binds to the primer/template pair with the enzyme active site placed over the 3'-01-1 of the printer.
Figure 4 shows a typical hydrogen bubble growth period on an active site of photocatalyst.
[Ni.sup.2+] ions and the sulfhydryl group, especially the multiple cysteinyl residues in the active site of the enzyme, are essential for the catalytic activity of all ureases.
University of Birmingham experts found there was a negative effect on the prices of homes within 1.8 miles (3km) of an active site, and within 0.6 miles (1km) of an inactive site.
of Warwick, England) explains that for this edition he has enhanced the interplay of enzyme active site structure with their catalytic mechanisms, added findings and research topics from the recent literature, and redrawn the figures of protein structures with a program--PyMOL--he hopes will improve the resolution.
Just as immunization with a killed virus induces the immune system to create antibodies that then attack live viruses, an MMP immunization would trick the body into creating antibodies that block the enzyme at its active site.
In order to block the action of an enzyme, it's usually necessary to create a molecule that binds to its active site. But a group of researchers at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) have come up with a different strategy--they simply throw out an anchor.
Figure 6 also shows the MWD of the polymer produced by each deconvoluted active site. It can be observed that the MWD deconvolution requires the definition of at least three distinct active sites, which is an indirect confirmation of the existence of many distinct catalyst sites in the reaction environment.
Antiviral drugs can wedge into a cavity within an active site of the N1 enzyme (shown), stopping the enzyme's action and blocking the release of new viral particles.
The team constructed a computational model of the enzyme's active site and used density functional theory calculations to simulate the demethylation reaction.
For example, the invention provides a method for identifying a thermostable polymerase having altered fidelity by mutating at least one amino acid residue in an active site O-helix of a thermostable polymerase.

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