Main content

Enzymes

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss enzymes, the proteins that control the speed of chemical reactions in organisms which would otherwise happen too slowly to keep the organisms alive.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss enzymes, the proteins that control the speed of chemical reactions in living organisms. Without enzymes, these reactions would take place too slowly to keep organisms alive: with their actions as catalysts, changes which might otherwise take millions of years can happen hundreds of times a second. Some enzymes break down large molecules into smaller ones, like the ones in human intestines, while others use small molecules to build up larger, complex ones, such as those that make DNA. Enzymes also help keep cell growth under control, by regulating the time for cells to live and their time to die, and provide a way for cells to communicate with each other.

With

Nigel Richards
Professor of Biological Chemistry at Cardiff University

Sarah Barry
Lecturer in Chemical Biology at King's College London

And

Jim Naismith
Director of the Research Complex at Harwell
Bishop Wardlaw Professor of Chemical Biology at the University of St Andrews
Professor of Structural Biology at the University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Available now

49 minutes

Last on

Thu 1 Jun 2017 21:30

LINKS AND FURTHER READING

Μύ

READING LIST:

Jeremy M. Berg, John L. Tymoczko and Lubert Stryer, Biochemistry (W. H. Freeman, 2002)

T. D. H. Bugg, An Introduction to Enzyme and Coenzyme Chemistry (Wiley-Blackwell, 2004)

Jonathan Clark, Understanding the Structure and Function of Enzymes (ebook)

David Dressler and Huntington Potter, Discovering Enzymes (Scientific American Library, 1991)

Brian B. Jacques, Amino Acids & Enzymes: What Are They, Why Do You Need Them (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014)

Steven Rose, The Chemistry of Life (Penguin, 1999)

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Melvyn Bragg
Interviewed Guest Jim Naismith
Interviewed Guest Sarah Barry
Interviewed Guest Nigel Richards
Producer Simon Tillotson

Broadcasts

  • Thu 1 Jun 2017 09:00
  • Thu 1 Jun 2017 21:30

Featured in...

In Our Time podcasts

Download programmes from the huge In Our Time archive.

The In Our Time Listeners' Top 10

If you’re new to In Our Time, this is a good place to start.

Arts and Ideas podcast

Download the best of Radio 3's Free Thinking programme.

Podcast