Do you know what are Catalases?

Hi there,

Do you know what are Catalases? Where are they found? What does they do?

I will talk a little bit about them.

When we sequenced the Pterygoplichthys transcriptome, we found a lot of genes which were classified into many different families. After a primary separation, we obtained a big group of defensome genes, and among these, we have found one coding for a catalase enzyme.

Ok, but what is the importance them?

Catalase is an enzyme found in most aerobic organisms. In eukaryotic cells, it is located in the peroxisomes and it has the role of protecting the cell against the toxic effects of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), a product from cellular metabolism. Catalase is an important enzyme for the prevention of oxidative damage, which is related to several diseases and ageing.

As any enzyme, catalase accelerate a chemical reaction; in this case, the conversion of a molecule of hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen. It is important because converts the reactive oxygen species of H2O2 that causes oxidative stress in cells, compromising the health of the cell. So, it must be done quickly.

Simple reaction

Its structure is well know. Its active form is being compound for four polypeptide chains in a quaternary structure, so it's a tetrameric enzyme, with four heme groups. Interestingly, we found just a single transcript coding for catalase, specially because the active form of the enzyme is a tetramer. This is probably due to the very essencial and conserved function of this enzyme in aerobic organisms. You can see a diversity of crystallographic structures that are known in Protein Data Bank.

I hope you enjoyed.
See you later.