At 17:59 03/09/97 GMT, you wrote:
>I had posted about use of the term isozyme. Since I have gotten a few
>questions about how "subtle" the structural differences are between forms, let
>me just give some specifics. I had hesitated on this to avoid possibly
>"blowing my cover" as a reviewer. The enzymes are the superoxide
>dismutases (SODs). Two of them have active sites which contain copper and
>zinc, the other has an active site with manganese. The MWs are quite
>different for all 3, and antibodies to one generally don't react with the
>other two. Cells contain one of the Cu-Zn enzymes (mostly in the cytosol),
>and the one Mn enzyme (in the mitochondria). The other SOD is secreted to the
>outside of cells and is called extracellular SOD. Thus, these are three
>structurally distinct enzymes which have a similar enzyme activity.
>>As I mentioned before (to your personal e-mail), if the three enzymes have
the same catalystic activities, they are isoenzymes [iso(functional)enzymes].
Regards,
Ivano de Filippis
Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz - FIOCRUZ
Instituto Nacional de Controle de Qualidade em Saude - INCQS
Depto. de Microbiologia
Lab. de Materiais de Referencia
Av. Brasil, 4365 - Manguinhos
Rio de Janeiro - 21045-900 - BRASIL
Tel.: 55-21-598-4290/4291/4292/4293
FAX: 55-21-290-0915
E-mail: ivano at alpha.incqs.fiocruz.br
