History of enzyme

Enzymes are catalysts. They speed up the rates of reactions without themselves undergoing any permanent change. Early discovery of enzyme is primarily associated with the knowledge of alcoholic fermentation.

The earliest known references to enzymes are from ancient texts dealing with the manufacture of cheese, breads and alcoholics beverages and for the tenderizing meats.

The oldest known references to the commercial use of enzymes come from a description of wine making in the Codex of Hammurabi (2100 BC).

It was not until the 19th century AD, however, that scientists addressed the question of whether the entity responsible for processes such as fermentation was a living species or a chemical substance.

But in 1857 Louis Pasteur demonstrated that alcoholic fermentation was brought by the action of living yeast. This concept was later disputed by J. Liebig who proposed that fermentation could take place even in the absence of living cells.

The properties and reactions of enzyme catalysis were first recognized by G.S.S Kirchhoff in 1811.

The word catalyst was coined in 1836 by the great Swedish chemist Jons Jacob Berzelius. The term ‘enzyme’ is derived from the Greek which literally means ‘in yeast’ was coined by Freidrich Wilhelm Kuhne in 1876. At that time it was used to distinguish between ‘organized ferment’ and ‘unorganized ferments’.

The history of modern enzyme technology really began in 1874 when the Danish chemist Christian Hansen produced the first specimen of rennet by extracting dried claves’ stomach with saline solution.

In 1897 Eduard Buchner published the observation that cell-free extracts of yeast containing no living cells were able to carry out the fermentation of sugar to alcohol and carbon dioxide.

In 1926, Sumner crystallized urease from jack bean meal and announced it to be a simple protein. In 1930 there were approximately 80 known enzymes.

In 1960 there were over 1300 known enzymes and the number is continually expanding as modern research discovers more enzymes.
History of enzyme