Ulusu Nuriye Nuray
Koç University, School of Medicine, Sariyer-Istanbul, Turkey.
J Med Biochem. 2015 Jul;34(3):271-281. doi: 10.2478/jomb-2014-0045. Epub 2015 Jul 14.
Life as we know it heavily relies on biological catalysis, in fact, in a very nonromantic version of it, life could be considered as a series of chemical reactions, regulated by the guarding principles of thermodynamics. In ancient times, a beating heart was a good sign of vitality, however, to me, it is actually the presence of active enzymes that counts… Though we do not usually pay attention, the history of enzymology is as old as humanity itself, and dates back to the ancient times. This paper is dedicated to these early moments of this remarkable science that touched our lives in the past and will make life a lot more efficient for humanity in the future. There was almost always a delicate, fundamentally essential relationship between mankind and the enzymes. Challenged by a very alien and hostile Nature full of predators, prehistoric men soon discovered the medicinal properties of the plants, through trial and error. In fact, they accidently discovered the enzyme inhibitors and thus, in crude terms, kindled a sparkling area of research. These plant-derivatives that acted as enzyme inhibitors helped prehistoric men in their pursuit of survival and protection from predators; in hunting and fishing… Later in history, while the underlying purposes of survival and increasing the quality of life stayed intact, the ways and means of enzymology experienced a massive transformation, as the 'trial and error' methodology of the ancients is now replaced with rational scientific theories.
我们所知的生命严重依赖生物催化作用。事实上，从一个不太浪漫的角度来看，生命可以被视为一系列受热力学基本原理调控的化学反应。在古代，心脏跳动是活力的良好迹象，但对我来说，真正重要的是活性酶的存在……尽管我们通常不会留意，但酶学的历史与人类本身一样古老，可以追溯到古代。本文致力于讲述这一非凡科学的早期历程，它在过去影响了我们的生活，并将在未来让人类的生活更加高效。人类与酶之间几乎总是存在着一种微妙且至关重要的关系。面对充满捕食者的陌生且充满敌意的自然环境，史前人类通过反复试验，很快发现了植物的药用特性。事实上，他们偶然发现了酶抑制剂，从而粗略地开启了一个充满活力的研究领域。这些作为酶抑制剂的植物衍生物帮助史前人类生存并抵御捕食者，用于狩猎和捕鱼……在历史的后期，虽然生存以及提高生活质量的根本目的依然不变，但酶学的方式和方法经历了巨大的变革，因为古人的“反复试验”方法如今已被合理的科学理论所取代。
