ABSTRACT
Enzymes are complex biological macromolecules that play a vital role in the speeding up of several biological reactions. Without enzymes, the essential biological reactions will take some billion years, and the existence of life will be questioned. The knowledge about different enzymes is therefore very much required. Enzymes fall under different classifications viz., oxidoreductases, hydrolases, transferases, lyases, ligases, etc. These enzymes trigger the catalytic conversion of substrate molecules into the products. They tend to exhibit high specificity, for example, glucose oxidase is highly specific toward β-D glucose and non-specific toward other monosaccharides, pyranose oxidase for catalyzing oxidation of molecules with pyranose ring structure, alcohol oxidase for alcohols, choline oxidase for choline, etc. This kind of specific action finds significance in clinical analysis and biosensing devices that operate by measuring a particular substrate molecule in biological samples (blood or urine). This chapter highlights the different classification of enzymes, structure, and function of the enzymes, mechanism of action, and their utility in the electrochemical biosensing studies.
