Function
It catalyzes the transfer of an amino group from alanine to α-ketoglutarate, the products of this reversible transamination reaction being pyruvate and glutamate.
- glutamate + pyruvate ⇌ α-ketoglutarate + alanine
ALT (and all transaminases) require the coenzyme pyridoxal-phosphate, which is converted into pyridoxamine in the first phase of the reaction, when an amino acid is converted into a keto acid.
Read more about this topic: Alanine Transaminase
Famous quotes containing the word function:
“Literature does not exist in a vacuum. Writers as such have a definite social function exactly proportional to their ability as writers. This is their main use.”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)
“Morality and its victim, the mother—what a terrible picture! Is there indeed anything more terrible, more criminal, than our glorified sacred function of motherhood?”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)
“Any translation which intends to perform a transmitting function cannot transmit anything but information—hence, something inessential. This is the hallmark of bad translations.”
—Walter Benjamin (1892–1940)