Format of Number
Every enzyme code consists of the letters "EC" followed by four numbers separated by periods. Those numbers represent a progressively finer classification of the enzyme.
For example, the tripeptide aminopeptidases have the code "EC 3.4.11.4", whose components indicate the following groups of enzymes:
- EC 3 enzymes are hydrolases (enzymes that use water to break up some other molecule)
- EC 3.4 are hydrolases that act on peptide bonds
- EC 3.4.11 are those hydrolases that cleave off the amino-terminal amino acid from a polypeptide
- EC 3.4.11.4 are those that cleave off the amino-terminal end from a tripeptide
Read more about this topic: Enzyme Commission Number
Famous quotes containing the word number:
“Cole’s Hill was the scene of the secret night burials of those who died during the first year of the settlement. Corn was planted over their graves so that the Indians should not know how many of their number had perished.”
—For the State of Massachusetts, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)