fats for the manufactiire of soap, glycerine, etc., the utilization of 

 oils from salmon cannery waste for these purposes ultimately will en- 

 counter strong competition from other fats. Economically successful 

 utilization of salmon cannery waste for production of these less valuable 

 oils will then depend upon how efficiently they can be produced in Alaska, 



Enzymes 



Chemical nature 



Enzymes are organic cataljrsts produced by living organisms. The 

 many chemical transformations that constantly take place in living tissues 

 are largely the result of reactions guided and speeded by enzymes. A 

 catalyst is defined as a substance capable of altering the speed of a 

 chemical reaction vrLthout itself undergoing any permanent change. Gener- 

 ally it is believed the enzyme catalyzes or changes the speed of a reaction 

 by momentarily attaching itself to the molecule undergoing the change, 

 thereby increasing its instability and thus hastening the reaction rate. 

 Thus an extremely small amount of oizyme may effect a comparatively tre- 

 mendous amount of work by virtue of its rapid and repeated action. 



Enzymes are usually named by using the suffix "ase" with the name 

 of the substances being acted upon. Thus the enzyme catalyzing the break- 

 down of peroxides to oxygen and other products is termed peroxidase, 

 HoYrever, specific names were given to enzymes in early investigations and, 

 as a matter of convenience, are still used. In the following discussion 

 the enzymes will be limited to and defined as proteolytic or protein 

 splitting, lipolytic or fat splitting, and amy lytic or starch splitting. 

 Thus a proteolytic or protein splitting enzyme breaks down a protein to 

 sub-products such as proteoses, peptones and sometimes completely to the 

 basic constituents, i, e,, amino acids, A lipolytic or fat splitting enzyme 

 such as lipase, acts on fats to yield fatty acids and glycerine while 

 an amylytic enzjone such as amylase splits starch to maltose, its basic 

 sugar unit. 



Uses 



Enzjrmes find vada use in medicine and industry. Human digestive 

 processes function almost entirely through enzymatic action. Thus dis- 

 turbances in these processes respond veiy favorably to proteolytic enzyme 

 medication. Various other enzymes have been found useful in treating high 

 blood pressure, allergies, skin disorders, asthma, sloughing wounds, etc. 

 In recent years, industrial application of enzymes has expanded greatly. 

 The leather industry has long used enzymatic "bates" for removing hide 

 glands, certain tissue fat and proteins, and reticular tissue before 

 pickling and tanning, thus producing a much smoother, finer grained leather. 

 Other industrial uses include the clarification of lYuit juices and jellies, 

 the chill proofing of beer, the tenderizing of meat, and the preparation of 

 protein hydrolysates by enzymatic degradation of selected proteins. En- 

 zymes are also used in de-sizing textiles, de-gumming silk, paper making. 



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