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When enzymes cause a reaction, an effect arises similar to the difference between rolling a ball uphill and downhill. Enzymes are able to accelerate biochemical reactions by up to 1,000 times.93 93The human body contains more than 3,500 kinds of enzymes. In the event of the absence of even a few of them, the cell's internal activities would become completely confused. The result would impair the order existing within the cell, and the end of life.
One of the most important jobs of DNA enzymes is to assist with the replication of the DNA molecule. The only difference between the molecule of an enzyme and other proteins is the former's three-dimensional shape. If enzymes did not possess this three-dimensional shape setting out their own characteristics, then processes inside the cell, information sent from the brain to various organs and internal regulation of the cell would not exist. A great many processes needed to keep the cell alive could not take place. Even the absence of the enzyme that corrects errors during DNA replication could lead to the genes losing their functionality, or to flawed production leading in turn to the development of cancer.
References
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enzyme ↩