University of Copenhagen researchers developed an artificial enzyme capable of breaking down a poison found in fruits and vegetables. The poorly named synthetic chemzyme can destroy the food-borne toxin, glycoside esculin.
Ideally, you’d want to be able to manufacture man-made enzymes because they can handle heat and deal with exposure to solvents.
The synthetic enzymes is a simplified version of the natural enzyme — which makes it easier to manipulate for industrial applications.
Unfortunately, man-made ones have not performed as well as the natural ones, which can decompose compounds at a rate of a million reactions a second.
However, the natural enzymes take a long time to grow and are dainty.
So if chemzymes get up to speed with the natural enzymes, then drug companies will come a knocking.
