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Biology: Year 11: Enzymes

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Captain Cook and the Scourge of Scurvy

Scurvy did not emerge as a problem for maritime explorers until vessels started penetrating the Indian and the Pacific Oceans. Vasco da Gama lost two thirds of his crew to the disease while making his way to India in 1499. In 1520 Magellan lost more than 80 per cent while crossing the Pacific...more

The Genetics of Vitamin C Loss in Vertebrates

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) plays important roles as an anti-oxidant and in collagen synthesis. These important roles, and the relatively large amounts of vitamin C required daily, likely explain why most vertebrate species are able to synthesize this compound. Surprisingly, many species, such as teleost fishes, anthropoid primates, guinea pigs, as well as some bat and Passeriformes bird species, have lost the capacity to synthesize it...more.

Pepsin A : Name and History

Pepsin is the principal acid protease of the stomach. It is generally recognized as the first enzyme to be discovered (in the eighteenth century) and was named by T. Schwann in 1825. Pig pepsin was the second enzyme, after urease, to be crystallized... more...