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Sequence → shape → function

One 116-residue chain. Fold it, and three residues that are far apart in the sequence land in the same small cleft. That cleft is the whole point.

Overview · What is an enzyme?

An enzyme is a protein your body makes to speed up a chemical reaction that would otherwise happen far too slowly to keep you alive. Digesting food, copying DNA, healing a cut — almost everything a cell does relies on enzymes working quietly in the background.

Its whole job depends on shape, not just its ingredients. Folding pulls a handful of exact residues together into one small pocket — the active site — shaped to fit only certain molecules, the way a lock fits only certain keys.

Heat or the wrong chemistry can unfold that shape (denaturing it). The sequence is still intact, but with no pocket there is no function — which is exactly what this model lets you see and try for yourself, below.

Guided tour

7 stops

1 · Folding

chain ⇄ native fold0%

2 · Molecule

Substrate: complementary shape, with a cleavable bond in the middle.

Start with the sequence

Catalytic turnovers0

3 · View

Active-site volume Catalytic side chains

α1 α2 α3 β1 β2 β3 β4 loop catalytic

Primary sequence · hover to locate in 3D

For health education only. Not a medical diagnosis.