Artificial Enzyme Successfully Used to Neutralize a Natural Plant Poison
The successful use of an engineered chemzyme is a world first For the first time, a human-designed chemical enzyme -- a chemzyme -- has been used to break down a toxin found inside fruits and vegetables. Chemzymes are designed to emulate the body's naturally occuring enzymes, but are much simpler and tougher. A chemzyme designed by a Danish scientist successfully neutralized glycoside esculin, a toxic compound found in horse chestnuts. The toxin can cause nasty problems like muscle twitching, lack of coordination, vomiting, diarrhea, depression and paralysis. Dr. Jeannette Bjerre: University of CopenhagenEnzymes are made from strings of amino acids and are responsible for chemical reactions inside the body. They can quickly break down food and toxins, and can be used in other applications to spur chemical reactions. But they are very complex and fragile, and therefore hard to duplicate. Chemzymes are stripped-down versions of natural enzymes, containing the minimum ingredients for them...