With years of exploration in enzymology, Creative Enzymes has emerged as a worldwide leader in the development of enzyme activity assays. Our staff has been devoting themselves into testing a variety of enzymes and optimizing the methods, in order to give our measurement results with utmost quality and satisfy any need of our customers. Here, we are proud to offer the activity assay for catalase.

Catalase (EC 1.11.1.6) is a ubiquitous enzyme found in almost all aerobic living organisms. This enzyme rapidly catalyzes the disproportionation of toxic hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen, a process that is essential to all aerobically respiring organisms. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) like H₂O₂ and HO₂ (superoxide) are inevitable byproducts of aerobic respiration, necessitating specialized enzymes for their elimination. Catalase is a pivotal enzyme in reproductive reactions, where one catalase molecule can convert millions of molecules of hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen every second. Moreover, the structure of catalase from bovine liver was solved by X-ray crystallograpy in 1937, marking one of the earliest successes in crystallizations of an intracellular enzyme.

Figure: The crystal structures of bovine catalase.
PDB: 3RE8

Typical examples of mammalian catalases are the bovine liver catalase and the human erythrocyte catalase (HEC). HEC is a tetrameric enzyme of four identical subunits, each containing 527 amino acid residues, a heme group, and an NADPH molecule. The crystal structure of HEC is very similar to the catalase from bovine liver. Several other catalases, including the Saccharomyces cerevisiae catalase A and the Escherichia coli catalase HPII, share the same protein fold and a highly conserved core, although the larger E.coli catalase HPII has an additional nucleotide-binding domain.

Being the predominant scavengers of hydrogen peroxide, catalase plays an important role in medical research as well as food and textile industries. For example, it has been reported that a catalase deficiency may increase the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes. Moreover, catalase can be used for removing hydrogen peroxide from milk prior to cheese production in the food industry and also can be used for preventing food from being oxidized in food wrappers. Similarly, catalase can remove hydrogen peroxide from fabrics to ensure the material is peroxide-free in the textile industry. Therefore, catalase should get more and more attention because of its multiple and vital functions. However, probably because of its structural diversity in different species, activity assays of catalase using spectrophotometry have not been well established on an industrial scale. Fortunately, Creative Enzymes is one of the few companies which can provide the catalytic assay for catalase in the global market. We possess the superb technology, the professional knowledge, and the up-to-date equipment, all supporting our customers’ research in an efficient way. Overall, Creative Enzymes offers the most reliable personalized customer service found nowhere else in the industry.