Enzymes, the proteins with specific biochemical roles

Enzymes are, in nature, proteins that perform some specific biochemical reactions. The enzyme's job is to provide a site for a biochemical reaction and lower the time and energy it takes for that biochemical reaction to take place. Hundreds of chemical reactions occur in cells every second, most requiring enzymes.

Enzymes have specific sites where only particular substrates can fit into their active sites. Nearly all biochemical reactions require a specific enzyme. All bodily functions, including the breakdown and absorption of food in the stomach and small intestine, the transformation of nutrients into substances a cell can use, and the building of all macromolecules and proteins, require enzymes.