Abstract
As a result of the advances in the X-ray diffraction analysis of enzymes, it has recently become possible for the first time to describe in a concrete form and quite unambiguously the effective factors in biocatalysis. These factors have been demonstrated by means of biochemical, physicochemical, and physical research techniques. Lysozyme is the first enzyme for which such research has been carried out on an adequate scale. This review deals in fact with such investigations. The ultimate result was not only the solution of the problem of the specific mechanism of the action of this enzyme but also the broad outlines of the mechanisms of biocatalysis were finally established in principle. Instead of the old more or less probable hypotheses, these studies led to quite definite ideas about the mechanism of biocatalysis.
The bibliography includes 98 references.