Induced Enzymes

(adaptive enzymes), enzymes synthesized in response to the appearance of compounds in whose conversions the particular enzymes participate. The production of induced enzymes is a manifestation of the adaptation of cell metabolism to changing environmental conditions. Here the amount of the enzyme already present increases, accelerating the course of a particular reaction, or new enzymes previously absent in the particular tissue are produced. The ability to form new biocatalysts results from mutations and is fixed by natural selection after the prolonged action of an inducing factor.