Decarboxylases

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Enzymes that catalyze the removal of a carboxyl group from an organic compound, releasing carbon dioxide in the process
2. Biological catalysts which strip the carboxyl group from molecules such as amino acids, giving off carbon dioxide as a byproduct
3. Proteins that speed up the chemical loss of a carboxyl group from a substance, a reaction that frees carbon dioxide

Etymology: "Decarboxylases" is the plural of "decarboxylase", a noun for an enzyme that removes a carboxyl group from a molecule, releasing carbon dioxide. The word is a technical coinage built from three pieces: the prefix "de-", meaning removal or reversal; "carboxyl", the name of the chemical group (a carbon atom bearing a double-bonded oxygen and a hydroxyl group) that gives organic acids their sour character; and the suffix "-ase", which chemists attach to the names of enzymes, following the pattern of older enzyme names such as "diastase". The plural simply counts several such enzymes, since living cells contain many different decarboxylases, each acting on a different substrate. The "-ase" ending is the reason biochemistry is full of words that look like they belong to the same family, and "carboxyl" itself is a much younger coinage than the classical roots it resembles, built from "carbon" and "oxygen" in the nineteenth century.