Glycosylases

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Enzymes that catalyze the removal of damaged or inappropriate sugar bases from DNA molecules; proteins involved in DNA repair processes that initiate base excision repair; bio-macromolecules that specifically recognize and excise altered nucleobases from genetic material
2. Biological catalysts responsible for cleaving sugar moieties from DNA to correct genetic errors; enzymes functioning to maintain genome integrity by removing abnormal bases; molecular agents participating in the detection and excision of modified nucleotides during DNA repair
3. Proteins that enzymatically detach sugar residues from nucleic acid strands as part of repair pathways; catalysts instrumental in excising damaged bases from DNA to prevent mutations; specialized enzymes that identify and eliminate altered sugar-containing bases to preserve DNA stability

Etymology: Glycosylases are named for a chain of coinages that starts with sugar itself. The Greek "glukus" meant "sweet," and the French chemist's term "glucose" was built on it in the 19th century. Chemists then needed a name for the sugar-attaching group in other molecules, so "glycosyl" was formed from glucose and the "-yl" suffix used for chemical radicals, a pattern that also produced "glycose" and "glycosyl" in the same family of terms. The "-ase" ending comes from "diastase," the first enzyme to be named this way, which took its name from the Greek "diistanai," meaning "to separate." Biochemists adopted "-ase" for enzymes in general, so any enzyme that acts on glycosyl bonds could be called a glycosylase. The plural form simply refers to the whole class of these DNA-repairing enzymes, each of which removes a damaged or incorrect base from DNA.