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The enzyme unit, or international unit for enzyme (symbol U, sometimes also IU) is a unit of enzyme's catalytic activity. [1]1 U (μmol/min) is defined as the amount of the enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of one micro mole of substrate per minute under the specified conditions of the assay method.
The SI unit is katal/kg, but a more practical unit is μmol/(mg*min). Specific activity is a measure of enzyme processivity (the capability of enzyme to be processed), at a specific (usually saturating) substrate concentration, and is usually constant for a pure enzyme.
The katal (symbol: kat) is that catalytic activity that will raise the rate of conversion by one mole per second in a specified assay system. [1] It is a unit of the International System of Units (SI) [1] used for quantifying the catalytic activity of enzymes (that is, measuring the enzymatic activity level in enzyme catalysis) and other catalysts.
In pharmacology, the international unit (IU) is a unit of measurement for the effect or biological activity of a substance, for the purpose of easier comparison across similar forms of substances. International units are used to quantify vitamins and biologics ( hormones , some medications , vaccines , blood products and similar biologically ...
The conversion between different SI units for one and the same physical quantity is always through a power of ten. This is why the SI (and metric systems more generally) are called decimal systems of measurement units. [10] The grouping formed by a prefix symbol attached to a unit symbol (e.g. ' km ', ' cm ') constitutes a new inseparable unit ...
Conversions between units in the metric system are defined by their prefixes (for example, 1 kilogram = 1000 grams, 1 milligram = 0.001 grams) and are thus not listed in this article. Exceptions are made if the unit is commonly known by another name (for example, 1 micron = 10 −6 metre).
As with many assays for enzyme activity, it is possible to estimate nitrogenase activity by measuring the rate of conversion of the substrate (N 2) to the product (NH 3). Since NH 3 is involved in other reactions in the cell, it is often desirable to label the substrate with 15 N to provide accounting or "mass balance" of the added substrate.
A cellulase unit (CU) is a unit of measurement for the enzyme cellulase. One cellulase unit is that activity that will produce a relative fluidity change of one in 5 minutes in a defined carboxymethylcellulose substrate under the conditions of an assay (50 deg Celsius, pH 4.5). [ 1 ]