Biology Help

Question

I was reading an article and came across "Chondroitinase." I didn't know what this was, so I googled it, and apparently, it can mean one of three things: N-acetylgalactosamine-6-sulfatase, Chondroitin ABC lyase, and N-acetylgalactosamine-4-sulfatase. I was wondering why they go by the same name (chondroitinase) and what the differences in function, etc. are.

Answer 1

Without getting into the chemistry and biochemistry too deeply, I'll try to explain why they go by the same name and what the functions are.

 

The suffix "-ase" indicates an enzyme, so chondroitinase is an enzyme that cleaves chondroitin, or more specifically, chondroitin sulfate. Chondroitin and chondroitin sulfate are composed of a chains of alternating sugars of N-acetylgalactosamine and glucuronic acid.  The acetylgalactosamine can have a sulfate group attached at either the 4 or 6 position, and the enzymes will act on this sulfate group to cleave it off.  This explains the names of N-acetylgalactosamine-6-sulfatase and N-acetylgalactosamine-4-sulfatase.  They are both chondroitinase(es).  Chondroitinase is just a more general name for both of these enzymes.  One will cleave the -6 sulfate and the other will cleave the -4 sulfate.

 

The function of the enzyme is to