Term: zymogen
Literally meaning: “producing ferment”
Origin: Anc Greek
ζύμη/zyme(= leaven, ferment)
+γεννώ/geno (=to birth, produce)
Coined/History
In 1875, by German physiologist Rudolf Peter Heinrich Heidenhain (1834-1897) who wrote:
“a pancreas taken afresh from the body.. contains but little ready-made ferment, though there is present in it a body which, by some kind of decomposition, gives birth to the ferment...”
Definition
A zymogen (or proenzyme) is an inactivate form of an enzyme (enzyme precursor).
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