Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Catalase

Catalase is protein that turns H2O2 into water and oxygen molecules. It is present in almost all organisms and bacteria that could survive in oxygen but it is usually missing in species that don't tolerate oxygen like bacteria that live deeper underground or in the bottom of stagnant water.
In university biology class we each had to identify some bacteria by how they reacted to different substances. If bacteria tolerated oxygen then they started to bubble and foam after adding drop of hydrogen peroxide on them but lack of bubbles meant that those species couldn't survive well in oxygen. Same bubbling happens in larger organisms like in mushrooms, plants and animals. If wound is getting cleaned by H2O2 then it starts to bubble (not if it goes on undamaged skin). Likewise broken plant leaves would foam with H2O2 but not if it was added on unbroken leaves. Because body reacts this way to H2O2 it will also form bubbles deeper in body and also clog some small blood vessels near wound with small oxygen bubbles.

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