[geeks] RE: [rescue] OT: ADD - MOVING to geeks

[Joshua D Boyd]

On Mon, Jul 08, 2002 at 11:45:51PM -0500, Jennifer Sharp wrote:
> I think he said that roses have a naturally acidic Ph and the blue
> enzyme he was going to extract from a cornflower, which I think he
> said was distantly related to the rose. But the cornflower has a very
> basic Ph. And the blue enzyme could not exsist in such a acidic plant.
> Or something like that. I could be completely wrong. I only got to
> talk to the man for a minute when everyone came along and insisted
> that he was boring me to death. Which he wasn't.

Well, there are few basic rules about enzymes (and protiens in
general). 

1) You change their shape, and you change their function (most
   of the time this means they just stop working).  
2) You change whether they are in water, some other liquid, or dry,
   and they change shape.  Now see rule 1.
3) You change the pH of the surrounding solution, and they change
   shape.  See rule 1.
4) You change the temperature, and they change shape.  See rule 1.

Now, in this case, we are talking about rules 3 and 1.  I'm not sure
what happens when the blue pigment enzyme changes shape.  I think it
is one of two things.  It either changes color, or it stops being able
to circulate through the plant.  I don't really know which is which.

-- 
Joshua D. Boyd