Definition of "zymase" []

• The enzyme complex in yeasts that catalyzes the breakdown of sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Harden had shown in 1906 that fermentation requires a dialysable substance, called co-zymase, which is not destroyed by heat."
• "Buchner assumed in the yeast juice the presence of a uniform ferment or enzyme, known as "zymase"."
• "Harden and Young also demonstrated that the process stops before all sugar (glucose) has been used up, but it starts again on addition of inorganic phosphate, and they suggested that hexose phosphates are formed in the early steps of fermentation. von Euler had done important work on the structure of co-zymase, shown to be nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD, earlier called DPN)."