Until recently, Henry has been very healthy. Alas, Henry recently was prescribed a medicine for a blood clot in his leg, which l
ed to nose bleeds. This would be considered an adverse reaction to the medicine, so the doctor took him off of it. The doctor tested for blood levels of the drug in a week, and the number was high, indicating that he was not breaking down
the drug properly
Henry was discovered to have a defective enzyme, one that is supposed to break down drugs. The problem would lie in the genetic coding for the enzyme. Where one triplet should be
ATT, Henry's is CTT.
1. What organic category does an enzyme fall into?
2. What does the ATT code for and what does CTT for?
3. What can you deduce about further medications that Henry is prescribed?
(1) The defective enzyme, which was suppose to break down drugs, is an oxidoreductase. Since, enzymes that break down drugs or metabolic enzymes perform there functions by oxidizing the drugs.
(2) Both codes are triplet codes for the enzyme; however the normal triplet code ought to be ATT, however there was a point mutation causing the "A" to be "C". These letters represent the bases in the DNA, <u>ATT is adenine-thymine-thymine while CTT is cytosine-thymine-thymine.</u>
(3) Further medications Henry is prescribed could include been taken with a drug/enzyme that will breakdown the actual medication.
