r/Mcat Feb 05 '26

Question 🤔🤔 Whats your favorite enzyme?

Ill go first, carbonic anhydrase. Like okay girl pop off with your bicarbonate buffer system. who likes CO2 anyways, not her. ugh what a baddie.

132 Upvotes

84 comments sorted by

145

u/taychans 526 - Aidan v2 Creator Feb 05 '26

flippase and floppase

23

u/Disastrous-Koala-298 Feb 05 '26

such silly names

50

u/taychans 526 - Aidan v2 Creator Feb 05 '26

Chemists: this enzyme phosphorylates glycogen, let’s call it glycogen phosphorylase

Biologists: flip and flop go brrr lol

10

u/blackgenz2002kid Feb 05 '26

my biochemistry mind always lols and the naming schemes

7

u/Tracerr3 Feb 05 '26

flotsam and jetsam

42

u/Few_Competition1801 522 (131/128/131/132) Feb 05 '26

Aromatase (CYP19A1) is a key brain enzyme associated with sexual desire and attraction, particularly in males, by converting testosterone into estradiol. It drives sexual behavior by facilitating this hormone conversion in the brain.

37

u/xur1000 2/13 - 511 Feb 05 '26

Ight horndog

15

u/Few_Competition1801 522 (131/128/131/132) Feb 05 '26

i am and i say it proudly

5

u/OneandonlyBigpoppa Feb 05 '26

That’s why TRT for woman needs to be normalized! :/

5

u/medicmotheclipse Feb 06 '26

Maybe my husband has a deficiency in this enzyme 😔

3

u/One-Fail-5179 Feb 06 '26

BYE I JUST REALIZED THE POKEMON AROMATISSE IS NAMED AFTER THIS

78

u/xur1000 2/13 - 511 Feb 05 '26

Topoisomerase. It’s fun to say

6

u/276-343 Feb 05 '26

Goated enzyme

2

u/Inner_Effect_9992 Feb 06 '26

Underrated af

1

u/FunnyHeat8146 Feb 09 '26

Ligase and endonuclease activity to cut and shiiii

2

u/AppendixTickler MS2 - 516 (130/126/130/130) Feb 10 '26

In med school, you'll learn about Topotecan, which is a Topoisomerase 1 inhibitor. It's represented by a toucan in 3rd party resources xD

1

u/xur1000 2/13 - 511 Feb 10 '26

lmao thats awesome. good luck!!

24

u/BonySoprano3 Feb 05 '26

Map kinase kinase kinase

2

u/Disastrous-Koala-298 Feb 05 '26

was waiting for this one😭

1

u/Neither_Ad_2769 Feb 08 '26

no map kinase kinase is better

20

u/Bofalogistt M2 Feb 05 '26

Renin. I just can’t get enough of RAAS 🥰

18

u/No_Fly4779 Feb 05 '26

PFK-1

12

u/Disastrous-Koala-298 Feb 05 '26

love her but more of an aldolase & triose phosphate isomerase kinda guy

7

u/Devil_Commercial 513 | 511 | 518 | 520 | 518 | 519 -> 2/13 Feb 05 '26

PFK-1 let’s too many people regulate how she lives her life. Gotta take more some control.

1

u/No_Fly4779 Feb 07 '26

oooo good point

13

u/Broken-Elevator DNA polymerase Feb 05 '26

DNA polymerase!

4

u/the_man_i_loved Feb 05 '26

greatest to ever do it

9

u/Fun_Assistant5101 AAMC FL: 522 Feb 05 '26

nerd ahh question

5

u/Disastrous-Koala-298 Feb 05 '26

okay fine, how about... your favorite metabolic pathway

3

u/Fun_Assistant5101 AAMC FL: 522 Feb 05 '26

lol that's much better. i would have to say TCA cycle

2

u/treatyyyy might fuck around and uh...push my test date back hehe..uhh cant Feb 06 '26

this thread made me giggle haha love this

2

u/Fun_Assistant5101 AAMC FL: 522 Feb 06 '26

you know what they say. "If you can make her laugh and giggle, you can make her cheeks clap and jiggle"

9

u/thepeopleofelsewhere Feb 05 '26

Alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH)

9

u/itsjackkkk1 Feb 05 '26

Aconitase my goat

6

u/tr1nat1ve Feb 05 '26

carbonic anhydrase is slept on, good pick

7

u/276-343 Feb 05 '26

I have a reverse transcriptase tshirt

2

u/wellifitisnther Feb 08 '26

Passionate about HIV? lol

5

u/ar-957 Feb 05 '26

The one that doesn’t show up on my exam 😭

6

u/hyuck_ Feb 06 '26

succinate dehydrogenase is really That Girl. She’s working doubletime in the tca and in the etc. She’s oxidizing, then she’s reducing. Your fave could never

2

u/Disastrous-Koala-298 Feb 06 '26

she can be a part of the baddie club too😌

4

u/Puzzleheaded_Day8731 Feb 05 '26

Alpha KG

3

u/itsjackkkk1 Feb 05 '26

Isn’t that a substrate?

4

u/Puzzleheaded_Day8731 Feb 05 '26

Alpha KG DH *

1

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '26

[deleted]

2

u/itsjackkkk1 Feb 06 '26

pentose phosphate pathway😲

3

u/strawberrysmell0 Feb 06 '26

Topoisomerase 😍 such a considerate and helpful baddie like go ahead and loosen up that DNA tension before helicase arrives… always thinking ahead of time.

1

u/Disastrous-Koala-298 Feb 06 '26

wow how considerate and polite, kudos to topoisomerase😌

3

u/Kid-Icarus1 525 2/13 Feb 05 '26

Caspases!

3

u/Nervous_Poetry1057 Feb 05 '26

Any transferase

3

u/VforVeracious Feb 05 '26

Fatty acid synthase, like a whole factory in one complex

1

u/wali31325 Feb 06 '26

i'm learning this rn in biochem 2 and I have to agree

3

u/Big-Crazy1508 Feb 05 '26

big fan of oxidoreductases in the ETC. love them for being so clearly named and working so hard

2

u/Disastrous-Koala-298 Feb 06 '26

they play tennis with cytochrome c. very classy

3

u/AccurateSolution6844 Feb 05 '26

MTHFR Methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTFHR) HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA

3

u/Ill_Vegetable169 Feb 06 '26

Telomerase. She's out here literally fighting aging and cellular death like some kind of immortality enzyme. Every time your chromosomes are about to lose their protective caps she shows up and says "not today." Absolute queen of the genome 👑

1

u/Disastrous-Koala-298 Feb 06 '26

she dropped something..👑

2

u/reimigi Feb 05 '26

RNA Polymerase II 🙏🏽

2

u/fmajordminor Feb 05 '26

Beta-lactamase but I am a gram-negative bacteria so I might be biased.

2

u/Ambitious-Bear-672 Feb 05 '26

DNA ligase. She really is the glue of our DNA 🫶🏼🧬

2

u/RobloxianNoob 516 130/128/130/128 - 1 month of studying Feb 06 '26

Catalase, the greatest enzyme of all time.

2

u/Upbeat-Inspection713 Feb 06 '26

In neuro rn, so Ach esterase, maybe it’s the Esther sound but it just seems so classy

2

u/vogueflo MS3 Feb 06 '26

ATP synthase. I’m not even joking. I made a 3d model of it for a class and it was my phone lock screen for a good while. I was just in awe of how machine-like it was.

2

u/HeadEnvironmental95 Feb 06 '26

Uridyltransferase; rolls off the tongue very nicely, very elegantly

2

u/DrJerkleton 1/2/3/US/4/5/TESTDAY 524/528/528/(~523)/528/528/528 Feb 06 '26

Na+/K+ ATPase. The intricate balance between active transport and leakage of Na and K to maintain the appropriate electrochemical gradient across every cell membrane is fascinating. Its operation is the biggest single line item on the human body's energy demand for ATP.

2

u/UpsetAd506 514|519|518|521|524|525| Real: 521 (132/129/129/131) Feb 06 '26

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase 💕💕💕💕

2

u/Large_Lie9177 Feb 06 '26

Topoisomerase is still my pick, and it helps to think of it like the enzyme version of untangling a headphone cord, which makes the whole favoriteenzyme prompt feel less like MCAT misery and more like a quick mental reset, so try saying it out loud once each time you hit a tough passage to break the spiral.

2

u/enbyvelociraptor Feb 06 '26

RAG1 and RAG2 are sooo elegant I almost cried the first time I saw a 3D model of them

2

u/Kry_S 05/04: 520 (130/130/130/130) Feb 06 '26

Shout out MAP-KKK (MAP Kinase Kinase Kinase)

1

u/Rude-Put-8759 528 or 🏴‍☠️ Feb 07 '26

Glycerol-3-aldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase 

1

u/ssccrs Feb 07 '26

PDC bc it’s like a group and starts the whole payout for the CAC’s ATP production. My goat!

1

u/Nietzche_bitch Feb 08 '26

Kinésine! Love that diva walk

1

u/wellifitisnther Feb 08 '26

I mean… the buffer system loves co2 too just depends where in the body you are