Mushroom tyrosinase: A model system to combine experimental investigation of enzyme‐catalyzed reactions, data handling using R, and enzyme‐inhibitor structural studies

The activity of mushroom tyrosinase can be measured by monitoring the conversion of phenolic compounds into quinone derivatives using spectrophotometry. This article describes a series of experiments which characterize the functional properties of tyrosinase, the analysis of the resulting data using R to determine the kinetic parameters, and the exploration of the structural properties of tyrosinase–inhibitor complexes. Tyrosinase assay development and subsequent activity measurements, in the presence of varying pH, substrate concentration and inhibitors, offers the opportunity to learn the enzyme characterization skills relevant to a research laboratory setting. Combining the activity studies with an exploration of the nature of the tyrosinase–inhibitor interactions enables a structural understanding of the experimental observations. © 2015 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 43(5):370–376, 2015.