carbonic anhydrase

Carbonic anhydrase (carbonate dehydratase) catalyzes the following reaction: CO2 + H2O ------> H2CO3 The enzyme is widespread in nature. In animals it plays an important role in respiration by facilitating the transport of carbon dioxide. In plants, carbonic anhydrases are involved in the photosynthetic fixation of CO2. Mammalian erythrocytes contain two distinct forms of carbonic anhydrase distinguished by differences in their catalytic activities. The enzyme requires zinc for its activity and it has a molecular weight of 30,000.