Swedish biochemist whose study of enzymes that facilitate oxidation reactions in
living cells contributed to the understanding of enzyme action and led to the
discovery of the ways in which nutrients are used by organisms in the presence
of oxygen to produce usable energy. Theorell won the Nobel Prize for Physiology
or Medicine in 1955.
While serving as an assistant professor of biochemistry at Uppsala University
(1932-33; 1935-36), Theorell was the first to isolate crystalline myoglobin, an
oxygen-carrying protein found in red muscle (1932). At the Kaiser Wilhelm
Institute (now Max Planck Institute), Berlin (1933-35), he worked with Otto
Warburg in isolating from yeast a pure sample of the "old yellow
enzyme," which is instrumental in the oxidative interconversion of sugars
by the cell. Theorell found that the enzyme is composed of two parts: a
nonprotein coenzyme--the yellow riboflavine (vitamin B2) phosphate--and a
protein apoenzyme. His discovery (1934) that the coenzyme actively facilitates
oxidation of the sugar glucose by binding a hydrogen atom at a specific site on
the riboflavin molecule marked the first time that the effect of an enzyme was
attributed to the chemical activity of specific atoms.
As director of the biochemical department of the Nobel Medical Institute,
Stockholm (1937-70), Theorell studied the oxidative enzyme cytochrome c,
determining the precise nature of the chemical linkage between the iron-bearing,
nonprotein porphyrin portion and the apoenzyme. His investigation of the
hydrogen-transfer enzyme, alcohol dehydrogenase, led to the development of
sensitive blood tests that have found wide application in the determination of
legal definitions of intoxication. Besides the Nobel Prize, Theorell received a
number of awards and honours. He also served as president of the Swedish Royal
Academy of Science and International Union of Biochemistry.
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Jerry Jacob