In enzymology a cellobiose epimerase is an enzyme

Enzyme

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...

 that catalyzes

Catalysis

Catalysis is the change in rate of a chemical reaction due to the participation of a substance called a catalyst. Unlike other reagents that participate in the chemical reaction, a catalyst is not consumed by the reaction itself. A catalyst may participate in multiple chemical transformations....

 the chemical reaction

Chemical reaction

A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Chemical reactions can be either spontaneous, requiring no input of energy, or non-spontaneous, typically following the input of some type of energy, such as heat, light or electricity...

cellobiose D-glucosyl-D-mannose

Hence, this enzyme has one substrate

Substrate (biochemistry)

In biochemistry, a substrate is a molecule upon which an enzyme acts. Enzymes catalyze chemical reactions involving the substrate. In the case of a single substrate, the substrate binds with the enzyme active site, and an enzyme-substrate complex is formed. The substrate is transformed into one or...

, cellobiose

Cellobiose

Cellobiose is a disaccharide with the formula [HOCH2CHO3]2O. Cellobiose consists of two glucose molecules linked by a β bond. It can be hydrolyzed to glucose enzymatically or with acid. Cellobiose has eight free alcohol groups, one acetal linkage and one hemiacetal linkages, which give rise to...

, and one product

Product (chemistry)

Product are formed during chemical reactions as reagents are consumed. Products have lower energy than the reagents and are produced during the reaction according to the second law of thermodynamics. The released energy comes from changes in chemical bonds between atoms in reagent molecules and...

, D-glucosyl-D-mannose.

This enzyme belongs to the family of isomerase

Isomerase

In biochemistry, an isomerase is an enzyme that catalyzes the structural rearrangement of isomers. Isomerases thus catalyze reactions of the formwhere B is an isomer of A.-Nomenclature:...

s, specifically those racemases and epimerases acting on carbohydrate

Carbohydrate

A carbohydrate is an organic compound with the empirical formula ; that is, consists only of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, with a hydrogen:oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 . However, there are exceptions to this. One common example would be deoxyribose, a component of DNA, which has the empirical...

s and their derivatives. The systematic name of this enzyme class is cellobiose 2-epimerase. Enzymes like these can produce a more rapid syndrome that can speed up the process of many life-threatening diseases such as Necrotizing Fasciitis

Necrotizing fasciitis

Necrotizing fasciitis , commonly known as flesh-eating disease or Flesh-eating bacteria syndrome, is a rare infection of the deeper layers of skin and subcutaneous tissues, easily spreading across the fascial plane within the subcutaneous tissue.Necrotizing fasciitis is a quickly progressing and...

.