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Medical Definition of Induced enzyme
1. Inducible enzyme, an enzyme that can be detected in a growing culture of a microorganism, after the addition of a particular substance (inducer) to the culture medium, but was not detectable prior to the addition and can act on the inducer. A prototype is the beta-galactosidase of Escherichia coli, synthesised upon the addition of various galactosides, whether or not these are good substrates. Compare: constitutive enzyme. Synonym: adaptive enzyme. (05 Mar 2000)