STRENDA Mission

The aims of the STRENDA Commission are as follows:

To establish standards of reporting enzyme data, to allow a full understanding of the conditions under which they were obtained. It is hoped that such standards will become required by the major scientific journals and that they will be fully documented in those databases, such as

and other electronic repositories related to organisms and enzyme groups that compile enzyme activity and kinetic data.

A draft document that provides a check-list of information that should be included when enzyme kinetic data are reported is

for further discussion and comment. A discussion board is being set up for this, and subsequent STRENDA documents will be made available on the web at the

To propose uniform assay standards for the standardization of data for single enzymes and groups of enzymes. Clearly the conditions under which an enzyme operates will depend on the organism and organelle in which it occurs. To take an extreme example, the physiological temperature at which an enzyme operates in a mammal may have little relevance to the behaviour of the corresponding enzyme in a hyperthermophile. On the other hand, using very different assay conditions for assaying the forward and reverse reactions catalysed by the same enzyme may mean that valuable thermodynamic data are lost.

The STRENDA Commission recognizes that any recommendations on the standardization of experimental conditions will require broad discussions within the scientific community. These must eventually lead to the formulation of commonly acceptable codes of “good laboratory practice” in terms of comparability of the results of functional enzyme characterization. Nearly ten years ago, a similar world-wide movement among electrophysiologists led to publication of an agreement on definite representation of transmembrane currents (Science, 1992, 258:873-874; PMID: 1439795). We believe that further delay addressing these issues would be a disservice to the community.

STRENDA is very interested in cooperating with other standardization initiatives in pertinent subjects. Timely cooperation between the various initiatives is desirable to avoid duplication of effort and diversity of recommendations made by different groups.

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The Role of the Beilstein Institute

This work will necessitate broad discussions, involving different disciplines. Such activities are best carried out under the auspices of an independent scientific institution, such as the Beilstein Institute. The Institute has numerous international contacts that extend beyond classical organic chemistry, and it has acted as a catalyst in the formation of the STRENDA Commission; it has indicated a willingness to foster its activities as long as the process of discussion and agreement moves in a positive direction. Subsequently the Institute expects to modify its role in this forum and considers supporting the resulting follow-up research projects.

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The following scientists have agreed to devote time to working in the STRENDA Commission:

Athel Cornish-Bowden, CNRS-BIP, Marseilles, France

Jan-Hendrik Hofmeyr, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa

Thomas Leyh, The Albert-Einstein-College, Bronx, New York, USA

Dietmar Schomburg, CUBIC, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

Christoph Steinbeck, EMBL Outstation, European Informatics Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK

Keith Tipton, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

Carsten Kettner (co-ordinator), Beilstein-Institut, Frankfurt/Main, Germany