What are the applications of enzyme inhibition?

Enzyme inhibition has several applications in a wide range of industries including the pharmaceutical, medicine, agriculture, and warfare industries. 

In the pharmaceutical industry, an understanding of enzyme inhibition helps pharmacologists formulate and develop new therapeutic drugs for treating various chronic and life-threatening conditions. 

In medicine, enzyme inhibitors are used to regulate metabolic pathways and control life-threatening enzyme reactions such as in multiple sclerosis, where destructive enzymes attack nerve cells which cause paralysis.  

Antibiotics such as penicillin and vancomycin work on the principle of enzyme inhibition. These antibiotics inhibit the activity of enzymes that synthesize the polymer peptidoglycan, thus reducing the strength of the cell wall that surrounds bacteria, causing the bacteria to burst and die. 

Biochemists and biotechnologists use enzyme inhibition in analytical sensors that are used to monitor various environmental factors. 

Natural poisons as well as pesticides and herbicides also act on the principle of enzyme inhibition.