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Galactosemia
Galactosemia is an inborn error of metabolism. Because of energy barriers, essentially none of the chemical reactions that take place in living things could occur at any measurable rate without the presence of a catalyst. Most catalysts in living things are enzymes that depend on their structure to be able to function. Their structure is determined by their coding on DNA. Inborn errors of metabolism, like the one seen in galactosemia, are caused by defective genes.
Galactosemia is an inherited metabolic disorder in which the transformation of galactose to glucose is blocked, allowing galactose to increase to toxic levels in the body (Chung 1997). Galactose epimerase, the enzyme in the liver that is required to break down galactose, is deficient in galactosemia patients ("Galactosemia" 1995 and Wohlers, Christacos, and Harreman 1999). This enzyme works as a catalyst to speed up the breakdown of galactose. When there is a deficiency of this enzyme, the body......

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