Glycerol dehydratase

In enzymology, a glycerol dehydratase is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction


 * glycerol $$\rightleftharpoons$$ 3-hydroxypropanal + H2O

Hence, this enzyme has one substrate, glycerol, and two products, 3-hydroxypropanal and H2O.

This enzyme belongs to the family of lyases, specifically the hydro-lyases, which cleave carbon-oxygen bonds. The systematic name of this enzyme class is glycerol hydro-lyase (3-hydroxypropanal-forming). Other names in common use include glycerol dehydrase, and glycerol hydro-lyase. This enzyme participates in glycerolipid metabolism. It employs one cofactor, cobamide.

Structural studies
As of late 2007, two structures have been solved for this class of enzymes, with PDB accession codes and.