Catalytic triad

Okay kiddo, imagine you have a special toy car that you want to take apart and put back together again. Now, to take it apart, you would need some tools like a screwdriver or a wrench, right?

Well, in your body, there are little workers called enzymes that need to take apart and put together other things in your body, like proteins. But they don't have hands or tools like we do. So, they use something called a catalytic triad to get the job done.

The catalytic triad is like a special tool set that enzymes use to do their work. It has three parts, just like a triad means three. The three parts are called histidine, serine, and aspartate.

Histidine is like the screwdriver in your tool set. It helps to hold things in place and make sure they're in the right position. Serine is like the wrench. It twists and turns things to break them apart or put them together. Aspartate is like the pliers. It helps to grab onto things and move them around.

When these three parts work together, they can break apart or put together other things in your body like proteins. So, just like you use tools to take apart your toy car, enzymes use the catalytic triad to do their job in your body.