Substance, often relatively small in size, that allosterically enhances protein-mediated catalysis.
That is, these are molecules, or ions, that bind to enzymes, resulting in an increase in enzyme activity. See also cooperativity. See by contrast allosteric inhibition and enzyme inhibitor.
One way of viewing enzyme activators is that they serve to stabilize an enzyme's active site in its functional conformation. Alternatively, and related, they may simply allow an enzyme to properly display its active site at all.
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