Incidentally, what does “EC” mean?
“EC” in the EC number means neither “Enzyme Classification” nor “European Commission”. It stands for “Enzyme Commission” which is a short name for the International Commission on Enzymes, which was established more than 50 years ago with an aim to develop a systematic approach to the nomenclature and classification of enzymes. Since then, the “Enzyme Commission” has been succeeded by a number of various bodies as described in Historical introduction to Enzyme Nomenclature. Currently the Nomenclature Committee of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (NC-IUBMB) is responsible for the nomenclature and classification of enzymes.
