Editing Enzyme Commission number (section)

==History==
Before the development of the EC number system, enzymes were named in an arbitrary fashion, and names like [[old yellow enzyme]] and [[malic enzyme]] that give little or no clue as to what reaction was catalyzed were in common use. Most of these names have fallen into disuse, though a few, especially proteolyic enzymes with very low specificity, such as [[pepsin]] and [[papain]], are still used, as rational classification on the basis of specificity has been very difficult.

By the 1950s the chaos was becoming intolerable, and after Hoffman-Ostenhof<ref>{{cite journal |year=1953|volume=14|pages=219–260|last=Hoffman-Ostenhof|first=O|title=Suggestions for a more rational classification and nomenclature of enzymes|journal=Advances in Enzymology and Related Subjects of Biochemistry|doi=10.1002/9780470122594.ch7|pmid=13057718|isbn=9780470122594}}</ref> and Dixon and Webb<ref>{{cite book| title=Enzymes|last1=Dixon|first1=M|last2=Webb|first2= E.C.|year=1958|publisher=Longmans Green|place=London|pages=183–227}}</ref> had proposed somewhat similar schemes for classifying enzyme-catalyzed reactions, the International Congress of Biochemistry in [[Brussels]] set up the Commission on Enzymes under the chairmanship of [[Malcolm Dixon (biochemist)|Malcolm Dixon]] in 1955. The first version was published in 1961, and the Enzyme Commission was dissolved at that time, though its name lives on in the term ''EC Number''. The current sixth edition, published by the [[International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology]] in 1992 as the last version published as a printed book, contains 3196 different enzymes. Supplements 1-4 were published 1993–1999. Subsequent supplements have been published electronically, at the website of the Nomenclature Committee of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.<ref name=moss/> In August 2018, the [[IUBMB]] modified the system  by adding the top-level EC 7 category containing translocases.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.enzyme-database.org/news.php |title=Enzyme Nomenclature News: Translocases (EC 7): A new EC Class |last=Tipton |first=Keith |date=August 2018 |publisher=ExplorEnz: the primary source of the IUBMB enzyme list |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180910190358/http://www.enzyme-database.org/news.php |archive-date=10 September 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=3 November 2018}}</ref>