Bone fracture risk increases due to decline of critical enzymatic processes ANI | Updated: Jan 10, 2021 20:40 IST Washington [US], January 10 (ANI): According to the findings of new research the risk of a person's bones getting fractured increases due to loss of enzymatic processes within the body. This new insight was recently published in eLife by an international team of scientists and engineers led by Deepak Vashishth, the director of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Enzymatic processes are essential to any number of chemical reactions that occur within the body, including the production of the extracellular matrix within the bone that is critical for mechanical support. Phosphorylation -- one of those key enzymatic processes -- is the attachment of a phosphoryl to a protein and is critical for cellular regulation. This process plays a role in many diseases, but until now, researchers didn't know if it altered tissue integrity and organ function.