In order to undergo fermentation, organisms need to rely on enzymes.
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Enzymes are proteins. (That doesn't mean that all proteins are enzymes - different proteins serve all kinds of other functions.)
Enzymes catalyze chemical reactions - speed them up. Every living cell is a chemical machine. Practically everything that happens in any living thing is or is the result of chemical reactions.
But at the relatively low temperatures that most animals, plants, and bacteria live, chemical reactions take place much too slowly to support the living state.
Given the laws of chemistry and physics, the living condition would not be possible without catalysts to speed up the life-sustaining chemical reactions. Enzymes are those catalysts!
Furthermore, for the thousands of chemical reactions going on in our bodies, there are thousands of different enzymes catalyzing them. Because enzymes are specific, meaning that each enzyme is able to catalyze only a specific type of chemical reaction and no others. So there must be different enzymes for the different reactions.
This specificity also helps keep all those chemical reactions organized. For example, certain enzymes are present only in certain organs or at certain times, so only certain reactions actually occur there or then.
Enzymes catalyze chemical reactions - speed them up. Every living cell is a chemical machine. Practically everything that happens in any living thing is or is the result of chemical reactions.
But at the relatively low temperatures that most animals, plants, and bacteria live, chemical reactions take place much too slowly to support the living state.
Given the laws of chemistry and physics, the living condition would not be possible without catalysts to speed up the life-sustaining chemical reactions. Enzymes are those catalysts!
Furthermore, for the thousands of chemical reactions going on in our bodies, there are thousands of different enzymes catalyzing them. Because enzymes are specific, meaning that each enzyme is able to catalyze only a specific type of chemical reaction and no others. So there must be different enzymes for the different reactions.
This specificity also helps keep all those chemical reactions organized. For example, certain enzymes are present only in certain organs or at certain times, so only certain reactions actually occur there or then.