Epimerases and racemases are isomerase enzymes that catalyze the inversion of stereochemistry in biological molecules. Racemases catalyze the stereochemical inversion around the asymmetric carbon atom in a substrate having only one center of asymmetry. Epimerases catalyze the stereochemical inversion of the configuration about an asymmetric carbon atom in a substrate having more than one center of asymmetry, thus interconverting epimers.
Human epimerases include methylmalonyl-CoA epimerase, involved in the metabolic breakdown of the amino acids alanine, isoleucine, methionine and valine, and UDP-glucose 4-epimerase, which is used in the final step of galactose metabolism - catalyzing the reversible conversion of UDP-galactose to UDP-glucose.