Scribd
Upload
43 views7 pages

Enzymes

Enzymes are biological catalysts made of proteins that speed up chemical reactions in organisms without being used up in the process. They work by specifically binding to substrate molecules and facilitating the formation of products. Enzyme activity is optimized at certain temperatures and pH levels - outside of these ranges, enzymes can become denatured and lose their shape, impairing their function. While higher temperatures generally increase reaction rates by providing more energy, they can exceed an enzyme's tolerance. Different enzymes function best at different pH levels depending on where they act in the body. Both substrate and enzyme concentration can increase reaction rates, but only up to the point where all binding sites are occupied.

Uploaded by

Mahin Tayyab
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
43 views7 pages

Enzymes

Enzymes are biological catalysts made of proteins that speed up chemical reactions in organisms without being used up in the process. They work by specifically binding to substrate molecules and facilitating the formation of products. Enzyme activity is optimized at certain temperatures and pH levels - outside of these ranges, enzymes can become denatured and lose their shape, impairing their function. While higher temperatures generally increase reaction rates by providing more energy, they can exceed an enzyme's tolerance. Different enzymes function best at different pH levels depending on where they act in the body. Both substrate and enzyme concentration can increase reaction rates, but only up to the point where all binding sites are occupied.

Uploaded by

Mahin Tayyab
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 7

Enzymes

A catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of chemical reaction and is not
changed by the reaction itself.

An enzyme is a biological catalyst that catalyzes many important reactions inside an


organism (such as respiration) and therefore necessary to sustain life.

a. They are made of proteins .


b. Enzymes are required in small amount
c. They remain chemically unchanged during a reaction and are recovered in
same amount after the completion of reaction.

How enzymes work is more easily shown through a diagram. Take a look below:

1. Firstly, a substrate is a substance that an enzyme acts on.

2. It is important to understand that enzymes are very specific, and the reason for their
specificity lies in their active sites – a region of an enzyme that binds to a particular
substrate. The shape of the active site of an enzyme is complementary to only one
specific substrate.

As demonstrated in the diagram, the green substrate has a shape that pairs impeccably
with the shape enzyme’s active site.
3. As the enzyme binds with the substrate, an enzyme-substrate complex is formed.
The reaction then occurs on the enzyme and the enzyme-product complex is formed.
The products eventually leave the enzyme.

Lock and Key Hypothesis


Enzyme activity VS Temperature & pH
There are certain factors that can impact enzyme activity.

4. The two of which CIE wants you to know is temperature and pH. But before getting
into the details, you need to know that all enzymes have an optimum temperature and
an optimum pH. These are certain temperatures or pH in which a particular enzyme
work best in, and it can vary between different enzymes.

5. For any given enzyme, if the conditions stray too far from the optimum, then
denaturation can occur. This is when extreme non-ideal conditions (i.e. high
temperatures or very low/high pH) causes chemical bonds in the enzymes to break
apart.

6. This results in the change in shape of the enzyme’s active site. Remember, the
active site has a very special shape and it fits only one specific type (and shape) of
substrate. An alteration in active site will therefore cause the enzyme to lose function.

Temperature and enzyme activity

Low temperatures reduce the rate of chemical reactions in general. This is because
molecules need to collide with one another and have enough energy for a reaction to
occur. In low temperatures, molecules are traveling at lower speeds (less energy) and
therefore the rate of successful collisions are lower. Moreover, even when collisions
do occur, the molecules may have insufficient kinetic energies to begin with, and
therefore the reaction may not occur. Enzyme activity is therefore low in low
temperatures. It is important to note however, that low temperatures do not denature
enzymes. Enzymes become inactive

Higher temperatures generally increase the rate of chemical reactions. Molecules are
faster and have more kinetic energy. This means that rate of successful molecular
collisions are higher,and most molecules will have sufficient energy required for the
reaction. However, temperatures that are far beyond the optimum temperature of the
enzymes can start to denature it, and reduce enzyme activity as a result. Most enzymes
have an optimum temperature of approximately 37 degrees in the human body, and
start getting denatured at above 50 degrees.
pH and enzyme activity

1. The optimum pH of an enzyme can vary.

2. Pepsin is an enzyme found in the stomach’s acidic conditions and therefore made to work best
in a pH of approximately 2.

3. Amylase on the other hand, is found in saliva (more neutral conditions) and therefore has an
optimum pH of 7.

4. Very high or very low pH’s can denature these enzymes if it deviates too much from their
optimum.
Substrate concentration: Increasing substrate concentration
also increases the rate of reaction to a certain point. Once all of the
enzymes have bound, any substrate increase will have no effect on
the rate of reaction, as the available enzymes will be saturated and
working at their maximum rate.

Enzyme concentration: Increasing enzyme concentration will speed


up the reaction, as long as there is substrate available to bind to.
Once all of the substrate is bound, the reaction will no longer speed
up, since there will be nothing for additional enzymes to bind to.

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy