Enzyme Action Flashcards
What are enzymes?
Globular proteins that act as catalysts to speed up reactions, without changing themselves.
What are catalysts?
They alter the rate of chemical reaction without permanent changes to themselves. They can repeatedly be used.
What is activation energy?
The minimum amount of energy required for a reaction to start.
What do enzymes do to activation energy?
Enzymes lower activation energy level, allowing reactions to take place at a lower temperature than normal, for example.
Why is it important that enzymes lower activation energy?
Without enzymes, the reactions would occur to slowly to sustain life.
What is the structure of enzymes?
Globular proteins with a specific 3-D shape as a result of their amino acid sequence.
What is the structure of an enzymes active site?
Functional part of enzyme made up by a small number of amino acids, forming a small depression within the large molecule.
What is an enzyme-substrate complex?
The name given to an enzyme when the substrate fits into its active site and bonded to the amino acids and molecules on the substrate.
What does the induced fit model of enzyme action propose?
The active site forms as the enzyme and substrate interact. The enzyme is flexible and moulds itself around the substrate. The shape of the enzyme alters in the presence of substrate.
What happens when an enzyme-substrate complex is formed?
As the enzyme changes shape, it strains the substrate molecule, distorting a particular bond in substrate and therefore lowering the energy needed to break the bond.
