Enzymes Flashcards
What type of proteins are enzymes?
Globular
What are enzymes?
Biological catalysts
What do catalysts do?
Catalysts alter the rate of chemical reaction without undergoing permanent change themselves.
They provide an alternative pathway for a reaction to occur.
They lower the activation energy.
Catalysts can be…
reused repeatedly
What type of amount are catalysts effective in?
They’re effective in a small amount.
For a reaction to take place, 3 conditions must be satisfied, which are:
The substrates must collide with sufficient energy to alter the arrangement of their atoms to form the products.
The free energy of the products must be less than that of the substrates.
Reactions require a minimum amount of energy to start - activation energy.
Why is it good that enzymes lower the activation energy?
What would happen without the enzymes?
Enzymes allow reactions to take place at a lower temp than normal.
Without enzymes, these reactions would proceed too slowly to sustain life as we know it.
What type of shape do enzymes have?
Enzymes have a specific 3D shape that is the result of their sequence of amino acids (primary protein structure).
What part of the enzyme is functional?
The active site.
How is an enzyme-substrate complex formed?
Active site forms a depression within the enzyme.
Enzyme acts on substrate
Enzymes fits neatly into the depression and forms an enzyme-substrate complex.
How is the substrate molecule held within the active site?
The substrate is held within the active site by bonds that temporarily form between certain amino acids of the active site and groups on the substrate molecule.
How does the lock and key model work?
A substrate (key) will only fit the active site of 1 particular enzyme (lock).
