Enzymes Flashcards
True or false: enzymes are catalysts, that are not consumed in processes.
True
Nearly all enzymes are _________ __________, although a few catalytically-active RNA molecules (ribozymes) have been identified.
Globular proteins
What is an enzyme’s active site?
The region of the enzyme that binds into the substrate, and converts it into product
The active site is often a cleft or crevice on the surface of the enzyme, that forms a predominately non-polar, or ______________, environment, to enhance substrate binding.
Hydrophobic
List four forces which bind the substrate to the active site.
Electrostatic interactions, hydrogen bonds, and hydrophobic forces, and in some instances, reversible covalent bonds
What adjective describes the molecule that the enzyme substrate complex creates?
Bound
Catalytically-active _______ ______ residues within the active site act on the substrate molecule, to transform it into product, which is then released.
Amino acid
At a molecular level, the __________ fits into the active site.
Substrate
Specific interactions with the amino acid side groups at the _______ ______ hold components in place.
Active site
Describe the enzymatic ‘lock-and-key’ model.
The lock-and-key model elucidates the theory that the shape of the substrate and the active site are rigid, perfectly complementary, and fit together exactly, when in the right alignment
Describe the enzymatic ‘induced fit’ model.
In the induced-fit model, the binding of the substrate induces a conformational change in the active site of the enzyme
True or false: some enzymes show features of both models, with some complementarity.
True
To what does ‘enzyme specificity’ refer?
How the properties and spatial arrangement of the amino acid residues forming the active site determine which molecules can bind and become substrates
List three enzymes in which enzyme specificity is observed.
Trypsin, chymotrypsin, and elastase
To what family do trypsin, chymotrypsin, and elastase belong?
Serine proteases
Explain the etymology of ‘serine proteases’.
‘Serine’ comes from the serine residue in the active site that plays a critical role in catalysis, and ‘protease’, from the catalysis of the hydrolysis of peptide bonds in proteins
Describe the enzymatic action of chymotrypsin.
Chymotrypsin cleaves on the carboxyl side of bulky, aromatic, and hydrophobic amino acid residues. Amino acid residues with small side chains in its active site allow for access to bulky side chains of substrates
Describe the action of trypsin.
Cleaves on the carboxyl side of positively charges lysine or arginine residues, and has a negatively charged Asp residue in its active site, to react with Lys and Arg
Describe the action of elastase.
Cleaves on the carboxyl side of amino acid residues with small, uncharged side chains. It has relatively large uncharged side chains of Val and Thr protruding into its active site, preventing access of all but the small side chains of Gly and Ala
What is ‘energy of activation’?
The changes that take place during the course of a particular process
In the first stage, ___ must be converted to the S† transition state.
S
In the second stage, S† is converted to ___.
P
True or false: the S† is at a lower free energy level than S.
False
The free energy change for S to S† is __________, and termed the ‘energy of activation’.
Positive