Enzymes 2.0 Flashcards
What is an enzyme?
A biological catalyst made from protein used to alter the rate of chemical reactions, without being used up themselves.
What is the shape of a protein that functions as an enzyme?
3D globular
What cell organelle are enzymes produced in?
Ribosomes
What is the first step of the induced fit theory?
An enzyme has a specific active site shape. This means that the active site of an enzyme will only act on one substrate.
What is the second step of the induced fit theory?
When the substrate enters the active site of its correct enzyme, the active site changes shape slightly to ensure that the substrate fits. This is the ‘induced fit’. The substrate and enzyme are now connected; this is called an enzyme-substrate complex.
What is the third step of the induced fit theory?
The enzyme will now change the substrate and release the newly formed product. The active site remains unchanged and can now carry out the same process again.
What is the specificity of an enzyme?
The active site of an enzyme will only work on one specific substrate.
What is a substrate?
A substance an enzyme acts upon.
What is a product in enzymatic reactions?
The substance formed by the action of an enzyme on a substrate.
What is the active site of an enzyme?
The area of an enzyme that binds to the substrate to form an enzyme-substrate complex; it is a specific shape.
What are catabolic enzymes?
An enzyme that breaks down large molecules into smaller molecules.
Give an example of a catabolic enzyme.
Amylase
It breaks starch into smaller substances called maltose.
What are anabolic enzymes?
An enzyme that helps to join small molecules together to form larger ones.
Give an example of an anabolic enzyme.
DNA polymerase
It helps join amino acids into protein during protein synthesis.
What are inhibitors?
Something that disrupts the specificity of an enzyme’s shape or blocks the enzyme’s active site.
What are beneficial inhibitors?
Drugs and antibiotics that can affect enzymes involved in pain or bacteria, causing pain to stop or bacteria to die.
What are denatured enzymes?
An enzyme that has lost its function as a result of an active site changing shape. The change is permanent and irreversible.
What factors impact an enzyme’s activity?
Temperature & pH
What is the optimum condition for an enzyme?
The condition an enzyme works best at.
What is the optimum temperature of a plant enzyme?
25 degrees
What is the optimum temperature of an animal enzyme?
37 degrees
What happens if the temperature falls below the optimum?
They do not collide with the substrate, therefore the rate of enzyme activity is slow.
What happens when the temperature starts to return to the optimum?
It will start to work again.
What happens if the temperature is too high above the optimum?
The enzyme will become denatured; it will no longer work as the active site will change shape.