Enzymes Flashcards
What do enzymes do?
Speed up biochemical reactions and increase rate (speed) of reactions
What happens in a living cell every second?
Thousands of biochemical reactions
What is the sum of these reactions called?
Metabolism
What is a single chain of these reactions called?
A metabolic pathway
What would happen without enzymes?
The reactions would take place very slowly at normal body temperature
What are enzymes?
Biological catalysts that are globular proteins (as they’re roughly spherical)
Even reactions that release energy require what?
An input energy to get them going
What is input energy called?
Activation energy
What do enzymes reduce?
The activation energy
What can a reaction that needs high activation energy not do?
Start at a low temperature of 37 degrees Celsius (i.e body temp.)
What does this graph show?
The activation energy of a reaction with and without an enzyme
What determines the enzyme structure and so how it works?
The order of amino acids
What are enzymes involved in?
Breaking down molecules or building molecules
What are digestive enzymes important for?
In the digestive system, they help break down food into smaller molecules (e.g carbohydrases break down carbohydrates)
What do enzymes involved in DNA replication do?
Help to build molecules (e.g DNA polymerase)
