Factors affecting enzyme activity

Question 1

what are the 4 things that affect enzyme activity?

Answer 1

substrate conc, enzyme conc, pH and temperature

Question 2

what happens to the enzyme when temperature is increased?

Answer 2

the kinetic energy is increased which results in more frequent successful collision so more enzyme-substrate complexes are produced

Question 3

what happens to enzymes if the temperature gets higher than the optimum temperature?

Answer 3

they denature - the bonds in their tertiary structure break

Question 4

what happens to enzymes if the temperature decreases?

Answer 4

there will be less kinetic energy so fewer successful collisions so less enzyme-substrate complexes are produced

Question 5

what does denatures mean?

Answer 5

the tertiary bonds in the enzyme structure are broken

Question 6

what happens when the optimum pH for enzymes is changed?

Answer 6

the structure of the active site is alter but the change isn’t significant, when the optimum pH is reached again the protein will resume its shape (renaturation)

Question 7

what does a change in pH mean?

Answer 7

there is a change in the hydrogen ion concentration
more hydrogen ions are in a low pH
less hydrogen ions are in a high pH

Question 8

what happens to enzymes when there is a low pH?

Answer 8

less R groups are able to interact with each other so the bonds break

Question 9

what happens to enzymes when there is a high pH?

Answer 9

the bonds will break

Question 10

what happens to the rate of reaction if substrate concentration is increased?

Answer 10

there is a higher collision rate and more formation of enzyme substrate complexes but the rate can only increase to v-max

Question 11

what is v-max?

Answer 11

when the maximum of enzyme substrate complexes are formed, enzymes become the limiting factor