L11 & 12: Enzymes Flashcards
What percentage of human genes code for enzymes?
25%
Are enzymes used up in the reaction?
No
What are enzymes made from?
Protein
What does a proteolytic enzyme do?
Breaks down proteins
What is papain? What does it do?
Enzyme found in papaya plants. Used to break peptide bonds - specifically used to tenderise meat
What is trypsin? What does it do?
Digestive enzyme that only splits bonds between lysine and arginine residues
What is thrombin? What does it do?
Activates the process of clotting by cleaving fibrinogen
What is the active site formed from?
Specific amino acids. They create charged regions that only appropriate chemical groups can bind to.
True or false: Enzymes are slowly used up in the reactions they govern, so must be replaced by the cell.
False
True or false: Enzymes are coded for by only a few highly regulated genes.
False. They are coded for by 25% of all our genes
True or false: Enzymes are mainly produced by ribosomes.
True
True or false: Most enzymes can catalyse 2 or 3 related reactions.
False
True or false: Thrombin is a relatively non-specific protease.
False
True or false: Cyclins are enzymes which control the cell cycle.
False
True or false: Changing the active site often renders the enzyme non-functional.
True
True or false: Substrates bind to the active site of the enzyme.
True
True or false: Enzyme-substrate complexes are always formed during biological catalysis.
True
True or false: Amino acids away from the active site can control binding specificity.
True
What are coenzymes and cofactors?
Non-protein molecules that can alter the shape of the active site by binding to the enzyme away from its active site
What is an apoenzyme?
An enzyme without its cofactor
What is a holoenzyme?
An enzyme that has its cofactor
Describe cofactors
Simple inorganic ion that causes the enzyme to fold and change shape, enhancing the charge to improve substrate binding.
Give an example of a cofactor and its relevant enzyme
Chloride ions and amylase
Describe coenzymes
Small organic molecules that attach to activate the enzyme and detach when reaction completed to deactivate the enzyme. Often vitamins (e.g Niacin, riboflavin). They act as transporters of chemical groups from one reactant to another.
What are isoenzymes?
Enzymes that are chemically different, but catalyse the same reaction
Why are isozymes important?
They can be activated under different conditions to fine-tune metabolic processes. They may display different kinetic parameters (e.g Km/Vmax) or regulatory properties
What are the 6 classes of enzyme?
Oxidoreductases Transferases Hydrolases Lyases Isomerases Ligases
What is the general role of oxidoreductases?
Catalyse redox reactions
What is the general role of the transferases?
Move a functional group from one molecule to another
Kinases are examples of what class of enzyme?
Transferase
Generate a double bond through an elimination reaction
Lyases
What is the general role of the lyases?
Break things down and form double bonds