Two Environmental Factors Affecting Enzyme Activity

153 Words1 Page

A. Enzymes are catalytic proteins that speed up biochemical reactions. Most enzymes are composed of proteins, while in some cases they are composed of RNA molecules called ribosomes. Enzymes are highly specific. Each enzyme catalyzes only one chemical reaction. Two environmental factors can effect enzyme activity: pH and temperature. Changes in the pH can alter the level of hydrophobicity of some regions of a protein, thus altering its shape. If the enzymes shape is altered then it will not bind with its receptor. Temperature also affects enzyme activity. All enzymes perform best at their optimal temperature. In addition, each enzyme has a minimum and maximum temperature at which it can successfully perform. Substrate concentration can chemically

Show More
Related

  • Lactase Laboratory Report

    1401 Words  | 3 Pages

    Enzymes are biomolecules that catalyze or assist chemical reactions. ("Enzyme Information - Disabled World", n.d.,) Without enzymes it would be impossible for an organism to carry out chemical reactions. Enzymes are proteins that carry a chemical reaction for a specific substance or nutrient. For example, the digestive enzymes help food to be broken down so it can be absorbed. Enzymes can either initiate the reaction or speed it up. Substrates are the chemicals that are transformed by enzymes. (Gunsch & Foster, 2014) Reactants are the chemicals in the absence of enzymes. Metabolic pathways that occur in a cell are determined by a set of enzymes which are selective for their substrates and catalyze only a few reactions among the many possibilities.

    Read More

  • Investigation the Factors that Affect Enzyme Controlled Reactions

    435 Words  | 1 Pages

    I will use a set of five pH's to get my readings from the collected

    Read More

  • Catalase Activity Essay

    1747 Words  | 4 Pages

    Proteins are one of the main building blocks of the body. They are required for the structure, function, and regulation of the body’s tissues and organs. Even smaller units create proteins; these are called amino acids. There are twenty different types of amino acids, and all twenty are configured in many different chains and sequences, producing differing protein structures and functions. An enzyme is a specialized protein that participates in chemical reactions where they serve as catalysts to speed up said reactions, or reduce the energy of activation, noted as Ea (Mader & Windelspecht).

    Read More

  • Investigating the Effect of Substrate Concentration on Catalase Reaction

    4867 Words  | 10 Pages

    Background information:. Enzyme Enzymes are protein molecules that act as the biological catalysts. A Catalyst is a molecule which can speed up chemical reactions but remains unchanged at the end of the reaction. Enzymes catalyze most of the metabolic reactions that take place within a living organism. They speed up the metabolic reactions by lowering the amount of energy.

    Read More

  • Investigating the Effect of Enzyme Concentration on the Hydrolysis of Starch with Amylase

    4181 Words  | 9 Pages

    Enzymes have the ability to act on a small group of chemically similar substances. Enzymes are very specific, in the sense that each enzyme is limited to interact with only one set of reactants; the reactants are referred to as substrates. Substrates of an enzyme are the chemicals altered by enzyme-catalysed reactions. The extreme specific nature of enzymes are because of the complicated three-dimensional shape, which is due to the particular way the amino acid chain of proteins folds.

    Read More

  • Biology

    1328 Words  | 3 Pages

    Living cells perform a multitude of chemical reactions very rapidly because of the participation of enzymes. Enzymes are biological catalysts, compounds that speed up a chemical reaction without being used up or altered in the reaction. The material with which the catalysts reacts, called the substrate, is modified during the reaction to form a new product. But because the enzyme itself emerges from the reaction unchanged and ready to bind with another substrate molecule, a small amount of enzyme can alter a relatively enormous amount of substrate.

    Read More

  • Essay About Enzymes

    1467 Words  | 3 Pages

    Enzymes as mentioned before help speed up reactions, they generally work by bonding to a substrate, this bonding occurs at the active site. This link then forms a different molecule which will benefit its respective process. Every enzyme has its own optimum pH level to work under, if too low the enzyme will be very slow. However if too high the enzyme will then denature and be obsolete. This is why it is important to know the optimum pH level for whatev...

    Read More

  • Enzyme Peroxidase Lab Report

    454 Words  | 1 Pages

    This indicated that the effect of high temperature on the activity of peroxidase was irreversible and so if the optimum temperature was restored the enzyme activity will not increase again because denaturation resulted in a permanent change in the shape of the active site of the peroxidase enzyme. In conclusion, the results of this experiment supported the hypothesis that enzymes including peroxidase enzyme are sensitive to temperature changes[George

    Read More

  • The Pros and Cons of Using Enzymes in Medicine and Industry

    739 Words  | 2 Pages

    = == In relative terms enzymes are biological catalysts; control the rate of chemical reaction, different temperatures and pH’s affect their optimum rate of reaction in living organisms. In detail; enzymes are globular proteins, which catalyse chemical reactions in living organisms, they are produced by living cells – each cell has hundreds of enzymes. Cells can never run out of enzymes as they or used up in a reaction.

    Read More

  • The Effect of pH on Enzyme Activity

    602 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Effect of pH on Enzyme Activity. pH is a measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution. The higher the hydrogen ion concentration, the lower the pH. Most enzymes function efficiently over a narrow pH range. A change in pH above or below this range reduces the rate of enzyme reaction. considerably.

    Read More

  • The Effects of Enzyme Concentration on the Activity of Amylase

    986 Words  | 2 Pages

    If I was to do this experiment again I might use a Fungi amylase to

    Read More

  • Lab: Enzymes – Protein Catalysts

    870 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jim Clark. (2007). The effect of changing conditions in enzyme catalysis. Retrieved on March 6, 2001, from http://www.chemguide.co.uk/organicprops/aminoacids/enzymes2.html

    Read More

  • Lactase Enzyme Lab Report

    1772 Words  | 4 Pages

    Enzymes are types of proteins that work as a substance to help speed up a chemical reaction (Madar & Windelspecht, 104). There are three factors that help enzyme activity increase in speed. The three factors that speed up the activity of enzymes are concentration, an increase in temperature, and a preferred pH environment. Whether or not the reaction continues to move forward is not up to the enzyme, instead the reaction is dependent on a reaction’s free energy. These enzymatic reactions have reactants referred to as substrates. Enzymes do much more than create substrates; enzymes actually work with the substrate in a reaction (Madar &Windelspecht, 106). For reactions in a cell it is important that a specific enzyme is present during the process. For example, lactase must be able to collaborate with lactose in order to break it down (Madar & Windelspecht, 105).

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Enzymes

    1073 Words  | 3 Pages

    Enzymes are protein molecules that are made by organisms to catalyze reactions. Typically, enzymes speed up the rate of the reaction within cells. Enzymes are primarily important to living organisms because they help with metabolism and the digestive system. For example, enzymes can break larger molecules into smaller molecules to help the body absorb the smaller molecules faster. In addition, some enzyme molecules bind molecules together.

    Read More

  • Investigating a Factor that Affects Enzyme Activity

    1409 Words  | 3 Pages

    Investigating a Factor that Affects Enzyme Activity Planning -------- Aim --- To investigate a factor which will affect the activity of catalase, whilst keeping all variables constant. Possible Independent Variables ------------------------------ Here are a number of possible independent variables that could be changed in the experiment: Independent variable Continuous/Discontinuous Easy to measure?

    Read More

More about Two Environmental Factors Affecting Enzyme Activity

Open Document