Student Guide: Enzymes - AP STEM Case and Handbook

Introduction: Claire, a Great Dane, is experiencing extreme weight loss and lethargy despite
maintaining a normal appetite. As a veterinary technician, you must learn about metabolism,
digestion, and enzymes to help Claire. As part of this Gizmo, you will examine Claire, run lab
tests, and analyze data to determine the cause and treat her weight loss.

Vocabulary: As new vocabulary is introduced, the words are presented in the Gizmo as
orange text - clicking the orange text opens the glossary page for that term. You can use the glossary at any
point.

1. Launch the Gizmo and follow the instructions provided to collect data on Claire. The questions below are
sequential.

2. What are Claire's symptoms?

Claire is eating normal while losing lots of weight

Increase of appetite

3. Define "metabolism"

Metabolism is a reaction that breaks molecules down into smaller pieces. It also can combine smaller molecules into bigger
ones

4. Metabolism is a combination of two types of reactions. What are these? Define them.

type of reaction definition

Homeostasis the body's tendency to maintain stable conditions
Chemical reaction any process that breaks or forms chemical bonds between atoms

5. What type of reaction is given in the "Chemical Reactions"

example?

Products and reactants

6. The reaction rate is the amount of product produced in a specific time. Why is reaction rate important for
biological organisms?

Because it determines how fast something changes over time.

7. "Enzymes are biological catalysts". What does this mean?

Enzymes are the catalysts that organisms use to speed up their chemical reactions

8. Every chemical reaction, including the reactions that happen inside a living organism, requires an initial input
of energy. The energy needed to start a chemical reaction is called the

ammonia

9. Several different types of energy can be used to "give" a reaction its activation energy. List these below:

thermal heat

collision kinetic energy

10. In biological organisms thermal energy cannot be easily added to start a reaction. Instead, enzymes are
used. Explain HOW enzymes speed up the rate of a reaction.

The enzyme speeds up the reaction by lowering the activation energy needed for the reaction to start

11. Label the reaction graph provided with the following labels:
activation energy, reactant energy, produce energy.

a) reactant energy

b) activation energy

c) produce energy
12. Fill in the blank:

Enzymes do not change the energy of the reactants or the products. They speed up a reaction by lowering the
energy of….

activation energy

13. Each of your 80 000 enzymes has its own highly specific shape, its structure. What determines the
structure of an enzyme?

Temperature and pH levels

14. Because of their specific structure, enzymes differ from each other. Every enzyme has a different active
site. What happens at the active site of an enzyme? Can the substrate of one enzyme fit into the active site of
another?

At the active site, it binds with a substrate and if it fits, then they break apart. The substrate of one enzyme wont fit into
another because each substrate is made for one active site

15. How do high temperature and pH changes affect the workings of an enzyme? Explain.

Temperature: Anything not 37 C pH: Anything not 5.4

This is because they changes affect the shape of the active site

16. Once you are back to Claire's Lab Data, fill in the table below:

enzyme location function

pepsin stomach breaks down proteins

requires low pH
small intestine breaks down proteins
protease

small intestine breaks down lipids

carbohydra
se
small intestine breaks down carbs
lipase
17. Low enzyme function can be caused by a range of issues. In your Gizmo, explain how each of these could
affect enzyme function and what happens when you test these in Claire.

Potential explanation Claire's results

issue
Sometimes, when a cell makes an enzyme, one of Her results came back normal to the healthy dog
active site the amino acids can be changed to a different amino
mutation acid
An enzyme’s shape depends on the pH (acidity) of Her results came back normal in the pH rating for
abnormal its environment normal pH level
pH
her results were super low compared to the healthy dog
low enzyme An enzyme can only act on one molecule at a time.
This means that the reaction rate depends on the
production concentration of an enzyme

18. Science function by asking and testing questions. As more information becomes known new questions can
be asked and hypotheses can be revised to make them more and more accurate. At some point, once enough
information has been gathered, a conclusion can be made. Explain how this Gizmo illustrates that process.

The gizmo went through the given information and created questions to why something is a possible answer to the question

19. Optional extension:

As more evidence gathers, science is replaced by better science. Use a real-life example to explain this. As a
good starting point, ave a look at:
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-six-months-what-we-know

At the beginning of the corona virus pandemic, people were not sure how to treat or to protect themselves from the virus.
After a while, scientists began testing for a vaccine, and people were now used to the social distance rule and mask rule.
As of now, we have a vaccine for the corona virus, but its still in testing. It's really important ton understand how far
we have come since the beginning of the pandemic.

Bogna Haddad @ OCDSB, August 2020