Enzymes

Enzymes are biological catalysts commonly made of proteins.

They alter the rate of chemical reactions without themselves being chemically changed at the
end of it. Catalyst does not take part or change itself during the reaction. Catalyst A substance
that increases the rate of a chemical reaction and is not changed by the reaction.

Importance of enzymes:

Almost every metabolic reaction is

controlled by enzymes; without them the
reactions would be very slow or not take
place at all. Enzymes make sure that
the rates of metabolic reactions are
great enough to sustain life. If we did
not produce digestive enzymes, it would
take us around 2 - 3 weeks to digest a
meal. With enzymes, it takes about 4
hours. Without enzymes animals would
not be able to break down food
molecules quickly enough to provide
them with the energy and nutrients
needed to survive.
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Characteristics of Enzymes:
● They are proteins that have a fixed 3D shape
● They are specific to the substance they work with and hence the reaction they catalyse.
● Remain unchanged at the end of the reaction and hence can be reused.
● Are needed in small quantities
● They are very sensitive to temp.and PH change. Need specific conditions to produce
optimum results.

How do enzymes work:

● A substrate is a molecule upon which an enzyme acts

● Enzymes catalyse - chemical reactions involving the substrate
● The active she is the region on the surface of the enzyme which binds to the substrate
molecule
● The substrate and enzyme are said to be complementary to each other.
● Fit together like lock and key.
● The substrate binds with the enzyme active site and an enzyme-substrate complex is
formed:
● The enzymes active site and substrate complement each other in terms Of both shape
and chemical properties hence only a specific substrate is capable of binding to a
particular enzymes active site.
CATABOLIC REACTIONS - Breaking down Of complex molecules into simpler molecules
ANABOLIC REACTIONS - Construction of complex molecules from smaller molecules

Lock and key Hypothesis:

● The active site is thought to have a fixed structure (lock), which exactly matches the
structure of a specific substrate (key).
● The substrate fits into the active site of the enzyme just as a key fits into a lock.
● Once the reaction is over, the substrate changes into products.
● This explains than that enzymes are very specific to their substrates.
● Only if the shape of the substrate matches with that of the active site of the enzyme, the
enzyme activity takes place.

Enzyme Action:

● Every reaction requires a minimum amount of energy to initiate the reaction.

● This is known as the activation energy
● Enzymes generally lower the activation energy by reducing the energy needed for
reactants to come together and react.
● This increases the frequency of effective collisions, as now more particles possess
energy which is greater than or equal to the activation energy.
Factors affecting Enzyme activity:

● Temperature
● pH,
● Surface area of the substrates the enzyme's active site

How do pH levels affect enzyme activity:

● Every enzyme has an optimum pH at which it works best.

● pH ranges from acidic to alkaline
● 0-6 is considered acidic
● 7 → Neutral
● 8-13 is considered Alkaline
● changing the pH will alter the charge of the enzyme, which in turn will alter protein
solubility and overall shapes.
● The enzyme denatures changing the shape or the charge of the active site will diminish
its ability to bind to the substance, substrate, stopping enzyme function.
● Enzymes have an optimal pH may differ between enzymes and moving outside this
range diminishes enzyme activity

Note: the peak in each graph represents the optimal pH

How does temperature affect enzyme activity:

● low temperatures result in insufficient thermal energy for activation of an

enzyme-catalysed reaction to proceed. The enzyme is inactive.
● Increasing the temp will increase the speed and motion of both enzyme and substrate,
resulting in higher enzyme activity.
● This is because a higher kinetic energy will result in more frequent collisions between
the enzymes and substrates.
● At an optimal temp may vary for diff enzymes), the rate of enzyme activity will be at its
peak.
● Higher temp will cause enzyme stability to decrease as the thermal energy disrupts the
enzymes hydrogen bonds: This causes the enzyme (particularly the active site) to lose
its shape, resulting in the loss of activity. The enzyme denatures.
Another important graph:

What happens when the graph plateaus?

● Enzyme concentration becomes the limiting factor.

● This is because all the enzyme active sites are occupied by substrate molecules.
● Hence, the maximum number of enzyme substrate complexes is reached.
● As a result, rate of reaction becomes constant.
● By increasing the enzyme concentration, the rate of reaction will be increased further.

Sources:
Cambridge IGCSE Biology by D.G. Mackean and Dave Hayward
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