Enzymes

Active sites and enzymes

• Enzymes: globular
proteins that work as
catalysts, speed up
chemical reactions
without being altered
themselves.

• Biological catalyst:
made by living cells
and speed up
biochemical reactions.
Active sites and enzymes
• The substances that
enzymes convert into
products in these
reactions are called
substrates.

• A general equation for

an enzyme-catalyzed
reaction is:
Active sites and enzymes
• Found in all living cells and
are also secreted by some
cells to work outside.

• Many different are needed,

as enzymes only catalyze one
biochemical reaction and
thousands of reactions take
place in cells, nearly all of
which need to be catalyzed
(enzyme-substrate
specificity).
Active sites and enzymes
• Enzyme–substrate specificity
involves the substrate, or
substrates binding to a
special region on the surface
of the enzyme called the
active site.

• The shape and chemical

properties of the active site
and the substrate match each
other.
Active sites and enzymes
• This allows the substrate to
bind, but not other
substances.

• Substrates are converted into

products while they are
bound to the active site and
the products are then
released, freeing the active
site to catalyze another
reaction.
Enzyme activity
1. The substrate binds to the active site of the enzyme (some have
two substrates that bind to different parts of the active site).

2. While the substrates are bound to the active site they change into
different chemical substances (products of the reaction).

3. Products separate from the active site (vacant for substrates to

bind again).
Enzyme activity
• A substrate molecule can
only bind to the active site
if it moves very close to it.

• Collisions (reaching)
between substrate
molecules and the active
site occur because of
random movements of
both substrate and enzyme.
Enzyme activity
• The substrate may be at
any angle to the active site
when the collision occurs.

• Successful collision:
substrate and active site
are correctly aligned to
allow binding to take place.
Factors affecting enzyme activity
Enzyme activity is affected by
temperature in two ways:

1. Enzyme and substrate

molecules move around
faster in liquids at higher
temperatures and the
chance of a substrate
molecule colliding with the
active site of the enzyme is
increased (enzyme activity
increases).
Factors affecting enzyme activity
2. When enzymes are heated,
bonds in the enzyme vibrate
more and the chance of the
bonds breaking (structure
change) is increased.

When an enzyme molecule

has been denatured, it is no
longer able to catalyze
reactions (enzyme activity
falls and eventually stops).
Factors affecting enzyme activity
Enzymes are sensitive to pH

• The pH scale is used to

measure the acidity or
alkalinity of a solution.

• The lower the pH, the more

acid or the less alkaline a
solution is.
Factors affecting enzyme activity
• Acidity is due to the presence
of hydrogen ions, so the lower
the pH, the higher the
hydrogen ion concentration.

• The pH scale is logarithmic.

Reducing the pH by one unit
makes a solution ten times
more acidic.
Which is more acidic?
Factors affecting
enzyme activity
• A solution at pH 7 is neutral.

• A solution at pH 6 is slightly acidic;

pH 5 is ten times more acidic than
pH 6, pH 4 is one hundred times
more acidic than pH 6, and so on.

• Most enzymes have an optimum pH

at which their activity is highest.
Factors affecting enzyme activity
• If the pH is increased or
decreased from the optimum,
enzyme activity decreases and
eventually stops altogether.

• When the hydrogen ion

concentration is higher or
lower than the level at which
the enzyme naturally works,
the structure of the enzyme is
altered, including the active
site (denaturation).
Factors affecting
enzyme activity
• Enzymes do not all have the same
pH optimum (wide range of pH
environments in which enzymes
work).

• Protease secreted by the

bacterium Bacillus licheniformis
has a pH optimum between 9 and
10. It is cultured to produce its
alkaline-tolerant protease for use
in biological laundry detergents,
which are alkaline.
Factors affecting enzyme activity
Substrate concentration

• If it increases, substrate–active
site collisions will take place more
frequently and the rate at which
the enzyme catalyzes its reaction
increases.

• However, there is another trend

that needs to be considered.
Factors affecting enzyme activity
After the binding of a substrate to
an active site, the active site is
occupied and unavailable to other
substrate molecules until products
have been formed and released.

As the substrate concentration

rises, more and more of the active
sites are occupied at any moment
(substrate–active site collisions are
therefore blocked).
Paper 1 Practice
Paper 2 Practice
• Sketch a graph to show the effect of temperature on the activity of
enzymes. [2]

• Explain enzyme–substrate specificity. [3]

Bibliography
Allot, A. & Mindorf, D. (2014). Biology: Course companion. Oxford
University Press.