Medical Biochemistry

Enzymes Session 1a
Introduction

Copyright © 2007 Marcus Merrin

 Segment 1 Concept of Catalysis
Introduction

During each segment, ask yourself the

questions:
– Why is this important?
– How does this help me to explain how things
work?

Copyright © 2017 Marcus Merrin

 Learning Objectives
Goal 4:
Understand integrated metabolic pathways and
the role of enzymes in metabolism.
Introduction

4a. Given an enzyme catalyzed reaction, identify

substrate, product and the importance of enzyme
active site

4b. Given a scenario or graphical representation in

which a reaction is taking place in the presence or
absence of an enzyme, describe free energy
change, activation energy, and reaction velocity (V).

Copyright © 2017 Marcus Merrin

 Learning Objectives
4c. Given an enzyme catalyzed reaction, analyze
the effect of enzyme concentration, temperature,
pH, and cofactors on V and Vmax.
Introduction

4d. Given Michaelis Menten or Lineweaver-Burk

plot analyse the effect of substrate concentration
and significance of Km.

4e. Given kinetic data of an enzyme catalyzed

reaction, differentiate between competitive and non
competitive inhibition.

4f. Given a scenario/graphic representation related

to the regulation of enzyme catalyzed reactions,
analyze the mechanisms of regulation and justify
the importance of different modes of regulation.

Copyright © 2017 Marcus Merrin

 • Concept of Catalysis
Segment 1 Concept of

– What is Catalysis?
– What is happening at a molecular level?
– How does this relate to the real world?
Catalysis

Copyright © 2017 Marcus Merrin

 • In a chemical reaction the reactants
become products via a high energy
transition state.
• The height of this energy barrier (activation
energy), and the proportion of molecules
Catalysis

with enough energy to overcome it,

determine the rate of reaction.
• To speed up a reaction, we can raise the
temperature (give more molecules the
necessary activation energy)
• Or lower the activation energy. (more
molecules now possess the necessary
energy)
• This latter approach is called catalysis.

Copyright © 2017 Marcus Merrin

Reaction Profiles

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How Catalysts Function

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 Enzymes
– Enzymes are protein catalysts that
increase the rate of reactions
– Most reactions in the body are mediated
Introduction

(controlled) by enzymes in living

organisms.
– They are not themselves changed in the
process.
– Enzymes channel substrates into useful
pathways.

Copyright © 2017 Marcus Merrin

 Active sites
– Enzymes (E) contain a cleft or pocket
Properties of Enzymes

which has amino acid side-chains in it

that are complementary to the substrate
(S)
– The substrate is bound to the active site
forming the enzyme-substrate complex
(ES)
– The substrate is transformed into bound
product, the enzyme-product complex
(EP)
– The EP complex dissociates to give free
enzyme (E) and product (P)

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 Catalytic efficiency
Properties of Enzymes

– The rate enhancement over uncatalyzed

reactions is typically 103 to 108 times.
– Each enzyme can transform 100 – 1000 S
molecules into P every second.
– The number of S → P transformations per
E molecule per second is called the
turnover number.

Copyright © 2017 Marcus Merrin

 Specificity
– Enzymes are highly specific.
Properties of Enzymes

– Usually a narrow range of substrates

– Usually only one reaction

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 Cofactors
– Some enzymes bind non-protein
Properties of Enzymes

cofactors necessary for catalytic activity.

– May be metal ions, or organic molecules
(coenzymes)
– An enzyme with its cofactor is called a
holoenzyme
– An enzyme without its cofactor is called
an apoenzyme
– A tightly bound coenzyme that doesn’t
dissociate is called a prosthetic group

Copyright © 2017 Marcus Merrin

 Regulation
– Enzyme activity can be regulated so that
Properties of Enzymes

product formation can be matched to

the cell’s needs
• Substrate/product concentrations
• Competition
• Allosteric inhibition/activation

Copyright © 2017 Marcus Merrin

 Cellular location
– Many enzymes are located in special
Properties of Enzymes

organalles
– This compartmentalization allows
substrates and products to be at different
concentrations in different parts of the
cell

Copyright © 2017 Marcus Merrin