ENZYMES

PROTEINS WITH CATALYTIC PROPERTIES

Objectives

Students should be able to:

Define the term enzyme
Describe the mode of action of enzymes
Describe the factors which affect enzyme activity
Important!!

► Without enzymes, the reactions in cells would be so slow as to

virtually not process at all and this would result in the death of the
organism
► Enzymes controls many reaction in the cell so they can process in an
orderly fashion

► Enzymes are known as a BIOLOGICAL CATALYST

► A Catalyst is something that speeds up the rate of a chemical
reaction
► A Biological catalyst speeds up the rate of reactions in living cells.
► Without enzymes in living organisms' body several reactions would
occur too slow to sustain life.
 Important terms to note:

► Metabolism- all the chemical reactions which occur within the cells.

There are 2 main types of metabolism:

► Anabolism- building up processes within the cells for e.g. production of

starch or glycogen from the condensation of glucose molecules.

► Catabolism-breaking down processes within the cell for e.g. the

hydrolysis of glycogen or starch to glucose
Enzyme structure

►Enzymes are proteins

►They have a globular
shape
►A complex 3-D
structure

Human pancreatic amylase

 Making reactions go faster

► Increasing the temperature makes molecules move

faster
► Biological
systems are very sensitive to
temperature changes
► Enzymes can increase the rate of reactions
without the need to increase the temperature
► They do this by lowering the activation energy
► They create a new reaction pathway “a short cut”.
 Substrate and Active site

► Substrate – the substance/ chemical (reactant) the that the enzyme

acts/works on for e.g. in an enzyme catalyzed reaction to make glycogen,
glucose would be substrate.
► Active site- the specific region on the enzyme to which the substrate
bind to undergo the chemical reaction.
► Enzymes catalyse the breakdown of a substrate into product(s).
► Product – the substance that is made by the reaction e.g. Breakdown of
starch by Amylase the product is Maltose
A = B+C
Substrate Products
 The substrate

► The substrates of enzymes are the reactants that

are activated by the enzymes
► Enzymes are specific to their substrates
► The specificity is determined by the active site.
► Thename an enzyme receives is often done
according to the substrate whose breakdown is
being catalysed. For example, lipases catalyse the
breakdown of lipids, and enzymes that catalyse the
breakdown of carbohydrates are called
carbohydrases.
 The active site

The shape and the

chemical
environment inside
the active site
permits a chemical
reaction to proceed
more easily.

DNA ploymerase
Enzyme Mode of Action and binding to substrates:
The Lock and Key Hypothesis

S
E
E
E

Enzyme- Enzyme may

substrate be used again
complex P
E
P
Reaction
 The Lock and Key Hypothesis

► Fit between the substrate and the active site of the enzyme is exact

► Like a key fits into a lock very precisely

► Enzyme-substrate complex formed

► Products have a different shape from the substrate

► Products are released from the active site

► Leaving it free for another substrate molecule.

Lock and Key Hypothesis
The Lock and Key Hypothesis

►This explains enzyme specificity

►This explains the loss of activity when
enzymes denature.
 Properties of Enzymes

► They are made of PROTEIN. They are made from amino acids
produced by digestion or the chemical break down of other
protein from the food we eat.

► Enzymes are biological catalysts. They are not changed by the

reactions they speed up. Therefore they can be used repeatedly.
Thus only small amount of enzyme is needed to catalyse a
reaction.

► They are SPECIFIC- means that only one particular enzyme will
work with one particular substrate
 Properties of Enzymes

► They are temperature sensitive. Enzymes are denatured or

inactivated by excess heat because they are protein. The work
best at a particular temperature called the optimum temperature.

► They are sensitive to pH ( the degree of acidity and alkalinity of a

medium). They work best at a particular pH, called the optimum pH.

► Can be inhibited. Enzymes are inhibited by poison such as arsenic

and cyanide.
► They require moisture to operate. Hence the reason they are found
inside our cells.
 Factors affecting Enzymes

It is important to know that enzymes work best at certain

conditions and so are affected by certain factors. These include:
► Enzyme concentration
► Substrate concentration
► pH
► Temperature
► Inhibitors

► When measuring one factor, it is important to keep all other

factors constant.
The effect of pH
Optimum pH values

Enzyme
activity
Trypsin

Pepsin

1 3 5 7 9 11
pH
 The effect of pH

► Different enzymes work at different pH conditions.

► Under conditions of constant temperature and other

conditions, most enzyme function efficiently over a narrow
pH range.

► Ifthe pH is increased or decreased below an enzyme’s pH

range, the enzyme activity will decrease.

► When pH increases, this means alkalinity increases and so

does the concentration of hydrogen ions which are positive .
 The effect of pH

►Extreme pH levels will produce denaturation

►The structure of the enzyme is changed as
the active site is distorted and the
substrate molecules will no longer fit in it.
►At pH values, changes in the charges on
substrate molecules will also occur.
►This change will affect the binding of the
substrate with the active site.
The effect of pH
The effect of pH on enzyme activity
 pH of the alimentary canal
Mouth Slightly alkaline to neutral

Stomach Very acidic; pH 2 (dilute hydrochloric acid)

Duodenum Very alkaline; (bile)

Ileum alkaline
 The effect of temperature

► Heating as we know increases the kinetic energy of

molecules.
► If the kinetic energy of the enzyme is increased, their
molecular motion is increased as well. This means that the
chances of the enzyme bumping into or colliding with a
substrate is also increased.
► All enzymes have an optimum temperature, which is the
temp. that promotes maximum activity of the enzyme.
► If the enzyme’s temperature is increased above its
maximum temperature, the enzyme becomes denatured
and so enzymatic activity is lowered and may eventually
stop.
 The effect of temperature

►If the temperature becomes too low or cold,

then enzymes become inactivated, but NOT
denatured.
►This means they can become activated again
once appropriate temperature is reached.

►Question:
►How does this apply to our everyday life?
►Let’s think about the kitchen ☺
 The effect of temperature
Optimum

Increasing
number of Denaturation
collisions (Q10)
Enzyme
activity

0 10 20 30 40 50
Temperature / °C
Effect of temperature on enzymes
 The effect of temperature

► Formost enzymes, the optimum temperature is

about 30°C.
► Mammalianenzymes tend to have a temperature
range between 37-40°C.
► Manyare a lot lower, cold water fish will die at 30°C
because their enzymes denature
►A few bacteria have enzymes that can withstand
very high temperatures between 70-100°C.
► Most enzymes however are fully denatured at 70°C.
© 2017 Paul Billiet ODWS
 Enzyme Inhibition

► An inhibitor is a small molecule or chemical which

reduces the rate of the activity of an enzyme.
► Inhibitors help to regulate enzyme activity which
is completely normal.
► Many drugs and poisons act as enzyme inhibitors.
► For example:
► Cyanide – inhibits an enzyme involved in
respiration
 Enzyme concentration

If other
conditions are
kept constant
and substrate
concentration is
maintained at a
high level, the
rate of reaction
is proportional
to the enzyme
concentration.
 Substrate concentration

► Faster reaction but it

reaches a saturation
point when all the
enzyme molecules are
occupied.
Substrate concentration

► The rate of an enzyme reaction increases with increasing

substrate concentration for a given enzyme.
► However, there comes a point when no increase in substrate
concentration will cause no significant increase in enzyme
reaction rate.

► Why? This is due to the fact that at high substrate

concentrations, the active sites of the enzyme molecules are
occupied with substrate.

► Therefore, a susbtrate would have to wait for a reaction to

complete as well as the products to leave the active site
before it can enter into the active site of the enzyme.
 Catalase

► Is an enzyme found in animal and plant cells.

► Detoxification is one of the liver's functions.
► Catalase is a natural enzyme found primarily in the liver of animals. It splits
hydrogen peroxide, which is toxic to cells, into harmless oxygen and water.

► Needed to speed up the breakdown of HYDROGEN PEROXIDE

► Breaks it down to OXYGEN and WATER
► The word equation for this looks like this
Amylase

► Found in saliva and in the pancreas

► Break down enzyme
► Breaks STARCH down to MALTOSE
► Word equation looks like this
Amylase

► Found in saliva and in the pancreas

► Break down enzyme
► Breaks STARCH down to MALTOSE
► Word equation looks like this
 More about specificity

This
► means amylase will only breakdown starch
Catalase will only breakdown hydrogen peroxide
►
Amylase will NOT breakdown hydrogen peroxide
►
Catalase will NOT breakdown starch
►

Are
► specific for what they will catalyze
Are Reusable
►
End in –ase
►
-Sucrase
-Lactase
-Maltase
Examples of digestive enzymes in the alimentary canal
Uses/ Applications of Enzymes
Uses/Applications of Enzymes
Uses/Applications of Enzymes
 Use your knowledge of enzymes to explain the following:

► 1. Meat which is left on the counter spoils faster than meat that is left in the freezer.
► 2. Boiled milk remains fresher for longer than milk which was not boiled.
► 3. Caribbean chefs place pieces on raw pawpaw on meat before cooking to ensure
that it is tender and juicy. A student used cooked paw paw instead but the meat was
not tender or juicy.
► 4. A delicatessen owner instructed his staff to put lime juice onto the ripe bananas
used to make banana splits. The pale yellow colour was preserved.
► 5. Fish that was sun dried stays fresher for longer than fish which was not placed in
the sun.