Enzymes
20/03/2024 - 22/03/2024
Cells coordinate activities - Enzymes
Learning Intention: Success Criteria:
Support the importance of enzymes for Define enzymes, metabolism and activation
catalysing important biochemical reactions energy
Compare and contrast models of enzyme
activity
Explain the factors affecting enzyme activity:
temperature, pH, substrate concentration
Explain the activity of enzymes using the terms:
optimum and narrow ranges
What are enzymes?
- Protein molecules that control all metabolic reactions in living cells.
- Globular proteins - chains of amino acids folded into a compact structure.
- Very complex molecules
- Very specific
- They are biological catalysts - control the rate of each step of the
complex chemical reactions that take place in cells
- Catalysts are chemical substances that:
1. can accelerate (speed up) chemical reactions
2. are unchanged at the end of the reaction
3. can be reused many times
Metabolism
- is the sum of all chemical reactions occurring within a living organism
- Over 1000 different reactions can take place in each cell
- A specific enzyme catalyses each of these reactions so there are many
different types of enzymes in living organisms. Each enzyme is specific to a
different type of chemical reaction
Activation Energy
- Reactions occur when reactants are supplied with enough energy, e.g. heat
energy
- The energy breaks the bonds in the reactants, then the reaction will proceed
and products will be formed
- Activation energy is the minimum amount of energy required to start a
reaction
- Enzymes speed up reactions by lowering the activation energy required for
the reaction
Activation Energy
Properties of Enzymes
- enzymes are composed of protein molecules
that are often highly folded to create a
particular chemical ‘shape’.
- active site - the surface of the enzyme with a
specific shape
- the substrates (reactants) temporarily bind to
the active site of the enzyme during a chemical
reaction
- this forms a substrate-enzyme complex and the
reaction proceeds
- The products of the reaction are then released
from the active site of the enzyme
- The enzyme remains unchanged
Catabolic and Anabolic Reactions
• What do you notice about the enzyme after each of these reactions?
• What does this mean?
The importance of enzymes in regulating biochemical pathways
- Enzymes catalyse biochemical reactions (they don’t make reactions occur, they just
speed them up).
- They do this by reducing the activation energy of a reaction.
Do now
Complete the following:
Blitzing Biology page 79-80
Investigation 3.3 - A practical investigation to model
the action of enzymes in cells, p93
AIM
1 To model the action of enzymes in cells (based on the substrate–enzyme
binding action and reusability of enzymes)
2 To investigate the effect of substrate concentration on the activity of an enzyme
HYPOTHESIS
The activity of the enzyme will increase as the substrate concentration increases
until it reaches saturation point, after which the activity of the enzyme will remain
constant.
Results
Results
Discussion
1 a The enzyme is catalase.
b The substrate is hydrogen peroxide.
2 Test tubes 1 and 2 have 100% substrate, which means that the enzyme catalase is
working at its optimum, all active sites are working.
3 The model is valid because we have controlled the amount of potato (catalase
enzyme) and the amount of substrate – hydrogen peroxide. All controlled variables are
constant, also test tubes 1 and 2 are the control, and we can compare the other test
tubes to these. We have also used a range of levels of the independent variable (at
least 5). This model also enables us to make predictions.
Discussion
4 a Independent variable = substrate concentration
b Dependent variable = height of bubbles in cm
c Controlled variables = amount of substrate, amount of catalase (potato), time of the
reaction – 5 minutes. We also used the same potato.
5 Test tube 1 is a control as we have removed the enzyme catalase to see that there is
no other factor that would react with the hydrogen peroxide.
6 The experiment is valid because we have used a range for the independent variable,
we have also controlled many variables to ensure that only the substrate concentration
has been altered.
Discussion
7 As the substrate concentration increased, the activity of the enzyme increased.
8 The results support the hypothesis as substrate concentration increased the height of
bubbles increased until a saturation point was reached.
9 The investigation was reliable because we try to reduce subjectivity of measurements
by using the same person for all measurements. There was a percentage range of trial
data (each set of trials was analysed separately) and there was less than 10%
percentage range in the data.
Conclusion
This investigation modelled the action of catalase on hydrogen peroxide.
It showed a relationship between substrate concentration and enzyme
activity. As the substrate concentration increased so did the height of the
bubbles until it reached a saturation point.
Models of Enzyme Activity
These models try to explain how the substrate-enzyme complex is formed, they
are:
1. Lock-and-key model:
- it was thought that the active site is rigid and the small substrate molecule
is reciprocally shaped and fits exactly into the active site, like a key into a
lock.
- once this substrate–enzyme complex has formed, the close proximity of
the molecules allows the reaction to be rapidly catalysed and the products
of the reaction are released.
Models of Enzyme Activity - lock-and-key
Models of Enzyme Activity
To validate the lock-and-key model, predictions were made and tested, the results led
to the currently accepted model, the induced-fit model/
2. Induced-fit model:
- based on the realisation that proteins are not rigid
- the binding of a substrate to the active site of an enzyme induces the enzyme to
alter its shape slightly, to fit more tightly around the substrate
Models of Enzyme Activity - induced-fit
Factors Affecting Enzyme Activity
Enzymes require particular conditions in order to function at their optimal efficiency.
Any change to these conditions means the enzyme will either work very slowly or not
at all. The following are factors that affect enzyme activity:
1. Temperature
2. pH
3. Substrate concentration
Factor 1: Temperature
- Body temperature allows enzymes within cells to function at their best
- In most living things, enzymes function normally at temperatures up to 40 oC
- As the temperature increases, the rate of reaction increases until the optimal
temperature is reached, the enzyme activity is at its maximum level here
- Above this temperature, the enzyme activity slows until it stops altogether at
temperatures of approximately 50–60°C
- At high temperatures the protein structure can bend and flex so much that it
changes the shape of the active site, the enzyme will not function as it should.
The heat causes the enzyme to denature. This change is irreversible.
Factor 2: pH
- pH is a measure of the acidity or
alkalinity of a substance
- Each enzyme has its own narrow range
of pH within which it functions most
efficiently
- Levels of alkalinity or acidity outside the
optimum pH for an enzyme can alter the
shape of the enzyme and slow down or
stop its functioning.
Factor 3: Substrate Concentration
- The concentration of the substrate will
affect the rate of a reaction
- The higher the substrate concentration,
the greater the rate of enzyme reaction,
until all available enzymes are being used
to catalyse reactions.
- This point is known as the saturation point
- Increasing the substrate concentration
beyond the saturation point will not
increase the rate of reaction
Do now
Complete the following:
Blitzing Biology page 81-83
Check you understanding 3.3, p96