enzyme notes

what is an enzyme?

enzymes are a type of protein

enzymes act as?

biological catalysts

enzymes speed up chemical reactions by?

lowering the activation energy

what is the enzyme-substrate complex?

substrate and the active site on the enzyme

why is the enzyme and substrate referred to as a “lock and key”?

they go together and it won’t work unless you have both the substrate and the enzyme

what is activation energy?

the energy required to start a reaction

how do enzymes speed up chemical reactions?

the enzyme and substrate connect - so it lowers the activation energy required for the reaction

by decreasing the activation energy…

enzymes can speed up reactions

factors that affect all proteins

pH, temperature

wrong pH and temperature will result in

denaturation

what is denaturation?

protein loses its shapes thus losing its function and will not work

what is metabolism?

the sum of all chemical reactions in the body

in living things, chemical reactions must occur…

continuously

examples of chemical reactions in living things

photosynthesis, breaking down food, synthesis

enzyme names usually end with the suffix…

-ase

lipase

breaks down lipids

protease

breaks down protein

cellulase

breaks down cellulose

lactase

breaks down lactose

sucrase

breaks down sucrose