Enzymes and Metabolism

catalyst

something that increases the rate of a chemical reaction

Enzymes

biological catalysts made up of living cells that speed up reactions

Metabolism

the complex sum of interdependent and interacting chemical reactions that occur in living organisms

enzyme specificity

each enzyme catalyzes only one specific reaction or a specific group of reactions

Benefits of Enzyme specificity

• allows organisms to control metabolism

• drive only specific reactions

• control rate of reactions

Anabolic reactions

build up smaller molecules into larger ones (bring together)

Catabolic reactions

break down larger molecules into smaller ones (releasing energy) (break down)

active site

the place where substrates bind to enzymes

denaturation

the change of an enzymes active site due to an increase/decrease in temp or pH

cause the enzyme to stop working

lock and key model

talks about the need for an exact fit (aka enzyme specificity, denaturation)

induced fit model

talks about change in enzyme configuration, active site molds to the substrate