Introduction To Enzymes Flashcards
(29 cards)
What do organisms need to carry out to survive?
Metabolic reactions
What does metabolism refer to?
Refers to all the reactions of the body
Why do the metabolic reactions need to happen quickly?
So that organisms can respond to these changes in their environment
What 2 ways can you speed up the reaction?
Increasing temperature
Use a catalyst
Why is increasing temperature a bad way to speed up reactions?
(3)
Higher temperatures can damage cells
- they can melt lipids
- they can denature proteins
Increasing temperature
What happens when proteins are denatured?
(2)
Loose shape
Can’t function
What is a catalyst?
A chemical that speeds up the rate of reaction and remains unchanged and reusable at the end of the reaction
What are biological catalyst for metabolic reactions called?
Enzymes
What do cells use to carry out metabolic reactions quickly?
Use proteins called enzymes
What is a substrate?
A molecule that can have a reaction catalysed by an enzyme
What is the enzymes turnover number?
The number of substrates an enzyme can catalyse in one minute
What do substrates bind to?
The reactive part of an enzyme called its active site
What must be right for a substrate to bind with an active site?
The right shape
What will every substrate have that it can bind with?
A specific enzyme
What does complementary binding refer to?
Refers to when 2 molecules fit together to complete each other
What effects an enzymes ability to function?
The 3D shape of its active site
What factors can the shape of the active site be affected by?
pH
Temperature
The presence of inhibitors or cofactors
What is activation energy?
The (kinetic) energy required at the start of a reaction
What type of energy do molecules need to move?
Kinetic energy
What needs to happen for a chemical reaction to occur?
The right molecules need to collide with sufficient energy
What can cause more ‘successful’ collisions?
If more molecules have enough kinetic energy to react then there will me more ‘successful’ collisions
Will a reaction with a lower activation energy occur faster or slower?
Faster
Why will a reaction with a lower activation energy occur faster?
Because there will be more molecules with sufficient energy to react
How do enzymes catalyse reactions?
What do they also allow to occur?
By lowering the activation energy required for a reaction to occur
They also allow reactions to occur at lover temperatures