Week 3 Flashcards
(162 cards)
What role do regulatory enzymes play in pathways?
They effect the overall rate of a serious of metabolic reactions
What causes the levels of regulatory enzymes to change?
They change levels in response to transcriptional regulation
When do regulatory enzymes control rates of enzyme-catalyzed reactions?
When more of a substance is needed so the reaction rates increase
Or when a substance is no longer needed so the rate decreases
What ability allows the cell to adapt to its changing needs?
The ability to control the rate of the overall metabolic pathway
In what part of a pathway do regulatory enzymes catalyze a reaction (speed up)?
The rate-limiting or slowest step in the pathway
How does substrate concentration affect the enzyme rate in a pathway?
The more substrate there is the faster the reactions will occur due to the enzyme’s active site being saturated with the abundant amounts of substrate
What are the two types of regulation?
Stimulatory and inhibitory
What are the two ways to mediate regulation?
Control of catalytic efficiency through protein modification (increasing the speed of reaction more efficiently)
Bioavailability (the amount of the enzyme in different tissues and cellular compartments)
What are the 5 ways enzymes are regulated?
Allosteric control (non-covalent)
Having multiple forms of the enzymes (isozymes)
Reversible covalent modification
Proteolytic activation
Controlling the amount of enzyme present (transcriptional level of control)
Where is the allosteric site?
On the enzyme separated from the active site (not competing with substrate)
What does non-covalent binding to the allosteric site cause for the active site?
A conformational change (shape changes) and can increase or decrease the enzymes affinity for the substrate (ability of binding)
What structure protein is an allosteric enzyme (primary, tertiary, etc.)?
Quaternary structures (remember this means there is more than one subunit)
Are allosteric effectors modified when binding to the enzyme’s allosteric site?
No - this is a NON-covalent interaction so no modifications are made - all weak interactions
What happens when an allosteric effector is a homotropic effector?
The enzyme’s substrate is serving as the effector (homo=same, so the substrate and effector are the same)
Are homotropic effectors usually activators or inhibitors?
Usually activators (having the substrate binded in one active site increases the catalytic properties at the other sites (positive cooperation))
What is happening when the allosteric effector is a heterotropic effector?
The effector is different than the substrate (hetero=different or not same)
The binding to the allosteric site has a different effect than the substrate at the active site
Do heterotropic effectors usually serve as allosteric inhibitors or activators?
Inhibitors (important in negative feedback)
What is positive cooperativity?
When the binding of one substrate makes it easier for other substrates to bind to different subunits
What is T conformation?
When there is low affinity for the substrate (taut or tight)
In a conformation that makes it hard for the substrate to fit into the binding site
What is the R conformation?
The relaxed state - high affinity conformation - easy to bind
Do allosteric activators bind more tightly to the R state or the T state?
When the enzyme is in the R or relaxed state (higher affinity for substrate or activator in this case)
In what way do allosteric activators stimulate a reaction?
They increase the amount of enzymes in the active state
Do allosteric inhibitors bind more tightly to the R state or the T state?
The T tight state
Make it even more difficult for substrates and activators to convert the subunit to the most active conformation
How would one overcome the effects of allosteric inhibitors?
By increasing substrate concentration OR the activator concentration