Understanding Browning of Fruits and Vegetables by an Enzyme 2019

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Montclair State University *

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Biology

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Dec 6, 2023

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Understanding Browning of Fruits and Vegetables by an Enzyme: Polyphenoloxidase in Potatoes Recall the following about enzymes: Enzymes act as biological catalysts. Almost all enzymes are proteins. The enzymatic reaction is catalyzed in a region of the enzyme called the active site. Enzyme activity is influenced by a number of factors: enzyme concentration, substrate concentration, pH of the reaction, temperature, possibly cofactors, inhibitors and/or activators. Some enzymes are absolutely specific for their substrate: this means they will catalyze a reaction only on one substrate structure, whereas other enzymes may show “group specificity”, meaning that they can catalyze similar reactions with two or more substrates of related chemical structure (e.g. peptides, alcohols, etc). POLYPHENOLOXIDASE A number of fruits and vegetables contain an enzyme called polyphenoloxidase, which is responsible for the browning we observe when these fruits and vegetables are cut and exposed to the air, or bruised (e.g. raw potatoes, apples). This enzyme contains a metal cofactor, copper, and it can catalyze an oxidation reaction of dihydroxyphenols and trihydroxyphenols to give quinones. For example, if the starting substrate is catechol, the reaction equation would be as follows: You will work with an extract of raw potatoes which contains polyphenoloxidase, and by carrying out several experiments, you will test the effect of different variables on the observed extent of reaction, or rate of reaction. IMPORTANT: In all work with enzymes, it is very important to use very clean glassware, rinsed with distilled water. Enzymes can be easily denatured by leftover detergent on glassware, or inhibited by metal ions that are present in tap water. So keep this in mind as you prepare for and do your work.
POLYPHENOLOXIDASE EXPERIMENTS: For all the following experiments you are comparing reactions in 3 or 4 tubes. It is important to cooperate within your group: since you are basically comparing enzymatic reaction rates, you want all reactions to start pretty much at the same time, so add enzyme to all tubes quickly and keep track of what is being done (one experimentor, one scribe). Materials: 13x100 glass tubes, rack P1000 pipettors, tips Solutions: enzyme extract (on ice), 0.01M catechol, water, 0.01M phenol, 0.01M hydroquinone, 0.4M HCl, 0.1M lactic acid, 0.5M sodium carbonate I. THE BASIC REACTION OF POLYPHENOLOXIDASE Assemble the following reactions: Tube A Tube B Tube C 10 drops distilled water 10 drops 0.01M catechol 10 drops 0.01M catechol 10 drops enzyme extract 10 drops enzyme extract 10 drops distilled water Gently shake tubes to mix well and place them in the 37 degree waterbath Every 5 minutes, shake the tubes to aerate the contents. This adds oxygen Examine the contents of the tubes every 5 minutes, by holding up to the light or against a sheet of white paper. Continue for a total of 15 minutes, or until tube B has a dark, deep red color. Record the intensity of the red color observed in all tubes, by using the notation +, ++, +++, -. Table 1: Time (min) Tube A Tube B Tube C 0 - ++ - 5 - ++ - 10 - ++ - 15 - ++ - Questions: 1) What do tubes A and C control for? Tube A was control for Enzyme extract, C was for 0.01M catechol. 2) Since the intensity of color is proportional to the concentration of product benzoquinone, what do you conclude about how the amount of benzoquinone changed over time for tube B? For our experiment over time the color did not change much which means the concentration stayed the same. 3) Did the reaction occur in tube C without enzyme? The reaction did not occur. 4) Did you observe some color change in tube A? Since A did not contain any catechol, what is your explanation for what you observed? Minimal color change in tube A not clear but no red color enzyme had minimal reaction with water.
5) In one sentence state your overall conclusion for what Part I has shown you. Catechol is reacting with enzyme extract to give us a red color.
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