Investigation Of A Chosen Biological Process

Enzymes are types of proteins that work as a substance to help speed up a chemical reaction (Madar & Windelspecht, 104). There are three factors that help enzyme activity increase in speed. The three factors that speed up the activity of enzymes are concentration, an increase in temperature, and a preferred pH environment. Whether or not the reaction continues to move forward is not up to the enzyme, instead the reaction is dependent on a reaction’s free energy. These enzymatic reactions have reactants referred to as substrates. Enzymes do much more than create substrates; enzymes actually work with the substrate in a reaction (Madar &Windelspecht, 106). For reactions in a cell it is

The purpose of this experiment was to test and observe the numerous amounts of factors that influence the activity of the enzyme and that can be done by releasing oxygen gas in a fixed condition and change conditions one at a time.

The null hypothesis for the first experiment was that substrate concentration would have no effect on the reaction rate. It was hypothesized that the reaction rate would increase with rising substrate concentrations, until all active sites were bound. The null hypothesis for the second experiment was that temperature would not have an effect on reaction rates. It was hypothesized that until the enzyme is denatured, as temperature increased, so would the reaction rate.

Substrate concentration also affects the rate of reaction as the greater the substrate concentration the faster the rate of reaction and all the active sites are filled. At this point the rate of reaction can only be increased if you add more enzymes in to make more active sites available.

Background and Introduction: Enzymes are proteins that process substrates, which is the chemical molecule that enzymes work on to make products. Enzyme purpose is to increase the rate of activity and speed up chemical reaction in a form of biological catalysts. The enzymes specialize in lowering the activation energy to start the process. Enzymes are very specific in their process, each substrate is designed to fit with a specific substrate and the enzyme and substrate link at the active site. The binding of a substrate to the active site of an enzyme is a very specific interaction. Active sites are clefts or grooves on the surface of an enzyme, usually composed of amino acids from different parts of the polypeptide chain that are brought together in the tertiary structure of the folded protein. Substrates initially bind to the active site by noncovalent interactions, including hydrogen bonds, ionic bonds, and hydrophobic interactions. Once a substrate is bound to the active site of an enzyme, multiple mechanisms can accelerate its conversion to the product of the reaction. But sometimes, these enzymes fail or succeed to increase the rate of action because of various factors that limit the action. These factors can be known as temperature, acidity levels (pH), enzyme and/or substrate concentration, etc. In this experiment, it will be tested how much of an effect

As stated in the introduction, three conditions that may affect enzyme activity are salinity, temperature, and pH. In experiment two, we explored how temperature can affect enzymatic activity. Since most enzymes function best at their optimum temperature or room temperature, it was expected that the best reaction is in this environment. The higher the temperature that faster the reaction unless the enzyme is denatured because it is too hot. Similarly, pH and salinity can affect enzyme activity.

Enzymes are biological catalysts that speed up chemical reactions, without being used up or changed. Catalase is a globular protein molecule that is found in all living cells. A globular protein is a protein with its molecules curled up into a 'ball' shape. All enzymes have an active site. This is where another molecule(s) can bind with the enzyme. This molecule is known as the substrate. When the substrate binds with the enzyme, a product is produced. Enzymes are specific to their substrate, because the shape of their active site will only fit the shape of their substrate. It is said that the substrate is complimentary to their substrate.

Organisms cannot depend solely on spontaneous reactions for the production of materials because they occur slowly and are not responsive to the organism's needs (Martineau, Dean, et al, Laboratory Manual, 43). In order to speed up the reaction process, cells use enzymes as biological catalysts. Enzymes are able to speed up the reaction through lowering activation energy. Additionally, enzymes facilitate reactions without being consumed (manual,43). Each enzyme acts on a specific molecule or set of molecules referred to as the enzyme's substrate and the results of this reaction are called products (manual 43). As a result, enzymes promote a reaction so that substrates are converted into products on a faster pace (manual 43). Most enzymes are proteins whose structure is determined by its sequence of its amino acids. Enzymes are designed to function the best under physiological conditions of PH and temperature. Any change of these variables that change the conformation of the enzyme will destroy or enhance enzyme activity(manual, 43).

Enzymes are very specific in nature, which helps them in reactions. When an enzyme recognizes its specific substrate, the

The purpose of this experiment is to determine how the acidity and basicity of the environment affects the rate at which a specific enzyme is able to produce products in a computer simulation.

Enzymes are biological catalysts. Without them, biological reactions will not proceed in a reasonable rate. For example, without a series of digestive enzymes, it can take 20 years to digest a hamburger. Enzyme-catalyzed reactions proceed through an ES complex, in which the substrate binds to the enzyme, gets transformed into the product, and releases into the environment. For a specific enzyme, only one or a few different substrate molecules can bind in the proper manner and produce a functional ES complex. The substrate must have a size, shape, and polarity compatible with

This investigation will be carried out to investigate the rate of reaction of the enzyme catalase on the substrate hydrogen peroxide.

Enzymes are organic catalysts that help to speed up the breakdown of a molecule, such as fructose. The enzyme helps a chemical reaction take place quickly so that the reaction happens properly. In order for that to happen the enzymes process by the lock and key model, the lock is the substrate and the enzyme is the key. The active sites are specific to a certain substrate of a molecule, so the enzymes only have one job to do. The shape of an enzyme is not changed or consumed during these reactions. However, without enzymes the reactions would take too long and would not breakdown properly.

As the substrate binds to the enzyme, it causes a conformational change in the active site, which stresses the substrate, weakening the bonds and thus, reducing the activation energy required for the reaction to occur. When the substrates form into products, they are still bound to the active site and when the reaction has completed, the products are released, leaving the active site available for substrates to bind again. The enzyme then reverts back to its original shape. (BBC Science)

A pipette was used to move 2ml of the substrate into each of the corresponding five test tubes and 2ml of buffer solution, pH 6.8, was added into the five substrate test tubes (S 0ºC, S RT, S 37ºC, S 60ºC and S 100ºC). The same amount of enzyme was transferred into its corresponding test tubes (E 0°C, E RT, E 37°C, E 60°C and E 100°C). The corresponding enzyme and substrate test tubes were equilibrated to their corresponding temperatures. Both the test tubes E 0°c and S 0°c were cooled down to 0°c using a beaker of ice and a thermometer. The room temperature test tubes were already