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Substrate Specificity of Invertase

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ABSTRACT
Enzymes are highly specific and can distinguish isomers of the same molecule. The enzyme invertase specifically catalyzes the reaction of the conversion of sucrose to its individual carbohydrates glucose and fructose. It does not catalyse the reaction of maltose to 2 glucose or lactose to galactose. In this experiment, titrimetric and spectrophotometric methods were used to determine the specificity of invertase by determining the amount of glucose converted from the given disaccharides. The results show that sucrose yielded the least amount of glucose and got the lowest absorbance reading.

INTRODUCTION
Enzymes are globular proteins. Their folded conformation creates an area known as the active site. The nature and arrangement …show more content…

Overall, kinetic assays of enzymes are performed to determine substrate specificity, enzyme performance (turnover), characteristics of the mechanism of action, and finally, fundamental kinetic constants describing the mechanism.

The initial reaction rates of enzymes are known to be affected by a variety of factors including: enzyme concentration, substrate identity, substrate concentration, pH, temperature, and the presence, or absence, of known inhibitors.

Invertase which is also known as beta-fructofuranoside fructohydrolase (EC 3.2.1.26) is a catalyst for sucrose hydrolysis yielding invert sugar. Its name refers to its ability to change the direction of optical rotation of sucrose solution as a result of hydrolysis to glucose and fructose. Although invertase is primarily known for the inversion of sucrose, it can be used to digest other disaccharides, trisaccharides, and fructans to make syrups of invert sugars, meliobiose from raffinose, gentiobiose from genanone, and fructose from inulin. The hydrolysis of sucrose by invertase was used as a model by Michaelis and Menten (1913) and served as a basis for most of theories of enzyme kinetics using sucrose and invertase. Invert sugar has been used to a great extent in the food industry such as in beverage and confectionery products. Invert sugar can be produced by a chemical process or biochemical process: using invertase as a catalyst. Nowadays, the

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