Succinate Dehydrogenase Lab

Succinate dehydrogenase is an enzyme found in the mitochondrial inner membrane. The enzyme catalyzes the reaction of oxidizing its substrate, succinate, into fumarate via the removal of hydrogen ions from succinate. This oxidation is vital in the Krebs cycle.

The null hypothesis will be that the test tubes with an increase in temperature, pH values, enzyme concentrations, and substrate concentration will have a very small color change or no color change at all. The alternate hypothesis is that the test tubes containing an increase in temperature, pH values, enzyme concentrations, and substrate concentration will all have an intense color change; the more the change, the more intense the color change will be.

The enzyme lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) catalyzes the last step of anaerobic glycolysis that is important for the normal function of the body. Purification of LDH is essential to understand its structure and function. The purpose of this experiment was to extract and purify LDH enzyme from chicken muscle tissue using a variety of various. Analytical methods such as activity and protein assay were employed to determine the presence and purity of LDH. The cells were initially disrupted and proteins were solubilized. LDH was purified from the ammonium sulfate precipitated protein mixture by affinity chromatography and its activity was studied by

In our experiment we will use differential centrifugation to isolate the mitochondria of cauliflower and then assay SDH activity using a fixed time assay. We will then measure protein content in our fractions and calculate specific activity and total activity of our fractions.

Colorimetric assay is a process of determining a concentration of a solution based on absorbance of light. The purpose of this lab is to determine if the Bradford assay is an accurate way to determine an unknown concentration of two samples of protein. The Bradford assay is done by measuring wavelength of light passing through a cuvette filled with Bradford dye and concentrations of PBS and proteins. After the cuvettes are mixed they are placed into a spectrophotometer to measure wavelength. The wavelength given will be used to plot a standard curve based on concentration (x-axis) and wavelength (y-axis). The standard curve is then used to measure an educated guess on the concentrations of unknown protein concentrations. We hypothesized that if we use the Bradford assay and colorimetric spectrophotometry we can determine an accurate concentration of two unknown concentrations of proteins. The results of this lab failed to reject our hypothesis based on accurate measurements of protein concentrations. The standard curves are drawn with a linear increasing slope. The Bradford assay is an accurate way to demine the concentration of an unknown concentration.

Understanding the activity of enzymes in different muscle types can aid greatly in obtaining more information about other processes such as metabolism of the tissues (Anderson et al., 2012). There are many different methods in order to achieve this information based in two different major categories but the most convenient method is one called continuous assay. This process includes the use of a spectrophotometer to continuously monitor the assay. This method allows for an easy way to calculate the initial rate of reaction as one can establish time points easily. In the lab performed the continuous method was used in order to determine the measurement of the activity enzyme succinate dehydrogenase (SDH). SDH is most commonly found in mitochondria. It is present in many different muscle tissues including the heart, red, and white tissue. In the following lab the enzyme was tested and measured in these three muscle types in the Oncorhynchus mykiss in order to determine which type contained the highest and the lowest activity. This enzyme is involved in multiple processes such as involved in both the Krebs cycle and the electron transport chain (ETC) (Smith, 2014). Its role in

Lab six requires students to observe the effects of pH and enzyme concentration on catecholase activity. Enzymes are organic catalysts that can affect the rate of a chemical reaction depending on the pH level and the concentration of the enzyme. As pH comes closer to a neutral pH the enzyme is at its greatest effectiveness. Also at the absorbance of a slope of 0.0122 the enzyme is affected greatly. The pH effect on enzymes can be tested by trying each pH level with a pH buffer of the same pH as labeled as the test tube and 1mL of potato juice, water, and catechol. This is all mixed together and put in the spectrophotometer to test how much is being absorbed at 420nm. As the effect on enzyme concentration can be tested almost the same way. This part of the exercise uses different amounts of pH 7-phosphate buffer and potato juice, and 1mL of catechol mixed together in a test tube. Each substance is put in the spectrophotometer at a wavelength set tot 420nm. The results are put down for every minute up to six minutes to see how enzyme concentration affects reaction rate. The results show that the pH 8 (0.494) affects the enzyme more than a pH of 4 (0.249), 6 (0.371), 7 (0.456), and 10 (0.126). Also the absorbance is greatest at a slope of 0.0122 with test tube C that has more effect on the reaction rate, than test tube A, B, and D.

Eisenthal, R. & M.J. Danson (Eds.) (2002). _Enzyme Assays: A Practical Approach_. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press

For the Enzyme Catalysis Lab, each of eight groups was assigned to perform a baseline

There were a couple of problems that our group encountered while conducting this experiment. Since this was our first experiment dealing with enzyme activity, the probability of human error increased. We found it difficult to go through the procedures with undefined roles for our team. The other problem that our team encountered was the getting the cuvettes into the spectrophotometer quickly once the enzyme was introduced to the cuvette.

The homogenate used in this experiment was liver homogenate. Five different samples and a blank

After the substrate solution was added, five drops of the enzyme were quickly placed in tubes 3, 4 and 5. There were no drops of enzyme added in tubes 1 and 2 and in tube 6 ten drops were added. Once the enzyme solution has been added the tubes were then left to incubate for ten minutes and after five drops of DNSA solution were added to tubes 1 to 6. The tubes were then placed in a hot block at 80-90oC for five minutes. They were then taken out after the five minute period and using a 5 ml pipette, 5 ml of distilled water were added to the 6 tubes and mixed by inversion. Once everything was complete the 6 tubes were then taken to the Milton Roy Company Spectronic 21 and the absorbance of each tube was tested.

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze (speed up) biological reactions in an organism by lowering the activation energy of a reaction. They do this by either straining the bonds in a molecule so that is easier to break up or by placing separate molecules/elements close to each other so that bonds are formed. Enzyme activity is influenced by an array of different factors such as enzyme concentration, substrate concentration, temperature, pH and inhibitor concentration. All of these affect the rate of reactions of enzymes and some such as temperature, inhibitors and pH can under circumstances cause enzymes to become permanently affected. Catalase is an enzyme found in almost all organisms on earth exposed to Oxygen.

The spectrophotometer as zeroed once 0.1ml of 16.2M ethanol was added. 0.1ml of the enzyme stock solution was added and the absorbance at 340nm was measured for two minutes. OD/min is then calculated from the graphs of the spectrophotometer. Concentration of the substrate was then calculated (Appendix 1) and Enzyme velocity was calculated (Appendix 1). The same procedure was repeated for 1.2ml of the buffer, 1.5ml of NAD+, 0.1 ml of ethanol and 0.2ml of enzyme solution was added and the velocity of the enzymes was then measured again.

Protein purification is a process that can be employed to separate a single protein from a larger starting material which may be anything from an organ to a cell. Isolating a purified protein from a larger fraction enables further analysis such as determination of amino acid sequence, potential biological function, and even evolutionary relationship. (Cuatrecasas 1970) In this experiment, the enzyme lactate dehydrogenase will be purified, this enzyme is found extensively in human cells and catalyzes the conversion of lactate to pyruvate, an essential part in energy production. LDH is a key part of anaerobic energy production especially within glycolysis in which LDH catalyzes the conversion of the reverse reaction, pyruvate to lactate, generating NAD+ from NADH, reproducing the oxidized form of the coenzyme which can be used for oxidative respiration. (Markert 1963) Due to the fact that number of purification steps correlates with the purity of the protein multiple purification techniques will be used to isolate a pure form of LDH. LDH will be isolated from a larger “cytosol” fraction collected from a homogenized rat liver in a previous fractionation exercise. Of the procedures that will be used to isolate and purify proteins from a larger fractionate are a set of techniques collectively known as chromatography. These techniques all have the same premise, in that they consist of a stationary phase, also known as the