ENZYMES

REACTIONS IN YOUR BODY

• Chemical reactions are

constantly happening in
your body
• The sum of all chemical
reactions in your body
is your
METABOLISM
 Enzymes
• Protein molecules that control all
metabolic reactions
• Control the rate these reactions occur
in living cells (Biological catalysts)
• Without them, chemical reactions in
your body would be very slow.
• In metabolic reactions, there can be up
to 1000 reactions in one cell – each of
those requires a specific enzyme.
Catalysts
• Chemical substances
that can speed up or
slow down chemical
reactions
• Remain unchanged at
the end of the reaction
• Can be reused
Role of Enzymes
• Specific in their reaction, they only affect one type of reaction
• Lower the activation energy (lower the amount of energy needed to
start reaction)
Chemical Composition of Enzymes
• Enzymes are proteins
• Proteins are made up of polypeptides, which are long chains
of amino acids
• The chains are folded into a specific 3D shape
• Effective functioning of an enzyme relies on its shape
Structure of an Enzyme
• Enzymes have an active site
• Active site?
• Area where substrate (molecule on
which the enzyme acts) binds.
• Chemical reaction occurs here
• Specific to substrate
• Enzyme specificity, one enzyme
will only catalyse one type of
reaction
HOW ENZYMES WORK
 Modelling enzymes
There are two models used to describe how enzymes function.
1. Lock and key model – action and specific of enzymes
• Which one is
the key ?
• Which is the
lock?
Modelling enzymes
There are two models used to describe how enzymes function.
2. Induced fit model – substrates determine final shape of enzyme
Question

Which diagram represents the:

• Substrate?
• Enzyme?
• Product?
• Enzyme – substrate complex?
Question to Answer
Factors affecting enzyme activity
Enzymes require highly specific conditions in order to
function at optimal efficiency. Changes to these
conditions means they will work slower or not at all.
Some factors that affect enzyme activity are:
1. Temperature
2. pH
3. Substrate concentration
 1. Temperature
• Enzymes within cells function
best at the body temperature of
the organism.
• In humans, enzymes work at 37°
C, hence why our bodies are
always at 37°C and why it can be
dangerous for your body to
fluctuate too far away from this
point.
 1. Temperature
• The rate of reaction will
increase until it reaches
an optimum
temperature.
• Outside of this
temperature the rate of
reaction will decrease
• At high temperatures
the:
• Enzyme denatures
 Why?
• At high temperatures the
structure of enzymes bends and
flexes so that it changes the shape
of the active site.
• Enzyme denatures – it no longer
works because the substrate
cannot bind to the active site.
• Occurs at very low temperatures,
stops or slows down enzyme
function. Reversible.
2. pH
• pH is a measure of
acidity or alkalinity of a
substance or solution.
• Where an enzyme
function will determine
its optimal pH (eg.
Pepsin, stomach
enzyme, stomach has
pH of 2).
2. pH

• If enzyme is
outside its
normal pH
range, activity
decreases and at
extremes it may
also denature.
3. Substrate concentration
• The higher the
concentration, the greater
the rate of enzyme reaction
• Until all the available
enzymes are used up – this is
called the saturation point.
Examples of enzymes in the human
body
Enzyme Substrate Products of reaction
Catalase Hydrogen peroxide Water & oxygen
Amylase Starch Glucose
Pepsin Protein Amino acids

Rennin Milk protein Casein

(caseinogen)
Lipase Lipids Fatty acids and
Summary