In: Biology
Enzymes are proteins molecules which speed up the rate of biological reaction without themselves being consumed in the reaction. They help in lowering the activation energy. Activation energy is the amount of energy required to start a reaction.
Factors affecting enzymatic reactions -
Temperature and pH
All the enzymes work at a specific temperature and a specific pH called as optimum temperature and optimum pH. Any deviation from this optimum value is detrimental to the structure of enzyme which results in the loss of catalytic activity of enzyme.
A bell shaped curve is obtained when we plot optimum temperature/optimum pH versus rate of enzymatic reaction. The peek determine the optimum value and any increase or decrease in the optimum value results in the decrease of rate of reaction.
Enzyme concentration and substrate concentration
The rate of enzymatic reaction is proportional to the concentration of enzyme and substrate but upto a certain limit. Initially the rate increases, when the substrate or enzyme concentration is increased. Then it reaches a constant value and there is no increase or decrease in the rate of reaction.
This is because, when we increase the concentration of enzyme, then more number of enzyme molecules bind to the substrate molecules and when the substrate molecules become Limited, then the rate becomes constant. Similarly when we increase the concentration of substrate, then more number of substrate molecules bind to the enzyme molecules and when the enzyme molecules become Limited, then the rate becomes constant.
In this case, a hyperbolic curve is obtained when we plot concentration of enzyme or concentration of substrate versus rate of reaction.
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