In: Biology
Describe two specific catalytic mechanisms that enzymes may use to speed up a reaction and describe two molecular mechanisms which regulate enzyme activity
Mechanisms of enzyme catalysis vary, here The reduction of activation energy (Ea) increases the fraction of reactant molecules that can overcome this barrier and form the product. The used principle is that since they only reduce energy barriers between products and reactants, enzymes always catalyze reactions in both directions, and cannot drive a reaction forward or affect the equilibrium position - only the speed with which is it achieved.
Incase of other catalysts, the enzyme is not consumed or changed by the reaction (as a substrate is) but is recycled. So it results in the use of the single enzyme performing many rounds of catalysis.
Regulatory molecules are the molecules used for the reaction catalysis here, the enzymes can be regulated by molecules that either increase or reduce their activity. Molecules that increase the activity of an enzyme are called activators, while molecules that decrease the activity of an enzyme are called inhibitors.