Question

Discuss the following:

1. Two factors that affect the activity of an enzyme. Name the enzyme and tell whether they increase or decrease enzyme activity.

2.Three ways in which sugars can be used other those going directly into glycolysis – just list them with the name of the sugar (For example, _______ can be used to make ________)

Answer 1

Ans 1. There are many factors that affect the activity of enzymes. The most important amongst them are temperature and pH.

Enzymes are highly temperature and pH specific.

Change in these factors affect the activity of enzyme and alter the rate of reaction.

Increasing temperature breaks the ionic and hydrogen bonds within the enzyme which alters the shape of their active site and hence the enzyme activity is decreased leading to low yield of product.

Different enzymes have different optimum pH values. Any change in pH above or below that value alters the shape of active sites causing decrease in rate of reaction

For eg. Sucrase enzyme that has an optimum temperature of 37°C , that catalyses the breakdown of sucrose in our body fails to perform at higher temperatures causing decrease in rate of reaction.

Likewise pepsin that breaks down proteins into smaller peptides has an optimum pH of 1.5 - 1.6 which is provided by the HCl of our stomach , does not perform efficiently at higher pH levels.