In: Biology
Enzyme A has an optimal pH of 4.5, while enzyme B has an optimal pH of 7.2. If you think about the tertiary structure of these two enzymes in their optimal pH environments, which would you say has the fewest positively charged R groups in the primary amino acid sequence? Group of answer choices: enzyme A ,both enzymes could have equal numbers of positively charged R groups, enzyme B
Enzyme A will have the fewest positively charged R groups in the primary amino acid sequence. This is because, pH of enzyme A is less (acidic) whereas pH of enzyme B is more (basic).
The particular pH at which a given amino acid exists in solution as a zwitterion is called the isoelectric point (pI). Acidic amino acids (which have negatively charged side chains at neutral pH) have quite low pIs while basic amino acids (which have positively charged side chains at neutral pH) have relatively high pIs. Therefore, enzyme B with greater pH will have more positively charged amino acid sequence compared to enzyme A.