Enzymes

• What are enzymes primarily made of?

  Proteins
• How do enzymes speed up chemical reactions?

  By acting as biological catalysts
• What types of reactions do enzymes catalyse?

  Metabolic reactions at cellular and organism levels
• What is an example of a metabolic reaction catalysed by enzymes?

  Respiration
• What is the role of enzymes in collagen production?

  They are involved in producing collagen
• Where can enzyme action occur?

  Intracellular or extracellular
• What is the active site of an enzyme?

  The part where substrate molecules bind
• Why are enzymes highly specific?

  Due to their tertiary structure
• What is activation energy?

  The energy needed to start a reaction
• How do enzymes affect activation energy?

  They lower the activation energy needed
• What happens to the rate of reaction when an enzyme is present?

  It speeds up the rate of reaction
• What forms when a substrate fits into an enzyme's active site?

  An enzyme-substrate complex
• How does the enzyme-substrate complex lower activation energy?

  By holding substrates close or straining bonds
• What are the two models of enzyme action?

  • Lock and key model
  • Induced fit model
• What does the 'lock and key' model illustrate?

  Substrates fit into enzymes like keys in locks
• What is the limitation of the 'lock and key' model?

  It doesn't explain shape changes in complexes
• What does the 'induced fit' model explain?

  Enzymes change shape to fit substrates
• Why are enzymes very specific in their action?

  Only one substrate fits their active site
• What happens if the active site and substrate do not match?

  No enzyme-substrate complex forms
• What can alter the tertiary structure of an enzyme?

  Changes in pH or temperature
• What determines the primary structure of a protein?

  The amino acid sequence determined by a gene
• What can a mutation in a gene affect?

  The tertiary structure of the enzyme produced