Proteins

• Enzymes are proteins that act as biological catalysts, speeding up chemical reactions in living organisms.
• The active site is the part of an enzyme where substrates bind to initiate a reaction.
• What two factors can affect an enzyme reaction?

  Temperature and pH
• Catalase is an enzyme the speeds the breakdown of hydrogen peroxide
• Enzymes catalyse one reaction as substrates have an active site which has a complementary shape to an enzyme
• There are two types of enzyme reactions

  Degradation and synthesis
• Degradation- is the break down of larger molecules into smaller ones
• Synthesis- is the build up of smaller molecules into a larger molecule
• An enzyme that no longer speeds up a reaction is called denatured
• An enzyme works it's best at it's optimum conditions like temperature and pH
• When an enzyme is denatured the shape of their active site changes and will no longer allow the substrate to bind to it