Enzymes
Enzymes
Enzymes
Overview
Virtually all reactions in the body are mediated by enzymes, which are
protein catalysts that increase the rate of reactions without being
changed in the overall process.
Activation energy. . .decreased, rate of reaction speed up
The macromolecular components of almost all enzymes are composed
of protein, except for a class of RNA catalysts known as ribozymes
Enzymes are produced by cells and each cell will have its own
determined set of enzymes.
Some types of RNA can act like enzymes, RNAs with catalytic activity are
called ribozymes, and are much less commonly encountered than
protein catalysts
Active sites
The active site contains amino acid side chains that create a three-
dimensional surface complementary to the substrate.
The active site binds the substrate, forming an enzyme substrate (ES)
complex. ES is converted to an enzyme product (EP) complex that
subsequently dissociates to enzyme and product
Many enzymes are localized in specific organelles within the cell. Such
compartmentalization serves to isolate the reaction substrate or
product from other competing reactions
Regulatory enzymes
Holoenzymes
Some enzymes require molecules other than proteins for enzymic
activity
Most commonly used enzyme names have the suffix -- ase attached to
the substrate of the reaction (for example, glucosidase, urease,
sucrase),