HANDOUT - 5 1st Term (2023-2024)

Name: Class: VIII Roll: Section:

Subject: Biology Teacher: Zabir Ahmed Date:

Enzymes

Enzymes are catalysts that speed up biochemical reactions in the body. They are made of proteins
(globular proteins). They do not get chemically changed during the reactions.

Enzymes in living organisms are essential as reactions that take place in our body are reactions that have
specific conditions that need to be met. However, certain conditions are not attainable inside human
bodies- For example, Burning of glucose to release energy directly is not possible as they require
temperatures up to a hundred degrees Celsius.

What enzymes do is they provide an alternative route to these reactions - instead of the reaction taking
place in one step it takes place in multiple steps with slight breakdowns.

This allows the reaction to happen in a stable environment.

Humans require enzymes because:

1. Enzymes play a key part in digestion. Our diet consists of large molecules that cannot pass through
the digestive tract into our bloodstream; hence these molecules need to be broken down. So it can
be absorbed by the cells.
2. Small molecules such as amino acids are often used for building larger complex proteins in the
body. These reactions are usually facilitated by enzymes such as ligase, polymerase.
3. Numerous reactions in our body produce toxic waste materials such as Hydrogen peroxide. This
hydrogen peroxide can be poisonous if it is left to build up in our bodies. Enzymes in our bodies
break down these waste products to produce non-toxic products.

Classification of enzymes:

There are many different enzymes that are needed for a wide array of reactions. However enzymes are
involved in these two major processes:

1. Catabolism
2. Anabolism

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1. Catabolism:
Catabolism is the breakdown of large molecules into smaller molecules. Enzymes that are involved
in crying out catabolic reactions are known as catalase. Catalases breakdown molecules in different
ways.

Example:

Hydrolases Fall under the group of catalase. They facilitate hydrolysis reactions. Hydrolysis is the
splitting of a large molecule into smaller units using water molecules. There are numerous complex
molecules that are broken down in our body using this reaction- such as carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates are broken down by a group of enzymes that belong to a group called carbohydrase.
Carbohydrases break down complex carbohydrates into simpler carbohydrates. Example of a
carbohydrase is amylase:

Another example of a carbohydrase is cellulase. Cellulase is the enzyme responsible for the
breakdown of cellulose. Mammals do not possess this enzyme but some certain bacteria contain
this enzyme.
Examples of enzymes and their functions:
(a) Amylase breaks down starch to maltose
(b) Maltase breaks down maltose to glucose
(c) Protease (pepsin and trypsin) breaks down protein to amino acids
(d) Lipase (steapsin) breaks down lipids to fatty acids and glycerol
(e) Cellulase breaks down cellulose to glucose.

* Digestive enzymes are also used in washing powders to remove stains caused by organic matter
(e.g. sweat, blood, curry etc.)

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 2. Anabolism:
Anabolism is the synthesis of larger complex molecules from simpler molecules using energy. This
process in our body is also facilitated by enzymes.

Examples of anabolic enzymes include:

Enzymes that are used in the synthesis of DNA and ATP inside the cells are all anabolic enzymes
such as Ligase and Polymerase.

Enzyme Specificity:
Enzymes are proteins. As seen previously, proteins have a fixed and unique shape. This is due to the
arrangement of the protein. There is some sort of specialization happening at every layer of the protein
which increases the distinct trait and functions. The layers are arranged in such a way that the molecules
that take part in reactions are exposed at a site called the active site. This site has a shape that is
complementary only to its substrate, as a result the enzyme will only bind to its substrate, like a ‘key’ fits
into a ‘lock’

Once the substrate binds to the enzyme the enzyme-substrate complex is formed. Upon the formation of
this complex, the necessary reactions take place- converting the substrate into the target products.

Once the target product has formed, it would have gone through conformational changes. As a result the
nature of the molecules would change. Thus it would not be able to remain attached to the enzyme
anymore. This then frees up the enzyme to bind to other substrates. This sums up the hypothesis known as
The Lock and Key Hypothesis.

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Factors affecting the rate of enzyme activity:

1. Temperature:

Temperature is a key factor that affects almost all the chemical reactions in our body. It also has an
effect on how enzymes function as temperature provides the molecules with heat energy which
they convert to kinetic energy. Thus an increase in temperature results in an increase in the kinetic
energy of these molecules. An increase in kinetic energy results in an increase in more collisions
between enzyme and substrate thus leading to a faster rate of reaction.

Enzymes due to their specificity have specific temperature requirements. The temperature at which
enzyme activity is the highest is known as the optimum temperature. A temperature that is less
than the optimum temperature causes the reaction to be slow and if the temperature is too low the
enzymes become inactive. At higher temperatures, higher than the optimum temperature the
enzyme gradually starts losing activity and at very high temperatures the enzymes get denatured.
Denaturation is when the bonds that build up the enzymes get broken down due to excessive heat,
eventually causing the enzyme to lose its structure and thus, losing its functionality.
The graph below illustrates how temperature affects the rate of reaction of an enzyme modulated
reaction:

* Most enzymes have an optimum temperature of 45℃. However in animals, the optimum temperature for
the enzymes working inside the body is usually the normal temperature of the body.

2. Effect of pH:

The pH of the media in which the enzyme is at affects the enzyme in a similar way that the
temperature affects the enzyme and this arises due to the specific 3D structure of the protein, the
amino acids building up the protein and the type of bonds the protein has. They have a pH at which
the enzyme has the highest activity known as the optimum pH. A difference in the pH on either side

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 of the scale will cause enzyme activity to fall and if the pH is too acidic or too basic, it heavily
interferes with the bonds present in the structure of the enzyme causing them to break. This results
in the enzyme losing its structure and thus the structure of the active site- causing it to lose its
functionality.

The graph below illustrates the effect of pH on the rate of reaction/enzyme activity:

* Different parts of our body have different acidic conditions. Thus our body has different enzymes
that are adapted to the different environments. For example pepsin in the stomach favors acidic
conditions to break down proteins; however trypsin requires a more alkaline condition to break
down proteins.

Effect of Substrate and enzyme concentration on the rate of reaction:

In an enzyme substrate reaction, as the substrate concentration increases the rate of reaction increases up
until a certain point. However after a certain point, an increase in concentration will not increase the rate of
reaction further. This is because after a certain point, all the active sites of the enzymes present will be
occupied by substrates- the enzymes are saturated. Thus any point after the saturation has been achieved;
the amount of products produced per unit time will remain the same. For example if an enzyme can bind to
two of its substrates at a time, and if there are 20 molecules of enzymes present being converted to 40
molecules of product in one second, only 40 molecules of substrates can be acted upon at a given time. If
a graph is plotted it can be seen that the graph will level off after the point where saturation has been
reached.

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So any further change in the substrate concentration will not affect the rate of reaction any further as
enzymes are not free to react. This can be demonstrated with the graph below:

Here in this case we can consider the concentration of the enzyme to be the limiting factor in this reaction.
A limiting factor is the factor which directly affects the rate of reaction and based on its change in quantity,
the rate of reaction would change.

If the concentration of enzymes in this experiment is now changed, the rate of reaction can be observed to
increase again. If the reaction is repeated with a higher concentration of the same enzyme it can be seen
that the rate of reaction is much faster however that would plateau off as well after saturation will be
obtained.

Coenzymes:
Coenzymes are non-protein organic compounds that bind to certain enzymes in order to activate them.
Most vitamins are essential components for many coenzymes.

* Most reactions in our body are reversible reactions. Therefore enzymes in our body catalyze reversible
reactions. However, in actuality the reactions usually proceed in the forward direction as the products, as
soon as they are made they are not allowed to build up but are used and transported out of the cell.

Please refer to the internet to learn about many different uses of enzymes apart from the ones provided.
PLEASE READ THE ANALYSIS AND INVESTIGATION FROM THE BOOK!!! (Pg. 48-52)

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