Question:

What are enzymes ?

Updated On: Sep 27, 2023
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Solution and Explanation

Enzymes are proteins that catalyse biological reactions. They are very specific in nature and catalyse only a particular reaction for a particular substrate. Enzymes are usually named after the particular substrate or class of substrate and some times after the particular reaction. 

For example, the enzyme used to catalyse the hydrolysis of maltose into glucose is named as maltase. 

Again, the enzymes used to catalyse the oxidation of one substrate with the simultaneous reduction of another substrate are named as oxidoreductase enzymes. 

The name of an enzyme ends with ' - ase'.

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Concepts Used:

Enzymes

Catalysts of biological systems can be known as Enzymes. Enzymes helps us to perform the huge variety of biochemical reactions that encompass in life are all mediated by a series of activities.

Properties of Enzymes:

Following are the properties of enzymes:

  • Enzymes initiate and speed up the reaction
  • The enzyme’s activity is ph dependent
  • Enzymes have the capacity to forward and reverse the reaction but do not decide the direction of the biochemical pathway
  • An enzyme has a particular area on which the substrate interacts to produce the desired product
  • Enzyme becomes unstable at varying ph, high temperature and heat
  • It have protein like characteristics
  • Substrates can be catalyzed with a small number of enzymes
  • Enzyme activity represents absolute, relative, group and stereo specificities
  • Some enzymes perform regulatory function
  • It minimise activation energy (Ea)
  • The enzymes remain unaffected before and after the product formation and it can be reused
  • They are soluble both in water and NaCl.