How do Enzymes speed up Biochemical Reactions?
Enzymes in general exhibit the following properties • Enzymes are basically proteins. They are globular proteins with a very huge molecular weight. For example, the molecular weight of pyruvic dehydrogenase is 4,600,000! • Enzymes can only accelerate a chemical reaction. • Enzymes are not used up in the reaction that they catalyse. • Enzyme controlled reactions are reversible. However, reversion can be checked by removing the products as soon as they are formed. • Most enzymes have a high turnover number which refers to the number of molecules of the substrate acted upon by a single molecule of the enzyme, per minute. • Enzymes are highly specific about the substrate on which they act. For example the enzyme maltose can breakdown only maltose and not any other disaccharide or carbohydrate. • Enzymes are highly sensitive to temperature (thermolabile). The most ideal temperature for enzyme activity is in the range of 25o to 40oC. Enzyme activity decreases below and above this range of te
