Question

What are 2 important influences on enzymatic activity?

Answer 1

Enzymes:

1. Enzymes are basically proteins that are produced by living organisms to bring about certain metabolic and biochemical reactions in the body.
2. They are biological catalysts that speed up reactions inside the body.
3. Denaturation of the enzymes generally refers to conformational changes in protein structure & active site of the enzyme, which also results in the inactivity of enzymes.
4. The temperature or the pH at which the compound shows its maximum activity is called the optimum temperature or optimum pH, respectively.

Important influences on the enzymatic activity are:

1. Extreme temperature
2. Inappropriate pH level

Temperature:

1. An increase in temperature generally increases the enzyme activity and rate of reaction and lowering the temperature slows down the enzymatic reaction.
2. Each enzyme shows maximum activity at the specific optimum temperature and activity declines above and below the optimum temperature.
3. At higher temperatures, enzymes denature and lose their activity.
4. However, the effect of bond breaking will become greater and greater and the rate of reaction will begin to decrease.
5. Enzymes show a temperature optimum which is between 30 degree celcius to 50 degree celcius.

pH level:

1. Each enzyme works within quite a small pH range.
2. There is a pH at which its activity is greatest (the optimal pH).
3. This is because changes in pH can make and break intra- and intermolecular bonds, changing the shape of the enzyme and, therefore, its effectiveness.
4. Most enzymes have optimum pH in the range of 4 to 9.