Question

What are the factors responsible for enzyme activity ? Also enumerate the properties of enzymes.

Answer 1

• Several factors affect the rate at which enzymatic reactions proceed - temperature, pH, enzyme concentration, substrate concentration, and the presence of any inhibitors or activators.
  
• The various properties of enzymes are :

(1) Enzymes are complex macromolecules with high molecular weight.
(2) They catalyze biochemical reactions in a cell. They help in the breakdown of large molecules into smaller molecules or bring together two smaller molecules to form a larger molecule.

(3) Enzymes do not start a reaction. However, they help in accelerating it.

(4) Enzymes affect the rate of biochemical reaction and not the direction of the reaction.

(5) Most of the enzymes have a high turnover number. Turnover number of an enzyme is the number of molecules of a substance that is acted upon by an enzyme per minute under saturated substrate concentration. High turnover number of enzymes increases the efficiency of the reaction.