Describe the effects that enzymes can have on substrates
The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
Correct Answer:
Enzymes act on substrates by speeding up chemical reactions. They lower the activation energy needed for a reaction to occur, allowing the reaction to happen faster and more efficiently without being used up in the process.
Explanation:
Enzymes are biological catalysts that play a crucial role in speeding up chemical reactions in living organisms. They achieve this by acting on specific molecules called substrates. When an enzyme encounters its substrate, the substrate binds to a special region on the enzyme known as the active site. This interaction forms what is known as the enzyme-substrate complex.
Once the substrate is bound, the enzyme may cause the substrate to break apart, combine with another molecule, or undergo a structural rearrangement. The main effect of an enzyme on a substrate is that it lowers the activation energy required for the chemical reaction to take place. Activation energy is the energy needed to start a reaction. By reducing this energy barrier, enzymes allow reactions to proceed much more rapidly than they would without them.
Enzymes are highly specific. Each type of enzyme usually acts on one particular substrate or a group of closely related substrates. This specificity is often compared to a lock and key model, where the enzyme is the lock and the substrate is the key. Once the reaction is complete, the product or products are released from the active site, and the enzyme remains unchanged and ready to catalyze another reaction.
Enzymes can also be affected by factors such as temperature, pH, and the concentration of substrates or inhibitors. Under optimal conditions, enzymes significantly enhance the efficiency of metabolic pathways, digestion, DNA replication, and other essential biological processes.
In summary, enzymes affect substrates by binding to them and facilitating chemical transformations. They speed up reactions by lowering activation energy and ensure that biological processes occur quickly and precisely.
