Biology Tuition Singapore – Enzymes Important Definitions

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Biology Tuition Singapore – Enzymes Important Definitions

1. Catalysts are substances that can increase the rate of a chemical reaction, without themselves being chemically altered at the end of the reaction.
2. Enzymes are biological catalysts made mostly of proteins. They increase the rate of biochemical reactions in a living cell, while remaining chemically unchanged.
3. An active site is a pocket or cleft on the surface of an enzyme molecule, into which a substrate molecule can fit and bind to form an enzyme—substrate complex.
4. An enzyme—substrate complex consists of an enzyme bound to its substrate.
5. Substrates are compounds on which enzymes act, to produce simpler or more complex compounds called
6. Enzyme specificity refers to the ability of each enzyme to act on only one particular group of substrates or a particular type of surface configuration.
7. The activation energy is the minimum energy needed for a chemical reaction to occur.
8. The optimum temperature refers to the temperature at which an enzyme is most active in catalysing a reaction.
9. The optimum pH refers to the acidity or alkalinity of a solution that enables an enzyme to catalyse a specific reaction at the fastest rate.
10. Denaturation is the irreversible change in the three-dimensional structure of an enzyme, caused by extreme heat, or chemicals such as acids or alkalis. This change in shape causes the enzyme to lose its active site.
11. Limiting factors are factors that directly affect the rate at which a chemical reaction occurs if their quantity is changed.

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