- Each enzyme has an optimum pH, a pH at which it works fastest.
- An increase or decrease in pH reduces the rate of enzyme action, as more of the enzyme molecules will have active sites that are not complementary to the subtrates.
- If the change in pH is more extreme, then the enzyme becomes denatured.
How pH affects how an enzyme:
- a change in pH alters the charges of amino acids that make up the active site.
- therefore the enzyme can no longer attach to the active site so an ESC cannot be formed.
- the change in pH may cause the bonds that maintain the tertiary structure to break.
The change in the ionic bonds causes the active site to change shape.
![](https://alevelnotes.com/static/content_images/i72_enzyme_ph_graph.gif)
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