Action of Enzymes

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  • Created by: Chris
  • Created on: 04-04-11 18:26

Enzymes speed up chemical reactions by acting as a biological catalyst. The reaction can be both intra & extra cellular. 

  • Enzymes are globular proteins that have an active site that has a specific shape that is determined by its tertiary structure. Because of this complimentary shape enzymes can only normally catalyse one reaction.
  • Enzymes reduce the activation energy (the energy required to start the reaction). When the enzyme-substrate complex forms it is this which lowers the activation energy because:

If two substrates need to be joined together by attaching to the enzyme they would come close together reducing the repulsion meaning that they can come together easily.

If…

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