My AP Biology ThoughtsUnit 1 Episode #45

Welcome to My AP Biology Thoughts podcast, my name is Chloe and I am your host for episode #45 called Unit 1 Chemistry of life: Enzyme substrate complex. Today we will be discussing how enzymes interact with their specific substrates. 

Segment 1: Introduction to Enzyme Substrate Complex

• It’s important to understand what enzymes are first before looking into their relationship with substrates. Enzymes are proteins that increase the activation energy of a chemical reaction. Each enzyme is specific to a certain substrate. A substrate is the substance on which the enzyme acts. Enzymes are usually named after their substrate with the ending -ase. For example, lactase is the enzyme that breaks down lactose. Enzymes and substrates work in a key and lock relationship. The Enzyme substrate complex is when the substrate binds to the enzyme’s active site and creates a molecule. The enzyme works to break apart the substrate into products, ultimately increasing the activation energy

Segment 2: Example of Enzyme Substrate Complex

• As stated before, enzymes and substrates are specific to one another, and they cannot work together unless the enzyme is the right shape. Although this may not seem important, there are many factors that can affect the way enzymes work. For example, pH levels, temperature, and substrate concentration. Enzymes have an optimal level of activity where they are most productive. In terms of pH, each enzyme has an optimal pH, and extremely increasing this level can cause the enzyme to denature. When an enzyme denatures, this means that the enzyme unfolds and cannot properly bind to the substrate, therefore causing a decrease in activity. In terms of temperature, enzymes have a generally large range of optimal activity, but once the temperature passes the highest optimal temperature, the enzyme will denature at a fast rate. When substrate concentration increases, enzyme activity will also increase until they are working at their fastest rate in regards to how many enzymes are present to work. 

Segment 3: Digging Deeper Enzyme Substrate Complex

• When amino acids are building proteins, the way that they fold together determines their function. Because enzymes are proteins, their specific fold is very important in regards to how they bind with the substrate. When enzymes denature, this is detrimental to the function of the protein, and the enzyme is unable to work properly. 
• Enzymes are extremely important to the human body because they speed up the rate of a variety of reactions that help us build muscles, destroy toxins, and break down food particles during digestion. 

Thank you for listening to this episode of My AP Biology Thoughts. For more student-ran podcasts and digital content, make sure that you visit www.hvspn.com. See you next time!

Music Credits:

• “Ice Flow” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
• Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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