Enzymes

Introduction

Enzymes are protein catalysts which are crucial to life. Enzymes are proteins that help to spped up chemical reactions in the body. Without enzymes, many of the important processes of life could not happen. Enzymes are very specific in their functions. Each enzyme has only one reaction that it can help. Enzymes are not changed when they perform their function. This means that the same enzyme molecule can be used over and over again. As with all proteins, the shape of an enzyme is what determines its function. An organism has the ability to make many different enzymes, and each enzyme has one particular function (Mader, Biology).

Enzymes speed up chemical reaction in cells by lowering the activation energy needed to start the reaction. Without the enzyme present, no chemical reaction could proceed at a rate adequate to support life at the relatively low temperatures at which living organisms exist. Each living cell may have thousands of different enzymes. Each enzyme is very specific substrate(s) the beginning molecules of reaction. Each enzyme binds a specific substrate at the enzyme’s active site. This binding is shape-dependent.