Enzymology

Hi guys, you're welcome to mystudyrom my name is David.

Today we will be starting a new topic in biology which is Enzymology.

 As I've said in my first post cytology I said logy (a Greek word) means study and from this word Enzym we can easily guess that we are referring to enzymes here so Enzymology means ( enzyme -study).

So we can easily define Enzymology as the study of enzymes and enzymatic reactions in the body.

What are enzymes?'

Enzymes are organic catalysts usually proteinous in nature that speed up the rate of bio chemical activities in the body and they themselves remain unchanged at the end of the reaction.

The protein component of the enzymes area called HOLOENZYMES.

So guys, let's check out the properties of enzymes

Properties of Enzymes:

• They are proteinous in nature

• They are specific in action

• They are sensitive to temperature

• They are soluble

• They are active in small quantity

• They are sensitive to PH e.g digestive enzymes functions mostly in acidic medium while enzyme like Trypsin functions in an alkaline medium.

• They speed up the rate of reaction by lowering the activation energy of the reaction.

• They can be activated or inhibited

• They possess active sites where reactions takes place

• They remain unchanged at the end of the reaction or they are not used up at the end of the reaction

So guys let's see the classes of enzymes we have

Classification of enzymes

Hydrolases:

They are the class of enzymes which breakdown carbon to carbon (C-C), carbon to hydrogen (C-H), and carbon to nitrogen (C-N) bonds. They split these bonds by the addition of water to them.

Lysases:

They are the class of enzymes which breakdown carbon to carbon (C-C), carbon to hydrogen (C-H), and carbon to nitrogen (C-N) bonds. They split these bonds without the addition of water to them.

Transferases:

As their name implies "Transfer" they are the class of enzymes which catalyzes the transfer of a functional group

Oxidoreductases:

They catalyzes oxidation and reduction reactions in the body.

Ligases:

They are the class of enzymes which catalyzes the joining together of two molecules.

Now to…..

  Function of Enzymes

• They speed up the rate if bio chemical reactions in the body

• They are used in the production of ethanol by fermentation

• They regulates catabolic and anabolic processes in the body.

Mechanism of enzyme reaction

  In the mechanism of enzymatic reaction we have the LOCK AND KEY HYPOTHESIS and the INDUCED FIT HYPOTHESIS.

Lock and key hypothesis:

In lock and key hypothesis the lock is the enzyme while the key is the substrate and it states that enzyme possess an active sites which acts as a cleft that the substrate binds to and the substrate must bind tightly to it for enzymatic reaction to occur.  

Induced fit hypothesis:

Induced fit hypothesis states that the presence of a substrate on the active sites of an enzyme will stimulate the enzyme to act on it.

So guys let's move on to Enzyme Inhibition

Enzyme inhibition

What are inhibitors?

Inhibitors are substances which is capanlyi of slowing down or stopping a chemical reaction.

Then what are Enzyme inhibitors?

Enzyme inhibitors are substances which slows down or completely stops the activities of enzymes.

There are two types of Enzyme inhibitions namely:

Competitive inhibition and

Non competitive inhibition.

What is competitive inhibition?

"Competitive"? we can guess that we will be talking about competition here.

In competitive inhibition the inhibitors has thesame configuration as the substrate and this makes them compete with the substrate for active sites of enzyme.

What is a non competitive inhibition?

In non competitive inhibition the inhibitors has no similar configuration as the substrate and therefore do not compete with the substrate for active sites of enzyme.

Now let's check out the differences between competitive and non competitive inhibition

Competitive:

·         Inhibitor has similar configuration as the substrate

·         Inhibitor competes with substrate for active sites of enzymes

·         Degree of inhibition depends on the concentration of the substrate

·         Increase in substrate concentration increase the rate of the reaction

Non competitive:

·         Inhibitor has no similarity with  the substrate

·         Inhibitor dies not  compete with substrate for active sites of enzymes

·         Degree of inhibition depends on the concentration of the inhibitor

·         Increase in substrate concentration decrease the rate of the reaction

Now to the last sub topic on Enzymology:

Co-factor:

Co factor is a substance which makes an enzymatic reaction more effective.

We have three categories of Co factor which are:

Question of the day:

List the three categories of Co factor.

Post your answers in the comment section below and you are also free to ask questions just put your questions in the comment box.

Guys hope it helped.…….. please comment for any question, guide or help in the comment box below….

see you all in my next post guys…

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Thanks

Holuwarseun…