why enzyme works best in the body
Answers
Answer:
Enzymes create chemical reactions in the body. They actually speed up the rate of a chemical reaction to help support life. The enzymes in your body help to perform very important tasks. These include building muscle, destroying toxins, and breaking down food particles during digestion
Answer:
Enzymes
Function and structure
Enzymes are very efficient catalysts for biochemical reactions. They speed up reactions by providing an alternative reaction pathway of lower activation energy.
ppt logo Reaction profiles: uncatalysed and enzyme-catalysed
Like all catalysts, enzymes take part in the reaction - that is how they provide an alternative reaction pathway. But they do not undergo permanent changes and so remain unchanged at the end of the reaction. They can only alter the rate of reaction, not the position of the equilibrium.
Most chemical catalysts catalyse a wide range of reactions. They are not usually very selective. In contrast enzymes are usually highly selective, catalysing specific reactions only. This specificity is due to the shapes of the enzyme molecules.
Many enzymes consist of a protein and a non-protein (called the cofactor). The proteins in enzymes are usually globular. The intra- and intermolecular bonds that hold proteins in their secondary and tertiary structures are disrupted by changes in temperature and pH. This affects shapes and so the catalytic activity of an enzyme is pH and temperature sensitive.
Cofactors may be:
organic groups that are permanently bound to the enzyme (prosthetic groups)
cations - positively charged metal ions (activators), which temporarily bind to the active site of the enzyme, giving an intense positive charge to the enzyme's protein
organic molecules, usually vitamins or made from vitamins (coenzymes), which are not permanently bound to the enzyme molecule, but combine with the enzyme-substrate complex temporarily.
Find out more by looking at:
Chemistry for Biologists logo Proteins
How enzymes work
For two molecules to react they must collide with one another. They must collide in the right direction (orientation) and with sufficient energy. Sufficient energy means that between them they have enough energy to overcome the energy barrier to reaction. This is called the activation energy.