Enzymes - CAIE Biology IGCSE

Front

What are enzymes?

Back

Enzymes are proteins that act as biological catalysts.

Front

What is a catalyst?

Back

A catalyst is a substance that speeds up the rate of reaction in chemical reactions without being used up.

Front

How do enzymes affect metabolic reactions?

Back

Enzymes speed up metabolic reactions that would take too long to occur without them.

Front

What is an active site?

Back

An active site is a sequence of amino acids in an enzyme with a specific shape.

Front

What happens when a substrate enters the active site?

Back

The substrate forms an enzyme-substrate complex, is broken down, and the product is released.

Front

Can an enzyme break down multiple types of substrates?

Back

No, each enzyme is complementary to only one type of substrate.

Front

What do proteases do?

Back

Proteases break down proteins so that amino acids can be absorbed into the blood.

Front

What do carbohydrase enzymes break down?

Back

Carbohydrase enzymes break down carbohydrates.

Front

What is the optimum pH for enzymes?

Back

Enzymes have an optimum pH at which they work best.

Front

What happens to the rate of reaction when pH moves away from the optimum?

Back

The rate of reaction decreases.