Class Notes On The Topic Enzymes.

Enzymes are proteins, usually globular. About 80% of enzymes are glycoproteins. Some enzymes have broad specificity but most of the enzymes have single specific reactions meaning one enzyme can act on only one substrate giving it high specificity and the enzymes that can act on more than one substrate, have substrates that are chemically very similar, hence having broad specificity. Enzymes speed up cellular reactions. The enzymes exert very tight control on cell activity (Inhibitors, factors that regulate rate of reaction). Biological molecules are held by very stable bonds which require a lot of energy to break, hence the enzymes require a very high activation energy. Biological catalysts allow these activation energies to be lowered and allow the reaction to proceed at a lower energy level. These biological catalysts are called enzymes. In a catabolic reaction the products will be lower than the reactants, in an anabolic reaction the products will be higher than the reactants. If there were no enzymes, reactions would be too slow to maintain life. Enzyme reactions can be either anabolic (synthesis) or catabolic (breakdown). Usually a number of enzymes work in a