Enzymes
Enzymes are vital chemicals in all living things. They are proteins that speed up, and control, the chemical reactions inside the cells. If enzymes do not function properly, the cell or even the whole organism can die. This chapter will look at enzymes, and also some deficiency diseases, where people are born with a lack of a particular enzyme.
A)Web site name: Florida State College Jacksonville
Web URL:
Read “Mechanisms of Enzyme Action”
1).What are the two main roles of enzymes? ______
2).What is a “substrate”? ______
3).In the first diagram (with sucrase), is the substrate broken apart into two products, or are two substrates joined to make a single product? ______
4).What are two ways that the barrier of activation energy can be overcome? ______
5).If the temperature of an enzyme controlled reaction increased from 10oC to 30oC, the reaction rate will typically :
a) doubleb) triplec) quadrupled) increase 9-fold
6).What happens to most enzymes above 50oC ? ______
7).Which organisms have enzymes that can work efficiently at –2oC ? ______
8).What is the optimum pH for pepsin? ______
9).What is inhibition? ______
10).Chemicals that are very similar to the true substrate are ______inhibitors.
11).Why are non-competitive inhibitors unaffected by substrate concentration? ______
12).What is a “prosthetic group”? ______
13).Why does the stomach lining not get digested by pepsin? ______
14).What type of reaction is done by Lyases? ______
15).How are the following enzymes used commercially?
a)Substilin : ______
b)Glucose oxidase : ______
B)Web site name: Maricopa Community College
Web URL:
Read “Enzymes: Organic Catalysts”
16).What is a “catalyst”? ______
17).How do catalysts lower the activation energy? ______
18).Carbonic anhydrase causes chemicals to react ______times faster than without the enzyme.
19).What is the “induced fit hypothesis”? ______
20).What are “thermolabile enzymes” ? ______
21).What is the optimum pH for the enzyme Arginase? ______
22).How does sulfanilamide kill bacteria? ______
23).Which of the four competitive inhibitors shown in the diagram is the most similar in structure to succinate? ______
24).What effect do the following inhibitors have ?
a) nerve gas : ______
c)Penicillin : ______
Some people are born with a lack of a particular enzyme. One example of a “deficiency genetic disease” like this is called Tay-Sachs disease.
C)Web site name: Disabled World
Web URL:
Read “Tay-Sachs Disease”
25).In Tay-Sachs disease, which fatty substance builds up in nerves? ______
26).Which enzyme has a “lack of sufficient activity” in Tay-Sachs disease? ______
27).What are the symptoms in children with this disease? ______
28).What are the symptoms for the rare form of Tay-Sachs disease (TSD) that occurs in people in their twenties? ______
29).Which populations have a high risk of TSD? ______
30).How can carriers of the disease be identified? ______
31).If both parents are carriers of TSD, what is the chance of their child being
born with TSD? _____%
32).Which chromosome carries the gene for TSD? ______
33).People who are carriers of TSD have a _____% chance of passing on the active gene to their children.
D)Web site name: Medicine Net
Web URL:
34).Which part of the body is mainly affected by this condition? ______
35).What are three symptoms of hemolytic anemia? ______
36).Whichfood can cause hemolytic anemia ? ______
37).How many people worldwide suffer from this deficiency? ______
38).Which disease does this G6PD deficiency protect people against? ______
39).In which parts of the world is G6PD deficiency most common? ______
40).Why is this deficiency more common in men than in women? ______
E) Web site name: Science Daily
Web URL:
41). How soon could anti-aging drugs be on the market? ______
42). Which diseases could this drug prevent? ______
______
43). What is the target enzyme? ______
44). What two things can switch on this enzyme naturally?
______
45). Where is resveratrol found in small quantities? ______
46). Why is this new drug unusual in the history of pharmaceuticals?
______
47). Which disease are statin drugs used to prevent? ______
48). What possible problems or disadvantages could result if in future this new drug is widely prescribed to prevent age related diseases?
______
49). Would you personally like to “live to 150”? Explain why.
______