Question

(a) What are enzymes ?
(b)Discuss the mechanism of enzyme action.

Answer 1

An enzyme is a catalyst for biology and is almost always a protein. It accelerates the rate in the cell of a particular chemical reaction. During the reaction, the enzyme is not destroyed and is used over and over.

Complete answer:
The fundamental mechanism by which enzymes catalyze chemical reactions begins with the binding of the substrate to the active site of the enzyme. The active site is the specific area of the enzyme which combines with the substrate. The mechanism of enzyme activity is well demonstrated in terms of the lock and key model of enzyme action.

It was assumed that the active site had a fixed structure (the lock) that exactly matched the structure of a particular substratum (the key). In order to create an enzyme-substrate complex, the enzyme and the substrate interact. The substrate is converted to products that do not match the active site anymore and are thus released, releasing the enzyme.

Note: It forms an enzyme-substrate complex when an enzyme binds its substrate. As a critical step in the reaction process, this complex decreases the activation energy of the reaction and facilitates its rapid progression by supplying certain ions or chemical groups that actually form covalent bonds with molecules.