Question

What is the best temperature for enzymes to operate at?

Answer 1

Enzymes are catalysts that catalyse various biochemical reactions. The enzymes bond with molecules called substrates and convert them into products. All the metabolic pathways in a cell depend on enzymes to catalyse the reactions. The optimum activity of enzymes depends on various factors including temperature, pH, concentration of enzyme etc. Generally, most of the enzymes degrade at high temperatures.

Complete answer:
Enzymes are proteins and their activity is affected by factors that can disrupt protein structure. Some of these factors include temperature, pH, concentration of enzyme and substrate etc. Temperature plays an important role in the optimum activity of enzymes.
Most of the enzymes have an optimum temperature between $40$ to ${45^0}c$. When enzymes are exposed to higher temperatures, denaturation in the structure of the protein occurs.
Some organisms that live in higher temperatures have enzymes that can function optimally at those temperatures to allow the organisms to live. For example, extremophiles are bacteria that live in extreme conditions like high temperature, acidity, alkalinity etc.

Note:
The pH also plays an important role in the optimal activity of enzymes. The term pH refers to the hydrogen ion concentration in a particular environment. Each enzyme has an optimum pH at which their activity is maximum. The optimum pH for most of the enzymes is around $6$ to $8$ (neutral). However, some enzymes show maximum activity in acidic and alkaline environments. Enzymes like pepsin and acid phosphatase have optimum pH around $1$ to $2$. The enzyme alkaline phosphatase has an optimum pH of around $10$ to $11$.