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Chapter 4: Problem 1

What are the two most important characteristics of an enzyme?

Short Answer

Expert verified
The two most important characteristics of an enzyme are specificity, meaning each enzyme is designed to catalyze a specific reaction, and efficiency, as enzymes can catalyze thousands or even millions of reactions per second.

Step by step solution

01

Definition of an enzyme

Enzymes are biological catalysts that speed up the rate of chemical reactions in biological processes without themselves getting consumed. They are usually proteins.
02

Characteristic 1: Specificity

One of the most crucial characteristics of enzymes is their specificity. Each enzyme is designed to bind with a specific substrate, which allows it to catalyze a specific reaction. This trait is what makes enzymatic reactions so reliable in the biological contexts.
03

Characteristic 2: Efficiency

Another key characteristic of enzymes is their efficiency. Enzymes speed up chemical reactions by lowering the activation energy required for the reaction to take place. Some enzymes can catalyze thousands or even millions of reactions per second.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Compound 3 is a substrate for an enzyme that catalyzes the removal of the \(\mathrm{H}_{\mathrm{S}}\) proton exclusively. If compound 4 is used as the substrate, the deprotonation occurs mostly at \(\mathrm{H}_{\mathrm{S}}\), but a small amount of products are observed from removal of \(\mathrm{H}_{\mathrm{R}}\). This second reaction was shown to be catalyzed by the same enzyme as well. How could this be rationalized?

\(\gamma\)-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) aminotransferase catalyzes a PLP-dependent conversion of GABA to succinic semialdehyde (SSA). a. Draw a mechanism for this reaction. b. Why is only one molecule of succinic semialdehyde formed in the absence of \(\alpha\)-ketoglutarate c. If the reaction were carried out in \({ }^{2} \mathrm{H}_{2}{ }^{18} \mathrm{O}\), what would the products be?

The \((3 S, 4 S)\)-isomer of deuterated compound \(\mathbf{1}\) is a substrate for a dephosphorylase that gives an antielimination to the \(Z\)-isomer (2). The corresponding (3R,4S)-isomer is not a substrate. How do you explain that?

If you were using aspartate aminotransferase, and the enzyme stopped catalyzing the reaction, what \(t\) wo components of the enzyme reaction would you check?

Draw a mechanism for the formation of \(N^{5}, N^{10}-\) methylenetetrahydrofolate and the transfer of a hydroxymethyl group to uridylate.
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