BiologyCode 5090
Enzyme action
What this topic asks you to be able to do
- Describe a catalyst as a substance which speeds up a chemical reaction but is not itself changed by it
- Describe enzymes as proteins acting as biological catalysts, taking part in every metabolic reaction
- explain how an enzyme works, referring to the substrate, the active site, the enzyme-substrate complex and the product
- explain enzyme specificity by describing how the active site and the substrate must fit together in a complementary way (the 'lock and key' hypothesis)