Chapter 5: Enzymes
- In this chapter, we are introduced to a very important group of biomolecules known as enzymes.
Enzymes are highly specific catalysts of biochemical reactions
- Enzymes cannot change the overall equlibrium of a particular reaction, they
only affect the rate at which the reaction can come to equilibrium
- However, enzymes can couple two reactions. Here, the
energy from one reaction can be used to affect the equilibrium of the other reaction, making it more favorable
- Another important feature of enzymes is that they can be regulated. This is often done through
the binding of a molecule at an allosteric site, changing the effectiveness of enzyme catalysis at the active site