Section 5.7: Reversible Inhibition
- The activity of enzymes can be affected by the binding of molecules other than the substrate. When
the activity is reduced, such molecules are called inhibitors. There are two main types of inhibition,
reversible and irreversible
- Reversible inhibition generally consists of non-covalent interactions between the inhibitor and the enzyme.
By contrast, irreversible inhibition usually involves a covalent interaction that permanently destroys the
activity of the enzyme
- Most biological types of inhibition are reversible, and are used to regulate the activity of enzymes
- There are different kinds of reversible inhibition, but we will focus only on the classical examples of
the two main types:
competitive and noncompetitive inhibition