Logged out
Access All our Essays in an Instant
Swap your work for FREE access, or pay £4.99 for instant access
Effect of pH on enzyme activity.
Member rating: No Rating | Words: | Submitted: Fri Mar 05 2004
Page Preview
On the left is an image preview of every page of this document, and below are the first 150 words with formatting removed:
Effect of pH on enzyme activity pH is a measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution. The higher the hydrogen ion concentration, the lower the pH. Most enzymes function efficiently over a narrow pH range. A change in pH above or below this range reduces the rate of enzyme reaction considerably. Changes in pH lead to the breaking of the ionic bonds that hold the tertiary structure of the enzyme in place. The enzyme begins to lose its functional shape, particularly the shape of the active site, such that the substrate will no longer fit into it, the enzyme is said to be denatured. Also changes in pH affect the charges on the amino acids within the active site such that the enzyme will not be able to form an enzyme-substrate complex. The pH at which an enzyme catalyses a reaction at the maximum rate is called the optimum...
Get instant access
- Instant, unlimited access to our documents in full
- Swap your work for free access, or pay £4.99
- To see the full version of this document and 147,309 others
Receive email updates for this category
- Simply tell us your email address and receive a weekly Study Help Email for FREE
- Receive 3 FREE essay views with each email
- Get all the latest essays from Coursework.Info & discussion from TheStudentRoom.co.uk
