TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE-       –         –         –         –         –         –         –         i

CERTIFICATION-          –         –         –         –         –         –         ii

DEDICATION-     –         –         –         –         –         –         –         iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS-      –         –         –         –         –         iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS-         –         –         –         –         –         v-vi

CHAPTER ONE

1.0     INTRODUCTION-         –         –         –         –         –         –         1

CHAPTER TWO

2.0     Nature and Classification of Enzymes-          –         –         –         3

2.1     Enzyme Structure and Substrate Binding-     –         –         –         6

2.2     Enzyme Kinetics-  –         –         –         –         –         –         –         8

2.3     Factors Affecting Enzymes Activity-   –         –         –         –         12

2.3.1  Temperature-         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         12

2.3.2  pH     –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         13

2.3.3  Substrate Concentration- –         –         –         –         –         –         13

2.4     Active Site of an Enzyme-         –         –         –         –         –         13

2.5     Uses of Enzymes-  –         –         –         –         –         –         –         16

2.5.1  Economic Uses of Enzymes-     –         –         –         –         –         16

2.5.2  Technical Uses of Enzymes-      –         –         –         –         –         18

2.5.3  Industrial Uses of Enzymes-      –         –         –         –         –         18

CHAPTER THREE

3.0     Enzymes Catalysis-          –         –         –         –         –         –         20

3.1     Enzymes Activators-        –         –         –         –         –         –         21

3.2     Enzymes Activators and their Importance in Catalysis-     –         23

3.3     Mechanism of Action of Enzyme Activators- –         –         –         24

3.3.1  Allosteric Enzyme Modulators- –         –         –         –         –         26

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0     Summary and Conclusion-        –         –         –         –         –         28

4.1     Summary–  –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         28

4.2     Conclusion- –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         28

References

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Enzymes are proteins functioning as catalysts that speed up reactions by lowering the activation energy. A simple and succinct definition of an enzyme is that it is a biological catalyst that accelerates a chemical reaction without altering its equilibrium. During the reactions, the enzymes themselves undergo transient changes. In the overall process, enzymes do not undergo any net change. The enzyme catalyst regulates the structure and function of cells and organisms. They catalyze the synthesis and breakdown of biochemical building blocks and macromolecules. The transmission of genetic information, the transport of compounds across the membranes, motility of organisms and conversion of chemical energy (Schmid et al., 2001). Enzyme catalysis is essential for making biochemical reactions proceed at appropriate speed in physiological conditions. They speed up the reactions in the cells so that they may occur in fractions of seconds.

In the absence of catalyst, most cellular reactions would not occur even over time periods of years, without rapid cellular reactions, life in its present form would not be possible. One characteristic feature of enzymes is their specificity. Thus, each reaction in the cell is catalyzed by its own specific enzyme. The substances that are acted upon by enzymes are substrates. Substrate can be a small molecule or a macromolecule like an enzyme itself. For example, trypsin is the enzyme that uses polypeptides as its substrate and hydrolysis the peptide bonds (Schmid et al., 2001). Enzyme activators are molecules that bind to enzymes and increase their activity. They are the opposite of enzyme inhibitors. These molecules are often involved in the allosteric regulation of enzymes in the control of metabolism. An example of an enzyme activators working in this way is fructose-2,6-bisphosphate, which activates phosphofructokinase 1 and increases the rate of glycolysis in response to the hormone glucagon. In some cases, when a substrate binds to one catalytic subunit of an enzyme, this can trigger an increase in the substrate affinity as well as catalytic activity in the enzymes. Other subunits, and thus the substrate acts as an activator (Park et al., 2015).