Enzymes Lab Report

Enzymes are responsible for multiple reactions that take place naturally in the living organisms. The purpose of the enzymes lab was to investigate how the enzymes play a role in a reaction, affecting the rate of reaction (ROR). Interestingly, we tested how the enzymes affect the reaction rate at multiple temperatures (0, 23, 37, 50, 70, and 95 C). It was predicted that an increase in temperature will elevate the thermal activity of substrate which increases the chances the substrate molecules will collide with the enzyme molecules, forming an Enzyme-Substrate complex, leading to an increase in product formation. The reactions catalyzed by the enzymes show a distinctive feature when not bound to other chemicals (inhibitors) known as saturation. It was predicted that the competitive inhibitor binding at
The enzyme kinetics were tested by adding either a competitive inhibitor or uncompetitive inhibitor to the reaction, respectively. The researchers generated a standard curve of p-nitrophenol to determine unknown protein concentration and the ROR. The second part of the enzymes lab was completed online using Deterministic Reaction Rate Model and Stochastic Model simulation developed by Dr. Bustos and his team. Furthermore, the Michaelis-Menten plot was generated from the data collected to determine Vmax (the rate of enzyme or maximum velocity), ½ Vmax, and Km (the substrate concentration at ½ Vmax) for the control (no inhibitor), competitive inhibitor, and uncompetitive inhibitor containing solutions. The reaction performed optimally at 50C indicated by the highest ROR. Any temperature above the optimal one denatured the protein from its natural tertiary structure to the nonfunctional primary or secondary structure. The reaction at 0 C seemed to run at a rate of 0, indicating that the reaction doesn’t take place at such low