Lactase Enzymes Lab Report

Enzymes are biological molecules (proteins) that act as a catalyst and help complex reactions occur everywhere in life, for example a piece of steak that is being digested into energy. Molecules found at the beginning of the process are called substrates, and these enzymes exchange them into differing molecules known as products. Nearly all-metabolic processes in a cell need enzymes in order to function at rates that are fast enough to sustain existence.
Those who are lactose intolerant are simply individuals whose body does not produce enough lactase. Lactase is an enzyme found in the digestive system and is used to breakdown and digest lactose (dairy sugar) . Lactase breaks down the sugar found in lactose into monosaccharides – glucose
and galactose that are sugars that can be utilized by the body in order to function. Those lactose intolerant, have trouble breaking down lactose in the digestive system; which causes cramps, bloating, gas and diarrhea in individuals.
The purpose of the experiment was to test the production of substrate molecules when adding specific amounts of lactose enzymes to differing levels of a pH solution. In order to test this, I gathered added varying amounts of lactose to a several tubes of the same pH solution. From each event I gathered the calculated information and put them into a chart, as well as a graph to see if there was an increase of production dependent of the pH level. Given the background, I hypothesized that if the enzyme catalysis is placed in different solutions containing different PH levels, the enzymes will be shows to function more highly at a more neutral pH (7). I found that that in my experiment, I was correct in that assumption. That at a neutral pH the catalysis functioned more highly, and produced a larger number of substrate molecules.
In conducting this experiment, I gathered varying amounts of lactase enzymes, as well as a solution with varying pH levels ranging from pH 3 to pH 11.
I weighed out lactose portions of 0.5g, 1.0g, 2.0g, 4.0g, and 8.0g of lactose and added them to the individual tubes of pH 3. From there I calculated and gathered the number of substrate molecules produced from the reactions. I repeated this same procedure with the pH 5, 7, 9, and 11 tubes of solution.
The results showed that with each increased amount of lactose added to the different pH solutions showed an increase in production of substrate molecules. 0.5g of lactose showed a production number of 19 (pH3), 39 (pH7), 72 (pH7), 45 (pH9), and 24 (pH11) etc… Refer to the table below. The independent variable was the pH solution, while the dependent variable was the lactose concentrate. Since the amount of lactose had vary weights in a constant of pH solution.

If the enzyme catalase is placed in different solutions containing different pH levels, the enzyme will function most effectively at a neutral pH, or a pH of 7. This is proven through the data collected in the experiment. The reason for this is because the human body functions at a optimum pH6 when digesting lactose, which makes the pH7 in the experiment the most prime event to produce the optimum amount of substrate
molecules.