Enzymes - AP Biology

DNA helicase is an enzyme that is able to slip between the two strands of DNA and disrupt the hydrogen bonds that keep the DNA in the double helix structure. This disruption opens up the DNA helix, and exposes sections of DNA that can then be transcribed or replicated. As helicase moves down the double helix, the DNA reforms into a double helix since the enzyme is no longer blocking the hydrogen bonds.

These are all definitive traits of an enzyme. Enzymes are proteins which are extremely helpful in speeding up certain reactions without being depleted by the reactions themselves (as such, they are catalysts for these reactions). Enzymes reduce the amount of energy needed for a reaction to occur, generally because they facilitate reactions by recognizing reactants and bringing them into contact with each other. This occurs when the reactants bind to certain parts of the enzyme (active sites), which causes the enzyme to change shape and bring the reactants into contact with each other (and then the reactants can bind to form the product).

Peptidyl transferase is the enzyme that works in conjunction with tRNA molecules to extend a growing polypeptide chain at the ribosome during translation. Ligase is not used at all in translation, nor is topoisomerase or ATP synthase. tRNA synthetase is used to bind the correct amino acids to corresponding tRNA molecules, but it is not used to extend the polypeptide at the ribosome.

While all the answer choices are important in DNA replication, only DNA Polymerase I performs this particular function. Ligase helps bind the newly replaced DNA nucleotides to the rest of the DNA strand. DNA polymerase III is the main synthesizing enzyme of DNA replication, and creates the majority of the DNA strand. DNA polymerase II is less well known than I and III, but it is believed to perform as a repair enzyme which removes incorrectly paired segments of DNA (which can then be filled back in by DNA polymerase I).

Enzymes have an "optimal temperature," or best temperature that they work at. If that temperature is below or above its optimal temperature, the enzyme will decrease in activity; if the temperature change is great enough, the enzyme could even denature (no longer work).

An enzymes function is to speed up chemical reactions by lowering the activation energy. If our bodies did not have enzymes, the reactions would take place, but too slowly for our cells to adequately function.

The questions is asking how enzymes affect reactions. The function of an enzyme is to speed up chemical reactions, which will increase the overall rate of the reaction, thus "increasing the rate of the reaction" is the correct answer.

The function of an enzyme is to speed up chemical reactions. They do this by lowering the activation energy, which is the minimum energy that must be available for a chemical reaction to occur. If the energy required is lowered, the reaction can go faster. Thus the correct answer is an enzyme changes "the activation energy of the reaction."

A reactant is a substance that undergoes change during a reaction. During an enzyme reaction specifically, the reactant is called the substrate, as a substrate is the substance in which an enzyme acts on and changes.

Both pH and temperature can affect how productive an enzyme is. If an enzyme is functioning in an environment that is not at its optimal pH or optimal temperature, the enzyme's activity will decrease.

Denature means to destroy the properties of a protein or other biological macromolecule. If an enzyme (which is a protein) stops working, it has denatured.

The correct answer is "allosteric site." A molecule that binds to an enzyme's allosteric site induces a conformational change in the enzyme, decreasing or increasing the affinity of the enzyme’s binding sites to the substrate. The binding site binds and orients the substrate. The catalytic site lowers the activation energy of the reaction. The binding site and the catalytic site together make up the active site. Cofactors are parts of certain enzymes and are required for those enzymes to function.

You should immediately realize that amylase is an enzyme because it ends in "-ase". Remember that enzymes are proteins; therefore they are made up of amino acids. All amino acids contain a carboxylic acid (-COOH), an amine (-NH2), and a hydrogen (-H) attached to the central carbon. Phosphate groups (-PO3) are more commonly found in lipids and nucleic acids, not in proteins. No amino acids contain phosphate groups, though phosphates can be added to certain amino acids to activate certain proteins and enzymes (phosphorylation).

Enzymes lower the activation energy in chemical reactions in cells. They do not alter the composition of products of chemical reactions.

Temperature, pH, and substrate concentration all affect the function of an enzyme; therefore, the correct answer is all of these.

The reactants of enzyme-catalyzed reactions are known as substrates. Enzymes catalyze formation of products from their substrates. Inhibitors hinder the efficacy of enzymes, thereby decreasing the rate of reactions, and nucleotides are the monomers of DNA and RNA.

Temperature and pH can affect enzyme activity because they may alter the shape and effectiveness of the enzyme through protein denaturation. Likewise, the availability of reactants and substrates controls the amount of product that the enzyme can catalyze during the reaction. If they are present in low concentrations, then they will inhibit the enzyme’s activity.

The correct answer to this question is the products contain less energy the reactants.

The products indeed do contain less energy than the reactants because when a spontaneous reaction occurs, it releases energy, which is used to do work. Energy is released in the form of ATP and heat, not noise. Also an input of energy is required before the reaction proceeds, otherwise the reaction does not proceed.

Enzymes increase the rate of reactions through stabilizing the transition state, which decreases activation energy.