Principles of Enzyme Kinetics

In any living body, enzymes play a major role in chemical reactions. They boost the rate of chemical reactions to support human life. Some of the major roles of enzymes are building up muscles, digestion, destroying unwanted toxins, etc.

These enzymes led the curiosity of humans to study them and thus, Michaelis and Menten in 1912 published their work on enzymes which led to the discovery of the subject named enzyme kinetics. 

The study of an enzyme’s kinetics gives us information on the enzyme’s catalytic mechanism, its involvement in metabolism, how its activity is regulated within the cell, and how pharmaceuticals and poisons might limit its performance.

Enzyme Kinetics

What is enzyme kinetics? Enzyme kinetics is the study of the rate of chemical reactions and the factors affecting them inside any cell or organism without altering the equilibrium or thermodynamics of the reaction. 

Enzymes are the protein catalysts inside the body. There are various kinds of enzymes for their specific reactions. Such as Lipases as digestive enzymes, Amylase for conversion of starch into sugar, Maltase, found in saliva, Trypsin found in the small intestine and is for the breakdown of proteins to amino acids.

The principle on which enzyme kinetics works is as the enzyme gets attached with a substrate and activates a site for reaction called an active site. Then the formation is called an enzyme-substrate complex. Which in turn after the reaction dissociate into products and leave the enzyme-free. It is the active site where the reaction takes place and the speed or rate of the reaction depends on its environment of it. This same principle is followed for every enzyme related metabolic reaction. 

Digestive Enzymes

What are digestive enzymes? Digestion is one of the important activities performed inside any body. Let us understand the digestive enzymes and their function in brief:

Natural digestive enzymes are protein molecules that break down larger complex molecules to simpler molecules to facilitate absorption into the body. In the human digestive system, primary enzyme-producing organs or tissues are the salivary glands, small intestine, liver, pancreas and stomach. Moreover, the pancreas is called the “enzyme powerhouse” of the digestive system.

Along with digestive enzyme we should also know what is the function of digestive enzymes? A broad variety of hydrolase enzymes are produced by the cell lining and those enzymes are processed by the stomach and other enzyme processing organs such as the pancreas, which are required for the digestion of food chemically. The overall focus of this process is to break down large molecules of food particles into their building block level which are easy to absorb and digest. In a matter of time, these building blocks are absorbed by the gut walls and goes into circulation. which are then sent to the liver and ultimately to other parts of the body.

Also, other than this there are some restriction enzymes. Now, what are restriction enzymes?

A restriction enzyme, also known as a restriction endonuclease or restricts, is an enzyme that cuts DNA into pieces at or near restriction sites inside molecules. These are found inside the bacteria and archaea.

The function of these restriction enzymes is to provide a defence mechanism for the bacterias and archaea against invading viruses. In simple words, these are the enzymes that protect us from various viruses.

Factors on which principle of enzyme kinetics depends

There are many factors on which the activity of enzymes depends. A major factor is the concentration of substrate (a molecule on which an enzyme acts) present. The other factors are: 

• Effect of Substrate concentration: When there is less amount of substrate the active sites of enzymes are not filled and when higher there is a collision happening between the molecules. 
• Effect of Product Concentration levels: The reaction starts slowing down where the product starts accumulating and increases when there is a low concentration of products
• Temperature: At a particular temperature the reaction rate of the enzyme is fastest and at below or higher than that temperature the enzyme kinetics gets affected.
• Effect of Ph: Its effect is similar to temperature. Most of the enzymes show optimal efficiency between 5 to 7 ph. And at lower or higher than that the enzymes get denatured.
• Modulator and Inhibitors: The enzyme kinetics gets increased in the presence of a modulator or modifier and decreases in the presence of inhibitors.
• Time: Time determines the number of products formed. The longer the enzyme is attached to the substrate the more the product is formed. However, the process is not always. After a specific period, all protein gets denatured and the reaction slows down or stops.
• The concentration of Enzyme: More amount of enzyme increases the rate of reaction but is also limited to the concentration of substrate. The additional unwanted enzyme will not provide any impact on the enzyme kinetics

Conclusion

Enzymes perform important functions inside the body of humans or any organism. And the study of how fast or slow or at what pace an enzyme is allowing the reaction to happen is termed enzyme kinetics. Every Process happening inside a body is accelerated by the presence of enzymes from the growth of our muscle to the digestion of our food and due to which lack of enzymes may lead to plenty of issues in the human body. Moreover, enzymes prevent the invasion of viruses inside bacterias and those enzymes are particularly called restriction enzymes. 

Like every natural process enzyme kinetics also depends on habitual factors for optimal kinetics.