For many years, scientists thought that enzyme-substrate binding took place in a simple "lock-and-key" fashion. This model stated that the enzyme and substrate fit together perfectly in one instantaneous step. However, current research supports a more refined view scientists call induced fit. The induced-fit model expands upon the lock-and-key model by describing a more dynamic interaction between enzyme and substrate. As the enzyme and substrate come together, their interaction causes...

Most chemical reactions in cells require enzymes—biological catalysts that speed up the reaction without being consumed or permanently changed. They reduce the activation energy needed to convert the reactants into products. Enzymes are proteins, that usually work by binding to a substrate—a reactant molecule that they act upon.
Enzymes exhibit substrate specificity, meaning that they can only bind to certain substrates. This is mainly determined by the shape and chemical...

Inside living organisms, enzymes act as catalysts for many biochemical reactions involved in cellular metabolism. The role of enzymes is to reduce the activation energies of biochemical reactions by forming complexes with its substrates. The lowering of activation energies favor an increase in the rates of biochemical reactions.
Enzyme deficiencies can often translate into life-threatening diseases. For example, a genetic abnormality resulting in the deficiency of the enzyme G6PD...

Enzymes speed up reactions by lowering the activation energy of the reactants. The speed at which the enzyme turns reactants into products is called the rate of reaction. Several factors impact the rate of reaction, including the number of available reactants. Enzyme kinetics is the study of how an enzyme changes the rate of a reaction.
Scientists typically study enzyme kinetics with a fixed amount of enzyme in the controlled environment of a test tube. When more reactant, or substrate, is...

Enzyme kinetics studies the rates of biochemical reactions. Scientists monitor the reaction rates for a particular enzymatic reaction at various substrate concentrations. Additional trials with inhibitors or other molecules that affect the reaction rate may also be performed.
The experimenter can then plot the initial reaction rate or velocity (Vo) of a given trial against the substrate concentration ([S]) to obtain a graph of the reaction properties. For many enzymatic reactions involving a...

The theory of catalytically perfect enzymes was first proposed by W.J. Albery and J. R. Knowles in 1976. These enzymes catalyze biochemical reactions at high-speed. Their catalytic efficiency values range from 108-109 M-1s-1. These enzymes are also called 'diffusion-controlled' as the only rate-limiting step in the catalysis is that of the substrate diffusion into the active site. Examples include triose phosphate isomerase, fumarase, and superoxide dismutase.
 
Most enzymes...