1. How does the formation of the enzyme-substrate complex explain the reduction of the activation energy of chemical reactions?

The enzyme possibly works as a test tube within which reagents meet to form products. With the facilitation of the meeting provided by enzymes it is easier for collisions between reagents to occur and thus the activation energy of the chemical reaction is reduced. This is one of the explanatory hypotheses.

2. What are the main theoretical models that try to explain the formation of the enzyme-substrate complex?

There are two main models that explain the formation of the enzyme-substrate complex the lock and key model and the induced fit model.

In the lock and key model, the enzyme has a region with specific spatial conformation for the binding of the substrate. In the induced fit model, the binding of the substrate induces a change in the spatial configuration of the enzyme for the substrate to fit.

Enzyme Activity: lock and key model induced fit model

3. What is meant by substrates of enzymatic reactions?

Substrates are reagent molecules upon which enzymes act.

The enzyme has spatial binding sites for the attachment of its substrate. These sites are called activation centers of the enzyme. Substrates bind to theses centers forming the enzyme-substrate complex.

Enzyme Activity: enzyme-substrate complex

4. What are enzymes? What is the importance of enzymes for the living beings?

Enzymes are proteins that are catalysts of chemical reactions. From Chemistry, it is known that catalysts are non-consumable substances that reduce the activation energy necessary for a chemical reaction to occur.

Enzymes are highly specific to the reactions they catalyze. They are of vital importance for life because most part of chemical reaction of the cells and tissues are catalyzed by enzymes. Without enzymatic action, those reactions would not occur or would not happen in the required speed for the biological processes in which they participate.

5. What amount of catalyst is consumed in the reaction it catalyzes?

Catalysts are not consumed in the reactions they catalyze.

6. What are catalysts?

Catalysts are substances that reduce the activation energy of a chemical reaction, facilitating it or making it energetically viable. The catalyst increases the speed of the chemical reaction.

7. What are respectively some remarkable functions of myosin, CD4, albumin, keratin, immunoglobulin, reverse transcriptase, hemoglobin, and insulin?

Myosin is a protein that associated to actin produces the muscular contraction. CD4 is a membrane protein of some lymphocytes, the cells that are infected by HIV. Albumin is an energy storage protein and an important regulator of the blood osmolarity. Keratin is a protein with structural function present in the epidermis and skin appendages of vertebrates. Immunoglobulins are the antibodies, specific proteins that attack and inactivate strange agents that enter the body. Reverse transcriptase is the enzyme responsible for the transcription of RNA and formation of DNA in the life cycle of retroviruses. Hemoglobin is the protein that carries oxygen from the lungs to the cells. Insulin is a hormone secreted by the pancreas that participates in the metabolism of glucose.

8. What is the difference between essential and natural amino acids?

Essential amino acids are those that the organism is not able to synthesize and that need to be ingested by the individual. Natural amino acids are those that are produced by the organism.

There are living species that produce every amino acid they need, for example, the bacteria Escherichia coli that does not have essential amino acids. Other species, like humans, need to obtain essential amino acids from the diet. Among the twenty different known amino acids that form proteins, humans can make twelve of them and the remaining eight needs to be taken from the proteins they ingest with food.

The essential amino acids for humans are phenylalanine, histidine, isoleucine, lysine, methionine, threonine, tryptophane and valine.

9. In sickle cell anemia, a hereditary disease, there is substitution of one amino acid by other in one of the four-polypeptide chains of hemoglobin. In this case, are all of the structural levels of the protein modified?

In sickle cell disease, there is change in the primary protein structure of one of the polypeptide chains that form hemoglobin: the amino acid glutamic acid is substituted by the amino acid valine in the ß chain. The spatial conformation of the molecule in addition is also affected and modified by this primary “mistake” and the modification creates a different (sickle) shape of the red blood cells.

Modified, sickled, red blood cells sometimes aggregate and obstruct the peripheral circulation causing tissue hypoxia and the pain crisis typical of sickle cell anemia.

10. Is it expected a change in the primary, in the secondary or in the tertiary structure of a protein to produce more functional consequences?

Any change of the protein structure is relevant if it alters its biological activity. Changes in the primary protein structure are more important because they are modifications in the composition of the molecule and such composition determines all other structures of the protein.

Download Interview PDF