Microbial Metabolism|Legit essays

SOLUTION

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze biochemical reactions in living organisms by lowering the activation energy required for the reaction to occur. They have complex 3D structures that are essential for their function, which is highly specific to the substrate they act upon.

Enzymes are composed of amino acids, and their structure can be divided into several levels: primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary. The primary structure is the linear sequence of amino acids, while the secondary structure refers to the folding of the polypeptide chain into alpha helices, beta sheets, and other secondary motifs. The tertiary structure is the overall 3D conformation of the protein, which results from the folding of the secondary structures. The quaternary structure is the arrangement of two or more polypeptide chains in a larger protein complex.

Enzymes have active sites, which are regions on the protein surface where the substrate binds and where catalysis occurs. Enzyme-substrate specificity is determined by the shape, charge, and hydrophobicity of the active site. Enzyme activity can be controlled by several mechanisms, including feedback inhibition, covalent modification,