The Effect Of Substrate Concentration Upon The Rate Of An Enzyme Catalysed Reaction: Evaluation Of The Michaelis Constant

The Effect Of Substrate Concentration Upon The Rate Of An Enzyme Catalysed Reaction: Evaluation Of The Michaelis Constant

Chemical reactions in living organisms occur rapidly at moderate temperatures and under mild conditions primarily because of the catalytic action of specialized proteins called enzymes. Every step in the biological processes are controlled by Enzymes. The lack of even one enzyme can prove fatal. The actual catalytic site of an enzyme molecule is a small area where the enzyme's shape is arranged to precisely accept its substrate into this receptor site. The substrate is the substance acted upon by the enzyme and changed to the product. The rate of an enzyme-catalyzed reaction depends partly on how quickly the enzyme can catalyse the substrate, and also on how quickly they are able to join together. Therefore an environmental factor (such as pH or high temperature) which might alter the shape of either enzyme or substrate could alter the rate of reaction. In additi...