Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Q: Explain the effects of too high a temperature on an enzyme

If the temperature is too high, an increase in kinetic energy of the molecules will cause excessive vibrations of the molecules. This will disrupt the 3 dimensional structure of the enzyme, causing it to become a random coil. The enzyme is therefore denatured. The active site of the enzyme will be "lost" as it is no longer complementary to the substrate in size, shape and charge, thus the enzyme becomes nonfunctional as the enzyme-substrate complex cannot be formed.

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